Research suggests that some students—including low-income, underrepresented minority, and first generation students—avoid applying for financial aid due to a combination of psychological reasons. Some are overwhelmed by the complexity of the process, while others worry they’ll feel out of place in college or be stigmatized for their socio-economic background. These psychological factors can cause students to avoid applying for aid, or fail to complete their financial aid applications on time.

A reminder on the smartphone app

Students were instructed to download a smartphone app that, over a period of weeks, delivered timely reminders and simple instructions about important deadlines and upcoming tasks related to applying for financial aid. The reminders simplified the application process into manageable tasks they could complete over a series of weeks.

Another group of students downloaded a smartphone app that sent them reminders about study skills instead of financial aid.

A randomized evaluation showed that students who received reminders about the financial aid application through the app were more likely to complete and submit an application.

Their rate of completing financial aid applications was 15 percentage points higher than students who received study skills reminders (82% vs. 67%). These interventions also translated into more financial aid awards among those students who applied—presumably because students who received the simplified financial aid instructions were more likely to complete their applications more effectively. Students who received financial aid reminders were 29 percentage points more likely to be awarded financial aid: 65% of them received aid compared to just 36% of students who received the study skills reminders.

Inspired to implement this design in your own work? Here are some things to think about before you get started:

• Are the behavioral drivers to the problem you are trying to solve similar to the ones described in the challenge section of this project?
• Is it feasible to adapt the design to address your problem?
• Could there be structural barriers at play that might keep the design from having the desired effect?
• Finally, we encourage you to make sure you monitor, test and take steps to iterate on designs often when either adapting them to a new context or scaling up to make sure they’re effective.

Additionally, consider the following insights from the design’s researcher:

• A demonstration of how to download and use the app was given to students during class time.