BOSTON — A recently expanded state financial aid program has yet to make a major impact on high school seniors evaluating their college options, a leader of an educational nonprofit warned Tuesday.

The MASSGrant Plus expansion program, supported by a $62 million funding boost announced by Gov. Maura Healey in November, was designed to support about 25,000 students at community colleges, state universities and the University of Massachusetts system with help covering the cost of tuition and fees for certain eligible students.

But some high school counselors don’t know about the program’s expansion or are unclear about how to advise their students on the opportunity, said Adam Seidel, deputy director at OneGoal Massachusetts, which helps low-income students access higher education. Seidel said his organization partners with 15 school districts across the state.

“Big picture, while we’re extremely excited and grateful for the opportunity and the historic investment that this creates — we have students that are currently enrolled in college who are benefiting — we are not yet seeing a deep impact of the MASSGrant Plus expansion for the Class of 2024, so those seniors that are currently applying and making their enrollment decisions right now,” Seidel told the Finance and Administrative Policy Advisory Council, part of the Board of Higher Education, during its Feb. 13 meeting.

“For students that are first in their family to attend college, counselors play a humongous and outsized role in the college process, and particularly with financial aid,” Seidel said. “Right now, we are finding that counselors are either unaware of the MASSGrant Plus expansion, unsure of what it would actually mean for their students, or worried that the expansion won’t continue into the next year, and they’re not sure what they’re really advising for.”

The expansion covers the full cost of tuition and fees for Pell Grant-eligible students, including the expected family contribution determined by the federal government, according to Healey’s office. It also gives those students an extra allowance up to $1,200 for books and supplies, but the expansion does not cover room and board.

For middle-income students, whose families earn between $73,000 and $100,000, the program could slash out-of-pocket expenses for tuition and instructional fees by as much as half.

Commissioner of Higher Education Noe Ortega said state officials are working to ramp up communications about new financial aid programs. He signaled some of the earlier focus was on raising awareness about other initiatives, such as MassReconnect, which offers free community college to residents ages 25 and older.

The rollout of the MASSGrant Plus expansion came as college advising was already underway, Ortega said.

“What we’re doing now is really suiting up to make sure that we start letting people know now how to do that, and it’s going to happen in collaboration with stakeholders,” Ortega said. “We’re working very closely with affinity groups out there, particularly those that are in places where we’re not.”

Since it was announced, the expansion program has been discussed during meetings, training and workshops with campus financial aid officers, as well as high school counselors and administrators, a Department of Higher Education official told the News Service. Students who had completed the FAFSA for the 2023-24 academic year did not need to apply to the MASSGrant Plus expansion, and their accounts were retroactively credited to the start of the fall 2023 semester, the official said.

The expansion “immediately” benefited 25,000 current students, the official said.

Taylor Whitters, a career and technical education teacher at Taunton High School, expressed concern about the MASSGrant Plus expansion despite receiving “extensive training” about the program from OneGoal.

“I must admit feeling a little bit anxious about incorporating it into my advising,” Whitters said. “I feel like the lack of concrete numbers — I don’t really know those numbers regarding what that impact is going to have on my students and their debt — is definitely concerning, and without that clear information, it’s challenging for my students and their families to plan effectively.”

She added, “As I understand it, the expansion fails to consider the entire cost of enrollment, leaving me feeling even more uncertain about how my students are going to be able to afford even room and board, as well as other living expenses.”