Helping All California Students and Parents See the Opportunities in College and Financial Aid

  • August 27, 2025
  • 0

Challenge

Financial aid applications decreased during the COVID-19 pandemic; while numbers among most groups of students have returned to pre-pandemic levels, several key groups continue to lag behind. To close those gaps, the California Student Aid Commission, the state agency that administers financial aid applications and distributions in California, wanted to explore how their communications might better reach students who might not already see themselves as college-bound — and particularly among those, students who are undocumented or from mixed-status families, men of color, and non-A-G track students.

With the generous support of the Walter & Evelyn Haas, Jr. Fund, Wonder and the Commission set out to better understand how to reach students and families from these key populations and to empower them to complete financial aid applications as an entry point to continue their education.

Heartwired Insight & Strategy

Students, parents, and guardians experience powerful — sometimes negative — emotions about education after high school. On the one hand, these audiences feel that an education is still one of the best ways to advance in life. Yet, they also have serious concerns that, because of ballooning costs, education after high school is out of reach. 

Students wonder how they’ll pay for their education and whether those options were genuine or scams; about taking on potential debt and whether doing so would be a financial burden on their family; and about how their information will be used and whether completing an application would put themselves or their family at risk.

This storm of conflicting and concerning emotions and thoughts holds audiences back from seriously considering even applying for financial aid and planning for an education after high school. 

By lifting up real-life stories from relatable messengers, Wonder helped the Commission develop messages that address students’ and families’ concerns and fears about education after high school and tapping into their existing hope and optimism. Key to this approach was striking a balance between stories that allow students and families to see themselves reflected and emotionally-responsive facts that address their concerns head-on.

Results

Working together, Wonder and the Commission developed new messaging interventions designed specifically to meet underrepresented students where they are and to help move them through their emotional conflict about financial aid and postsecondary education. The results speak for themselves: after reading and watching these messaging interventions, students and parents across a wide range of demographics expressed that they felt better about applying for financial aid (or having their children apply).

Building trust with our audiences is a critical first step to helping them move through their emotional conflict. Our messaging interventions were able to build trust by featuring diverse messengers with identities and lived experiences that our audiences could see themselves reflected in.

Kenny Funes, a Hispanic young man, and his mother, Ysabel Funes, a Hispanic woman, are seated in the foreground, smiling. In the background, pictures and a crucifix hang on the wall.

This video, featuring Kenny Funes, a recent university graduate, and his mother, Ysabel Funes, feels believable and trustworthy to audiences for a few reasons. In the background, we can see the details of the Funes family’s home, including a crucifix and photos of family. This imagery may feel familiar to many, especially to Hispanic students and parents. Kenny shares a few key details about himself and how he found motivation to continue his education after high school in being able to repay his parents for the ways in which they’ve supported him. Click the image above to watch the full video in English or watch it with full Spanish captions by clicking here.

In our testing, Kenny’s story made: 

  • 98% of Spanish-speaking students feel better about applying for financial aid
  • 97% of Spanish-speaking parents feel better about applying for financial aid
  • 88% of English-speaking students feel better about applying for financial aid
  • 81% of English-speaking parents feel better about applying for financial aid

Our research showed that students and parents are hungry for clear, straightforward information about financial aid. At the same time, students are rightfully wary of potential scams and fraud. Wonder and the Commission developed a “frequently asked questions” handout that proved to be particularly effective because it:

  • met students’ emotional needs by clearly naming their concerns and feelings
  • addressed common questions about financial aid options and eligibility — including those related to taking on potential debt, lack of stellar grades, and documentation status — in plainspoken language
  • highlighted concrete descriptions of financial aid options and ways to access support
  • leaned into the Commission’s status as a state agency by leading with a short description of who they are and what they do.

 

Various screenshots illustrate the types of content Wonder tested in this research, including social media posts, handouts, and video content with student and family messengers.

Wonder developed a wide range of messaging interventions, examples of which are above. The interventions included what we call “facts with impact” that helped neutralize our audiences’ concerns and conflict about financial aid and college. In another handout we developed, called “Financial Aid: A Student’s Guide to Getting Started”, student and parent research participants indicated that they found the material to be “very reassuring” because it “gave answers on how to make applying for financial aid less stressful” and highlighted that there are “people out there willing to help students to go to college.”

Most importantly, messaging interventions were most effective when students and parents saw their own aspirations reflected — in other words, messengers who resolved their own conflict and went on to achieve their goals and dreams.

Lidia Hernandez Valencia, a Hispanic young woman, in the foreground speaking to the camera, with orange walls in the background.

Lidia, a recent community college graduate, names that as an undocumented student, she had to navigate barriers to obtaining her education. She describes how she overcame those barriers and found help in a Latino student group, demonstrating for audiences that help might be closer than they think. Lidia also conveys genuine hope for students like her to be able to achieve their dreams, too. Click the image above to watch the full video with English subtitles or watch it in Spanish by clicking here.

The Commission is eager to put these messaging interventions into action — and to create more based on our findings — in service of their goal to close racial, economic, and other equity gaps in college enrollment and financial aid.

Learn more about the California Student Aid Commission’s work here.