Appendix A

The FDR Group convened a series of in-depth interviews (IDIs) with 13 people who had applied for financial aid. The IDIs took place in November 2019—7 in Atlanta (11/12/19) and 6 in Boston (11/16/19)—in professional focus group facilities.

Recruiting

Participants were carefully screened to verify their student or parent status and ensure that they had experience applying for financial aid. The IDIs included 5 traditionally aged students, 6 parents of traditionally aged students, and 2 non-traditionally aged students. The participants were mixed demographically: by race and ethnicity (4 African American, 2 Hispanic, 7 white); household income (2 less than $35,000, 2 more than $115,000, 9 in between); and gender (7 female, 6 male).

• Traditionally aged students (n=5): current students who entered college/technical school immediately after high school (4), or high school seniors who plan to attend college/ technical school in fall 2020 (1). Both groups had to have applied for financial aid.
• Parents of traditionally aged students (n=6): parents of young adults who are currently enrolled in a two-year or four-year college or a technical school and who have received financial aid (4). Also included were parents of high school seniors who have applied for financial aid for next year (2).
• Non-traditionally aged students (n=2): adults between 24 and 40 years old who are currently enrolled in a two-year or four-year college or a technical school, and who have received financial aid. This category of student did not go immediately to higher education after high school.

The IDIs were recruited by a professional organization and held in professional facilities. The potential participants were recruited using opt-in databases that include thousands of people who have signed up to participate in qualitative research projects (e.g., focus groups, IDIs). The databases grow by word of mouth, community outreach, and advertising.

Interviewing

The purpose of the IDIs were to get a better understanding of how potential recipients of financial aid offer letters responded to the prototypes; the intent was to use information culled from the IDIs to help design an offer letter that would ensure the best possible experience for end users.

Each interview consisted of a participant, an interviewer, and a note-taker. Participants were provided information about the purpose of the research and were assured of confidentiality. Then they were given three prototypes of financial aid offer letters in succession and asked a series of questions about each. Some questions were empirical and had right or wrong answers; others were subjective.

Changes were made to the prototypes prior to the Boston IDIs based on feedback from the interviews in Atlanta. The interviews were audio-recorded and averaged 45 minutes in length (range 38–55 minutes). All interviews were moderated by Ann M. Duffett, of the FDR Group in New York, NY.