First-generation college students experience a sense of unfamiliarity and uncertainty around navigating college as soon as they begin interacting with institutions. Once accepted, they receive an influx of communication about important topics such as financial aid and course registration. They are directed to institutional webpages that are often filled with inaccessible words and higher education jargon.
Do you speak higher ed?
Consider how unfamiliar words like “prerequisite,” “syllabus,” and “registrar” would be to someone with no experience in higher education. Not only does this make completing tasks confusing and more difficult, it can also reinforce feelings of not belonging that often hinder first-generation college students’ transition.
This resource is part of the Clearly Communicate Price and Financial Aid Roadmap. Access the Roadmap for stepwise guidance with additional tools and research.
70%
A study found that 70 percent of students were confused by higher education terms on community colleges’ institutional websites. While this study focused on community college students, the results would likely be similar if replicated at four-year institutions.
There will be a learning curve for first-generation college students as they acclimate to their institutions. Institutions need to make the language used in initial interactions less confusing so these students will be more likely to be successful.
What is the Gunning Fog Index?
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill completed a “translation exercise” for some of their most accessed campus resources for incoming students. They used the Gunning Fog Index (GFI) to evaluate their communications. The GFI is an online tool that generates a score indicating the reading level necessary to comprehend that text.
The financial aid text that UNC entered generated a score indicating that someone would need a partial college education in order to comprehend the text. After rewriting it with guidelines provided by Gunning Fog, their new description was classified as “widely accessible.”
The Carolina Computing Initiative ensures that students have access to high-quality and affordable technology. Through CCI, all students are required to own a laptop computer, and grants are available to help eligible students purchase their laptops.
Gunning Fog Index Score: 17.2
UNC requires you to have a laptop computer. If you can’t afford one, grants are available.
Gunning Fog Index Score: 10.7
As a general frame of reference, Gunning Fog recommends a score of 12 or less for text that is intended for a wide audience, and less than 8 to be near universal.
3 steps to reduce jargon
To create more accessible text, follow these recommendations:
- Bring down words per sentence
- Minimize complex words
- Reduce proper nouns and familiar jargon
These steps are especially helpful for colleges who serve a number of students from families with no post secondary education and/or non-native English speaking families.
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