Free Downloadable Guide

The First-Generation Marketing Playbook

Break the cycle of jargon-filled messaging and missed connections. This 20-page guide gives you the tools to actually serve first-gen students. Access proven frameworks, a first-gen audit, and access to a GPT built for writing with empathy and clarity.

What’s Inside the Playbook:

TRUST Messaging Framework

Learn a five-part model that

helps teams write, speak, and design for clarity. This is a system that will make your messages more human, relevant, and effective across every channel.

Deficit to Asset Messaging

Stop unintentionally framing

first-gen students through the language of struggle. This section helps you reframe identity as leadership and resilience, with examples and evidence-backed messaging swaps that build confidence and belonging.

First-Gen
Audit Checklist

Assess your institution’s communication clarity with a 100-point audit. Identify where messaging and processes break down—and where alignment can create measurable improvement.

Financial Aid Decoder

Simplify the most intimidating step of the college journey. Learn how to design financial aid communication—from FAFSA through the first bill—that earns trust, explains clearly, and supports real decision-making for students and families.

Felix the
First-Gen GPT

Our custom GPT helps you apply the playbook instantly. Paste in your real emails or web copy, and Felix will flag jargon, check TRUST alignment, and recommend plain-language improvements.

Parent & Family Strategy

Parents aren’t just supporters; they’re co-pilots. Learn tools and see examples for building inclusive, plain-language communication that builds trust and confidence among

Gen X and Millennial parents.

Access the Playbook

THE BLOG

Notes from the field

If you've ever sat in a meeting and thought "am I the only one who sees this?" — you're not. This is where I write about what's really happening in higher ed enrollment and marketing, for the people living it every day.

Most Recent Posts

What Behavioral Economics Can Teach Us About Financial Aid Packages

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.

Financial Aid

Laura Rudolph

4 min read

When Outcomes Become the Only Outcome

If earnings become the primary measure of a degree's worth, what happens to the programs built around calling instead of compensation?

Value and ROI

Laura Rudolph

4 min read

Leadership, Are You Listening? The Case for a Reverse Town Hall This Summer

This one is for the cabinet. Every enrollment and marketing team has people on staff who know exactly what's broken. The information exists. It just doesn't travel. Summer is the window to change that — before the next cycle starts carrying the same weight the last one did.

Enrollment Strategy

Laura Rudolph

6 min read

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