Through a quantitative analysis of over 11,000 financial aid award letters, they found that students who receive a Pell Grant are still left to cover a significant gap—an average of nearly $12,000. The gap persisted even when students made cost-saving decisions about where to attend (public versus private colleges and universities) or where to live (at home versus on campus). Given that financial aid falls short, clear and consistent communication on award letters is critical. After a thorough qualitative review using a subset of 515 award letters from unique institutions, they emerged with seven key findings:

Of the 455 colleges that offered an unsubsidized student loan,  they found 136 unique terms for that loan, including 24 that did not include the word “loan.”

Of the 515 letters, more than one-third did not include any cost information with which to contextualize the financial aid offered

Seventy percent of letters grouped all aid together and provided no  definitions to indicate to students how grants and scholarships, loans, and work-study all differ.

Nearly 15 percent of letters included a PLUS loan as an “award,” making the financial aid package appear far more generous than it really was.

Of institutions that offered work-study, 70 percent  provided no explanation of work-study and how it differs from other types of aid.

In our sample, only 40 percent calculated what students would need to pay, and those 194 institutions had 23 different ways of calculating remaining costs

Only about half of letters provided information about what to do to accept or decline awards ,and those that did had inconsistent policies.