Bill DeBlond

Seeing so many students fill out the financial aid form matters because it's often a critical step in the college process.

And it's correlated with more students enrolling in college next year.

It's good to have good news about the FAFSA.

Bill DeBlond is with the National College Attainment Network.

He says there's two main reasons the numbers are so high this year.

First, the form is much simpler thanks to recent legislation by Congress.

Second, it was made available way earlier, on September 24th.

In the two years prior, the form didn't open until sometime in December.

Melissa Nadworny, NPR News, Washington.