The Clarity team made a big splash at this year’s EMA Annual Conference (you may have spotted us in our matching purple sneakers). 22 Clarifiers gathered with the largest number of attendees in EMA AC history for three days of listening, learning, and connecting with the community. As a fully remote company, we truly cherish these opportunities to collaborate in person and connect with our client schools.

This year, we had the added excitement of unveiling Clarity's Contracts & Billing. The buzz abounded — the most since we launched our Financial Aid product in July of 2022. With the 50-school pilot of Clarity's Contracts & Billing starting this month, we were thrilled to speak directly with so many EMA attendees about the expanded range of solutions now available to meet the needs of their schools. Several of our Client Success Managers were also able to share insights and knowledge on financial aid data trends and policy during our hosted sessions, demonstrating the more than 200 years worth of school experience that the Client Success team brings to our client schools. With that in mind, I’d like to share the Clarity Client Success team’s top three takeaways from EMA's Annual Conference 2024:


1. The “Wealthening” of the Financial Aid Applicant Pool
Years ago, I heard Mark Mitchell speak at a regional event where he used the phrase “the wealthening of the financial aid applicant pool.” The phrase has become more prominent as the statement has become truer in subsequent years. This recognition of the income increase in the financial aid applicant pool was a common theme from keynote speakers at the conference. Several workshops focused on topics around access, with a specific emphasis on helping financial aid students find belonging in schools once they enroll. Two sessions in particular stood out for our team:

• Parish Episcopal School and Greenhill School hosted an informative workshop about providing supplemental support beyond tuition expenses, focusing on creative ways schools can help families manage costs beyond tuition, such as technology fees, extracurricular activities, and transportation. The session highlighted the importance of a holistic approach to financial aid that considers the full scope of a student's school experience.
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• The Park School's workshop on financial aid parent affinity groups dove into fostering a supportive community among parents receiving financial aid. Discussions around how schools can help these families feel more connected and involved as they navigated the financial aid process together was particularly noteworthy for our team.

Both workshops provided an important reminder about the mission of schools and the need to create access for middle and lower income families.

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2. Need for More Professional Development in Financial Aid

With a rising number of business owners applying for financial aid, the wealthening of the applicant pool, increasing tuition costs, and a decreasing birth rate (leading to greater competition between schools), the role of financial aid within schools has shifted to one that requires more professional development. Gone are the days (for most schools) when entire markets saw waitlists stretching around the corner. Now, instead, the question of affordability often preempts the question of fit for families exploring tuition-based schools. The offering from EMA, in partnership with Mission Enrollment, of a set of financial-aid-specific sessions at the beginning of the conference signals a great start, but there is, of course, more work to be done. 

The stronger presence of presentations exploring topics around financial aid at this year’s Annual Conference was also a positive sign. We heard from client schools their appreciation of this and the necessity for it to keep evolving. The need for professional development for financial aid practitioners is a big reason why Clarity’s Client Success team is solely composed of former financial aid professionals who can proactively use their expertise to support our client schools. At Clarity, we are committed to offering as much professional development in the financial aid space as possible, working with organizations like EMA, Mission Enrollment, and AISAP to bring content and resources to the industry.

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3. Clarity Enthusiasm

When we showed up to our first EMA Annual Conference in September of 2022, we had a handful over 150 client schools. Just two years later, we are proud to serve close to 1000 schools, and the energy and enthusiasm that our CSM team experienced was deeply humbling. As guides, consultants, and friendly shoulders to lean on for our client schools, it is truly rewarding to connect in person with the schools we see mostly in virtual calls. 

Lauren Lewis, a new CSM on the Clarity team, captured the sentiment perfectly: “When I was on the other side as a Clarity school user, I remember how important the relationship with my CSM was. At the conference, I was able to speak with many of the folks from my client schools, and they got to see me as a real person they can relate to, as opposed to simply a face on a screen.” 

We heard from many schools how transformative Clarity has been in their financial aid processes, and it only adds to the motivation for us to continue innovating and bringing transformative products and insights to the K12 community.