Design Principles for Financial Aid Offers: A User-Centered Approach
Posted by New America on March 2, 2021
In 2018, New America partnered with uAspire, a nonprofit focused on college access and affordability, to review thousands of financial aid offers from over 500 colleges and universities. The resulting report, Decoding the Cost of College: The Case for Transparent Financial Aid Award Letters, recommended several minimum bars financial aid offers must pass including listing price, separating loans from grants, and standardizing terms and formatting. But those recommendations were just a start.
This report reviews findings from the Decoding the Cost of College report, presents each stage of our efforts to redesign financial aid offers, and discusses our recommendations for design principles. We offer an example of how financial aid offers should be structured, and the role of policy in improving financial aid offers.
More in "College Success Network"
- The NPSS Hub is Now the Partnership for Student Success
- PHEAA Webinar: Borrowing for Education – Which Loan Is Right for Me? – Jan 30
- It Takes a Village: Virtual FAFSA Workshop – Jan 14
Stay Current in Philly's Higher Education and Nonprofit Sector
We compile a weekly email with local events, resources, national conferences, calls for proposals, grant, volunteer and job opportunities in the higher education and nonprofit sectors.