Author: Terry Moore, ISM Senior Executive Consultant
For private-independent schools, financial aid goes beyond dollars and cents. How you administer aid is a reflection of your mission, values, and long-term enrollment strategy. Done well, it builds trust, expands access, and fuels retention. Done poorly, it becomes a friction point that frustrates families and burdens your team.
What does it take to get financial aid right?
Start With Purpose: Why Do You Offer Financial Aid?
Schools typically provide financial aid for one or more of the following reasons:
- Rainy Day Aid – Temporary support during economic downturns or personal crises. It’s short-term, not a standing discount.
- Mission-Based Access – For many schools, providing access to students who otherwise could not attend your school is part of their purpose.
- Filling Empty Seats – To maximize revenue from seats that would otherwise go unfilled.
Each reason has its place, but all require clarity and intention.
For families, the reason is often much simpler. They want their child to attend your school, and they can't afford full tuition. Financial aid is their path forward.
Financial Aid: The Core Friction Point
The process of applying for financial aid can feel like a test. Families must prove they can’t afford your tuition, often by answering highly personal questions, navigating a complicated set of steps, and providing copious financial documentation.
On the other end, while all this is happening, admission and re-enrollment teams are still in the midst of building relationships with these families. They want to represent the best of what their school has to offer and demonstrate the benefits students and families will experience as members of the school community. They’re building the case for enrollment or re-enrollment.
If the financial aid process becomes complicated, difficult, and frustrating, that’s likely to detract from a family’s experience and undermine the school’s enrollment strategy.
That’s why ISM built FAST: to create a streamlined, family-friendly process that enables schools to make better decisions and reduces unnecessary barriers to access.
Here’s a look at how FAST eliminates common friction points that lead to family frustration.
Four Major Friction Points — and How to Eliminate Them
1. User Experience
What would the average parent say about the experience of applying for aid at your school? Is the process intuitive? Is your application accessible?
Families shouldn’t need a degree in tax law to apply for aid. Use plain language, and request information they can easily find. For example, instead of asking for “Adjusted Gross Income” (AGI), request W-2 wages, which makes sense to your average applicant.
Also consider:
- Limiting requests for supplemental documentation to what’s truly necessary.
- Offering the application in multiple languages.
FAST Solution: With FAST from ISM, families don’t have to locate and manually upload their tax documents. FAST has a new feature that pulls them automatically and securely from the IRS, which reduces errors and saves time.
Note: Automatic tax retrieval is available for families who file taxes in the U.S.
2. Transparent Communication
Confusion breeds distrust; clarity is kindness. As the steward of your financial aid application process, these habits go a long way toward building trust with families.
- Clarify timelines and stick to them. When it comes to awarding, aim to provide returning families with their financial aid award when re-enrollment contracts are issued.
- Explain your award philosophy (e.g., returning families are prioritized, or aid amounts can change year-to-year).
- Coordinate messaging between your admission and business offices. Mixed signals = mixed results.
- Avoid misleading stats like “average award size.” Parents assume they'll get the high number — set expectations clearly (and with compassion).
3. Equity and Cultural Sensitivity
For many schools, families in the “middle-income” category can’t afford full tuition. For example, a family earning $155,000 annually may seem well-off on paper, but that income doesn't go as far when tuition costs $30,000–$40,000 per child.
That’s why we encourage schools to develop a Need Model — a tool to calculate what’s fair and realistic across income levels.
Understanding what income ranges can realistically afford full tuition at your school is critical. In our experience, families who can afford full tuition contribute roughly 11% to 17% of their gross income. That range can help guide award decisions and ensure equity for middle-income families.
4. Operations, Timing, and Coordination
One of the trickiest challenges in the financial aid process is ensuring operational alignment. Issues arise when schools haven’t allocated enough resources to support the process fully or fail to communicate the process. This leaves families confused and unsure of what to expect.
Families don’t need access to the inner workings of your awarding formulas, but they do need to know that a structured timeline and decision-making process is in place.
Behind every strong financial aid program is a rock-solid system:
- Committee Structure: Create a small, focused Financial Aid Committee (three or four members at most). We recommend that your CFO chairs this committee.
- Calculate: Before publishing your financial aid application, determine the data you need to make informed awards, and ensure every request is stated clearly in the application. This reduces the likelihood of repeated document requests, eliminating potential frustration and extra work for families.
- Calendar: Set internal and external deadlines and honor them.
- Consistency: Determine an application review cadence with your team and a prioritization structure to help manage the workload.
- Chart an Appeals Plan: Establish a committee to handle appeals from families about their financial aid award. Develop written policies, talking points, and a process in advance.
FAST Solution: FAST from ISM helps financial aid teams stay organized by providing one centralized place to manage the process, from application to award. Automated workflows for document verification, award calculation, and communication reduce manual work and support clear, repeatable processes.
A Cultural Shift: From Discounting to Partnership
Financial aid is more than a discount service — it’s an opportunity to partner with families who are seeking the best possible education for their child.
Every tuition dollar a family spends, whether $500 or $50,000, is a meaningful investment in their child’s future. Frame your messaging accordingly. Avoid language that implies charity. Instead, show that your school and the family are working together to make enrollment possible.
Be cautious if you sense that a family is treating financial aid like a negotiation tactic. Most admission teams have learned the hard way that when a family’s behavior raises red flags before they enroll, it may signal long-term challenges. Moments like these can inform your understanding of how a family fits within your school’s mission.
Final Takeaway: Reduce Friction, Build Trust
Financial aid is personal, emotional, and high-stakes — both for families and schools. By simplifying systems, aligning operations, and prioritizing equity, you can create an experience that builds trust with families and reinforces your school’s essential values.
It’s time to move beyond outdated systems — and into a future where financial aid fuels mission, equity, and enrollment success.
Want to learn more about how FAST from ISM supports independent schools?
Connect with our team for a demo.
About the Author
Terry Moore is Senior Executive Consultant and Editor-in-Chief of Ideas & Perspectives, ISM's flagship research and advisory publication. His consultation specialties include strategic planning, financial aid, and school operations.
Terry was the architect of FAST from ISM. Prior to joining ISM as a consultant in 2002, Terry was a founder and served on the Board of Directors at Trinity Academy in North Carolina. He also served as Head of Finance, Operations, and Advancement at St. Mary’s School in California .
