Major innovation to financial aid award notifications enables colleges and universities to communicate aid in a personalized, compelling fashion with all students.
May 16, 2019—RNL, a pioneer in the field of strategic financial aid awarding and the leading provider of higher education enrollment, student success, and fundraising solutions, has released a major step forward for financial aid offer notifications: the RNL Personalized FinAid Video.
The RNL Personalized FinAid Video solution enables institutions to communicate financial aid offers in a relevant, engaging, and easy to understand manner. The solution automatically converts the details of a student’s offer into a personalized video, customized to the institution issuing the offer and based on the student’s specific award information and interests. In the space of a few minutes, students and their families can understand the aid they will receive, the net cost of attendance, options for payment, and next steps. This approach will help demystify college costs and financial aid packages—an important benefit considering only 32 percent of high school seniors truly understand the cost of their education prior to committing to enroll, according to RNL research.
Florida Southern College in Lakeland, Florida, has already piloted the solution in order to deliver personalized awarding communication at scale. “We emphasize one-on-one financial aid conversations with students and parents,” said Erin Ervin Smith, assistant vice president of enrollment management and communications. “As our application volume has increased, this has become more challenging—we have an opportunity to share this information with about 30 percent of students via phone and in-person meetings. The custom video solution expanded that reach to all students.”
John Grundig, vice president for enrollment management at the college, also found the solution appealing for its impact on students and parents. “The Personalized FinAid Video not only informs students and their families of a very critical factor in their decision, but it also makes their experience memorable because of the level of personalization.”
RNL’s Josh Robertson, senior vice president for product strategy, views the Personalized FinAid Video as another major evolution in the omnichannel communication approach institutions need to embrace in order to engage students. “Video is a crucial form of communication today, and now the Personalized FinAid Video conveys one of the most crucial pieces of information in the college decision process in a way that is quickly digestible. It’s going to make it much easier for institutions to engage those students and keep them on the path toward enrollment.”
To see a demonstration of RNL’s Personalized FinAid Video, visit RuffaloNL.com/FinAidVideo.
About RNL
RNL (Ruffalo Noel Levitz) is the leading provider of higher education enrollment, student success, and fundraising solutions. More than 1,900 colleges, universities, and nonprofit organizations rely on RNL for advanced analytics, personalized engagement, and industry-leading insights to achieve their missions. The firm is focused on the entire lifecycle of enrollment and fundraising, assuring students find the right college or university, graduate on time, secure their first job in their chosen field, and give back to support the next generation. RNL conferences, research reports, papers, and articles help clients stay on top of current trends. Learn more at www.RuffaloNL.com.