Best questions for high school junior student survey about financial aid awareness

Here are some of the best questions for a high school junior student survey about financial aid awareness, plus practical advice on crafting them. If you want to build a high-quality survey fast, you can use Specific to generate one in seconds.

10 best open-ended questions for high school junior student survey about financial aid awareness

Open-ended questions unlock real stories and unexpected insights that closed questions can miss. They're great if you want to understand how students really think, their hopes, and misunderstandings about paying for college.

1. Can you describe what financial aid means to you?

2. What do you know about the process of applying for financial aid?

3. What worries or concerns do you have about paying for college?

4. Can you share any experiences you or your friends have had when looking into college financial aid?

5. What questions do you still have about financial aid or the FAFSA process?

6. How do you get information about financial aid (for example, teachers, counselors, family, online)?

7. What would make you feel more confident about understanding or using financial aid options?

8. What have you heard—right or wrong—about taking out student loans?

9. What barriers make it difficult for you to apply for financial aid?

10. Describe any conversations you’ve had with family or adults about how college might be paid for.

Open-ended questions are especially useful if your goal is to uncover confusion, personal stories, or the steps students take on their own. As research shows, only 46% of high school juniors and seniors feel prepared to complete the FAFSA, so these questions can highlight where support is needed most. [1]

Best single-select multiple-choice questions for high school junior student survey about financial aid awareness

Single-select multiple-choice questions work well when you need quick, measurable data—like, “How many feel prepared for FAFSA?” They’re also a gentle way to start the conversation, especially if some students are shy or unsure. Sometimes, picking from options is less intimidating than explaining everything in their own words.

Question: How confident do you feel about your understanding of financial aid options?

• Very confident

• Somewhat confident

• Not very confident

• Not at all confident

Question: Which financial aid sources have you heard of before?

• Grants

• Scholarships

• Student loans

• Work-study programs

• Other

Question: Have you talked to a school counselor or adult about financial aid for college?

• Yes, multiple times

• Yes, once

• No, but I want to

• No, not interested

When to follow up with "why?" Don't stop at the surface. If a student picks "not confident," you should ask why—that's how you find out if it's a knowledge gap, fear, or just lack of resources. For instance, after "Not at all confident," follow up: “What makes you feel unsure about financial aid options?” This not only clarifies their choice but often reveals obstacles you can help address.

When and why to add the "Other" choice? Always offer "Other" when there could be experiences or knowledge outside your list. Students might know about aid options unique to their community or background—a thoughtful follow-up after "Other" can uncover valuable, otherwise-missed insight.

The value of an NPS-style question

Let’s talk about the NPS question—the familiar “How likely are you to recommend X?” format, scored from 0 to 10. While it’s a classic for customer satisfaction, it can be powerful in a high school junior student survey about financial aid awareness. You might reframe it as: “How likely are you to encourage a friend to apply for financial aid?” or “How likely are you to recommend talking to a counselor about paying for college?”

This style of question quantifies advocacy and trust. In fact, students who met with a counselor about financial aid were far more likely to complete the FAFSA—87% versus 59%. [3] That’s the behavioral jump NPS-style questions can measure and drive.

If you want a quick, ready-to-go template for this type of question, use the Specific NPS survey generator for high school juniors and financial aid awareness.

The power of follow-up questions

Not every good answer fits into a checkbox. That’s why follow-up questions turn an ordinary survey into a real conversation. With automated follow-up questions, you can dig deeper on interesting or unclear responses right as they happen—no waiting, no endless back-and-forth by email.

• High school junior: “I heard it’s too expensive, so I don’t know if college is for me.”

• AI follow-up: “What do you think makes college feel out of reach financially? Have you explored if there are aids or programs that lower the cost?”

This way, we gather details that help pinpoint real pain points—like misinformation about student loans. Only 26% of high school juniors are confident they’ll be able to afford college. [4] Without meaningful follow-ups, you might never know why or what would turn that percentage around.

How many followups to ask? In practice, two or three follow-ups per question are usually enough. That balances uncovering detail without making the conversation drag on. Specific lets you set rules for this and even skip further follow-ups once the key info comes through.

This makes it a conversational survey: With smart follow-ups, your survey is more than a form—it’s a guided conversation that adapts to each student’s story, building both rapport and richer data.

Easy analysis with AI: Worried about analyzing all these free-text replies? You don’t have to do it manually. Tools like AI survey response analysis can instantly summarize, categorize, and explain themes—so you get meaning, not just more data, every time.

Conversational surveys with automated follow-ups are new, but they raise the bar. Try generating a survey and see how much more you learn.

How to craft better prompts to generate survey questions

Prompts are the instructions you give algorithms like ChatGPT to get sharp, relevant questions. Start simple, then add detail about the context and what you want to learn. Here’s a basic prompt:

Suggest 10 open-ended questions for high school junior student survey about financial aid awareness.

But AI does much better when you give more context, such as your exact goal and who you’re surveying. For example:

We want to understand what high school juniors know and misunderstand about paying for college, including FAFSA, loans, and scholarships. Our goal is to identify gaps, confusion, and motivation, so we can provide better support. Suggest 10 open-ended survey questions for this audience.

Once you have a big list, try organizing and refining:

Look at the questions and categorize them. Output categories with the questions under them.

Drill down where you want more depth. For instance, after grouping “Misconceptions about student loans,” prompt:

Generate 10 questions for the category: Misconceptions about student loans.

What is a conversational survey?

A conversational survey is more than a list of questions—it’s a guided digital conversation. Think of it as research that feels like talking to a smart, curious peer rather than filling out a cold form. You start with a mix of open- and closed-ended questions, and the AI survey builder handles natural flow, tone, and follow-up on the fly.

Here’s how it compares:

Why use AI for high school junior student surveys? With AI and platforms like Specific, you not only speed up survey creation but massively increase engagement. High schoolers—especially those uncertain about financial aid—are more likely to open up in a conversational format driven by smart follow-ups and adaptive questions. With AI survey examples, you see deeper insight, higher participation, and more actionable themes.

Plus, you enjoy best-in-class experience when designing a survey for high school juniors about financial aid awareness—all without getting stuck in manual editing.

See this financial aid awareness survey example now

Ready to discover what your students really think? Create your own financial aid awareness survey today with Specific—unlock richer, more engaging feedback, deeply tailored to your audience, in minutes.