At the start of the fall 2025 recruitment cycle, the enrollment management world was still recovering from the FAFSA fallout of 2024.
Although the form seems to have operated smoothly this past cycle, with submissions returning to pre-pandemic levels, and is promised to return to its October 1 launch date, financial aid offices are still entering the fall 2026 cycle with trepidation. Why?
- Conversations about college affordability are more prominent than ever.
- Families (and, let’s be honest, schools as well) are wondering what changes might be coming to loan access and Pell requirements.
- Students and parents are actively discussing their financial aid offers on public forums like Reddit, asking what is normal and is it worth it, and looking for guidance on how to interpret confusing offer letters.
While all of that is out of our control, there is something we can control — how we communicate financial aid offers. Packages are currently sent in a few ways: a printed mailer, links to online portals, or a combination of the two. As families require more detailed information and clarity, more schools need to take their aid communication a step beyond by digitizing their print offer piece.
Sending financial aid offers to the inbox in addition to the mailbox is:
1. Faster
Imagine pressing send on an email campaign the day all packages have been tested, reviewed, merged, and approved. No more waiting to get the first call to the financial aid office to know they’ve started arriving in mailboxes. Sending digitally gets aid offers to students weeks faster than mailing.
2. Informative
Sending digitally gives you analytics that mail never could. At any given moment, you can know exactly who has downloaded their aid package and who has yet to take this important step.
3. Actionable
Tailor your admissions and financial aid representatives’ time by using segmentation. Based on where you are in the cycle, your goals related to the financial aid offer probably shift. Early on, you might consider personal outreach to those who have yet to download their aid package, in hopes of making sure they know what is available. As the deadline nears, it may be better to focus on those who have already downloaded their package, or those who have accessed it multiple times, as they are likely still considering enrolling at your school.
4. Accessible
As those same staff are reaching out, they have complete access to the same material the student received. Conversations are significantly easier when your staff can reference certain information, pages, etc., when discussing details of an offer. No more referencing tables in SIS systems and hoping to translate them correctly.
Some schools have even chosen to send only digital offers, which can save thousands of dollars in print and postage costs. However, in a world where high school families are inundated with digital outreach, they are showing an increased affinity for mailed information. In fact, Spark451 hosts an annual college-bound survey for high school seniors and parents who just recently concluded their search process, and the results are clear: they want tangible materials now. While there may have been a moment where mail seemed antiquated, printed financial aid offers are likely here to stay.
You’re already creating an aid package for every student — why not get it to them faster while simultaneously enabling your admissions team to have better, more informative, and actionable conversations with students? Why not send it digitally first?
If you’re interested in learning about Spark451’s personalized aid offers that leverage variable data, please reach out to us! Financial aid has always been a lynchpin of yield season, and while it may feel like yield just ended, it’s never too early to start planning for the next one — especially if you hope to have something new and ready to make a splash in the market. Spark451 is here to support you in making sure your team is set up for success!