Notes from the field

Loss aversion — the Nobel Prize-winning insight that losses hurt twice as much as equivalent gains feel good — is reshaping how families read your financial aid package. Here's why that matters, and what you can do about it.

We talk about “clarity” all the time in higher ed. But clarity isn’t bold text or better branding. It’s design. It’s structure. It’s how information meets someone else’s brain. Newspaper infographics have mastered this for decades. Here’s what enrollment marketers can learn about reducing friction, guiding attention, and helping students actually understand what to do next.

Financial aid should open doors, not close them. But for many first-generation families, aid letters, portals, and payment plans read like a foreign language. This post unpacks why the money conversation is so confusing, how that confusion erodes trust, and what colleges can do to make financial aid communication clear, consistent, and genuinely first-gen friendly.

Higher education has its own language, but for first-generation families, that language can sound like a locked door. From jargon and acronyms to deficit-based labels, colleges often communicate in ways that confuse the very students they hope to include. This piece unpacks how words quietly shape belonging — and how marketers and enrollment leaders can rewrite them to open more doors.

Financial aid emails should bring clarity, not confusion. Here’s where one missed the mark—and how colleges can do better.

Financial aid shouldn’t be a mystery. Here’s how colleges can design award letters like LEGO instructions—clear, visual and easy to follow.