Words matter. Terminology matters. Being transparent with families matters.
With this in mind, our financial aid team has made the effort to eliminate the terms "award" and "awards" when discussing and writing about financial aid decisions.
Why? Well, our thinking -- and we welcome and encourage your feedback on this -- is that the word "award" carries with it the connotation of winning something. That connotation, we believe, can cloud a conversation with a family when we are trying to explain that our financial aid committee decisions are thoughtful and deliberate decisions based on the data and information we reviewed in their financial aid application.
Frankly, telling a family that they have been "awarded" financial aid feels like they are the lucky winners of a tuition discount. While we can all acknowledge that a family might feel fortunate and appreciative when they learn that they are receiving a financial aid grant, it does not seem appropriate that they should feel that they had to rely on luck.
So, after combing through all of our printed materials -- notification letters, policy overviews, website posts, etc. -- we changed all references to financial aid "awards" to financial aid "grants."
While we can't say with any certainty what kind of impact this change has had on our communications with families, we do think the effort has been worth it. Not only does the change help send the message that financial aid offers are made after a thoughtful process – (i.e., they are not a lucky winner's prize), using the term "grant" reminds families that the financial aid funds applied to their accounts do not need to be repaid.
For these reasons, we call on the vendors and third-party providers in the independent school financial aid space to consider shifting their terminology to acknowledge that a grant is a grant, not a prize. Where possible, it would be great if those of us working in financial aid offices could have the flexibility to choose “grant” from a menu of choices as we set up our communications templates with families.
Let us know what you think. Maybe there are other theories out there that counter our decision to make this shift in terminology. We look forward to hearing from you!
Bill Diskin
Director of Admission & Financial Aid
Cannon School