A Commitment to Transparency in Pricing and Value
In 2022, all students accepted to Ithaca College in New York, U.S., received a print postcard with the tagline “No Surprises. No Secrets. No Stress.” That line summed up the college’s new pricing and values strategy. The Ithaca Commitment is based on a philosophy of transparency related to college costs and financial aid.
The commitment has four components, all aimed at building trust with prospective students and their families:
- the Four-Year Financial Forecast, which provides a detailed, four-year overview of a student’s expected college costs and financial aid;
- a streamlined financial aid process that includes the elimination of the College Scholarship Service Profile for aid consideration and details the multiple types of student aid eligibility;
- one-on-one appointments with IC’s financial aid experts to discuss the best options for financing an IC education; and
- one free IC Advantage course for students, allowing them to take a one-credit summer course at no cost and up to two additional one-credit courses for a small fee. Courses offered through the IC Advantage summer program help students feel confident in the transition to college.
As part of the Ithaca Commitment, the college reimagined its financial aid package, upgrading it to a personalized and comprehensive online resource that breaks out details related to the different types of aid a student is eligible for and provides definitions of key terms for full understanding. It also provides the estimated direct cost for the upcoming year, as well as the Four-Year Financial Forecast, which provides estimates for the following three years, and IC’s guarantee that students’ direct costs will not increase more than a certain percentage per year— 2.9% for the fall 2022 class.
ADVANCE WORK:
Several offices were involved in creating, implementing, and communicating the Ithaca Commitment strategy, including Student Financial Services; Creative, Marketing, and Communications; Admissions; and Constituent Engagement Strategy. Training was provided for the staff members in Student Financial Services and the Office of Admissions so they would feel confident speaking about the new financial aid strategy.
“We provide Ithaca College’s full commitment to the student for four years, including scholarships and other types of institutional aid, demonstrating that we are partners in their education and their success,” says Melissa Marchese, Executive Director of Marketing Strategy. “We want to ensure students have clarity from the start about the cost of their education so they can make the most informed decisions about where to enroll and then focus their energy on getting the most value out of their time here at Ithaca College.”
The Ithaca Commitment, which received a 2023 gold Circle of Excellence Award, is already proving its value. The college conducted an admitted student review in which 80% of matriculating students reported IC’s Four-Year Forecast was influential in their decision to enroll at IC.
About the author(s)
Ellen N. Woods is Writer/Editor at CASE.
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Article appears in:
May-June 2024 Issue of Currents
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