Outreach award winner helps Alabama high school students navigate FAFSA

When Alabama became the fourth state to require high school students to complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) to graduate, Portia Johnson knew she had to help.

“I wanted students to see that FAFSA is not just a checkbox they have to do, but it connects them to their dreams and goals for the future,” she said. “The young people of our state have got to know their options about education beyond high school.” 

So, Johnson, an assistant professor and Extension specialist in Auburn’s College of Human Sciences, created the Alabama FAFSA Application Survival Toolkit (FAST) to help students, families and educators navigate the application process. The program includes a student guide, educator resources and a curriculum for presentations to high school seniors.  

Since its launch, Alabama FAST has reached more than 10,000 students and parents from 90 high schools across the state. For her work on this project, Johnson was named the recipient of the 2025 Royrickers Cook Endowed Engagement Award by University Outreach and the 2025 Faculty Excellence in Outreach award from the College of Human Sciences. 

Professional and personal 

Since Johnson specializes in financial management and workforce development and was born into a family of educators, creating Alabama FAST was the perfect overlap of her professional expertise and personal values. 

“I come from three generations of educators, from principals to vice principals, deans of schools, librarians and classroom teachers,” she said. “This program was one that was really a passion project for me.” 

Johnson, who holds a doctorate in family and consumer sciences from the University of Georgia, arrived at Auburn in 2021. Her knowledge of consumer behavior and experience in public service and outreach during her doctoral studies allowed her to hit the ground running.

“I got a lot of hands-on experience creating community planning and interventions, and I think that largely was the reason I was bold enough to pursue creating my own community curriculum so early in my career here,” she said.

Translating the FAFSA

As many students, families and school counselors can attest, the process of completing the FAFSA can be time consuming and confusing. Before launching Alabama FAST, Johnson published a study of federal FAFSA support programs and then did what Extension specialists do: she translated that academic research into useful information.

“One vital piece of Extension is that we’re trained to take information and make it accessible to the public at a level that is relatable and easy to understand,” she said.

Using clear, simplified language, Johnson created a printed guide, a website, handouts like posters and bookmarks and a 90-minute presentation that’s being delivered in schools across the state by regional Extension agents.

While the agents’ presentations reach the most people, Johnson said all parts of the program are helping families in one way or another.

“Parents like the book because they can flip through it and find the info that they want,” she said. “The career coaches like things that are easy to give to students; we ran out of the bookmarks pretty quickly for that reason.”

Beyond the FAFSA

When Extension agents began presenting the curriculum in schools, the feedback they got was that students and career coaches were hungry for more than just FAFSA help. So, Johnson created an expanded program called Career FAST with five modules that include lessons on post-secondary education and workforce development opportunities.

But she didn’t stop there. Since then, Johnson has developed several more programs that are currently helping Alabamians. Both Money Goals, a series of in-person presentations on managing personal finances, and WISE, the shorter one-hour version, include a money management calendar Johnson calls “highly coveted.”

Her three newest programs launching this fall are Preparing for Property Taxes, which pairs regional Extension agents with local county commissioners; Hazard-Proof Finances, a multi-state project being taught across the nation; and Financial Self Defense, a scam and fraud presentation taught in collaboration with the Alabama Securities Commission.

It’s partnerships like these that inspire Johnson to continue producing innovative programs that support the state’s residents. And she is grateful for Extension’s regional agents and county directors doing the one thing she doesn’t love: public speaking.

“I really don’t like talking in front of big crowds — I will say it’s not my favorite thing to do — which is why I love to have this great Extension network like regional agents and county leaders that go out and do the programs,” she said. “I can research and dream up interventions, then go see them and tweak them while they’re being piloted. It makes me proud of the power of partnership.”