Insights Blog

After nearly two decades in higher education, I realized the biggest barrier for first-generation students is not access, it is understanding. The words we use, the tone we take, and the way we ask shape whether a student feels college is for them. The TRUST Messaging Framework — Teach, Respond, Understand, Simplify, Talk, was born from thousands of real emails and conversations. It is a tool any campus communicator can use to build clarity, compassion, and connection across

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.