EMU’s financial aid notification packet has a new look, and people are starting to notice.

The packet of information, mailed to every admitted undergraduate student with a FAFSA on file at EMU, simplifies the often complicated financial aid process by outlining the total aid offered and the costs students will be expected to cover. It includes information on grants, scholarships, and loans, as well as direct and indirect costs of an education at EMU.

Once a drab bundle of letters and forms, the financial aid notification packet has been delightfully redesigned through a collaboration between EMU’s marketing and communications department and Farmville, Virginia-based marketing agency .

The new-and-improved “FAN packet” features the design of a sunrise over the familiar Massanutten Mountain ridgeline and bright, attention-grabbing colors. It also uses friendly, approachable typefaces with bold, easy-to-read text. Each packet comes with a set of EMU-branded stickers, perfect for laptops, phone cases, water bottles, and notebooks.

It’s anything but ordinary, reflecting EMU’s unique and diverse campus, its commitment to providing a transformative and accessible education, and the care it puts into supporting students and families through the financial aid process.

“This project was all about transparency, organization, and user-focused design: helping students and families navigate an important decision with confidence,” reads a Facebook post from Letterpress Communications.

EMU’s marketing and communications department teamed up with Farmville-based Letterpress Communications to design its reimagined financial aid notification packet.

Best of Show

Representatives from the marketing agency attended the Southwest Virginia American Advertising Awards in Abingdon, Virginia, on Feb. 28. There, EMU’s FAN packet won a Gold ADDY, a top honor in the advertising industry, as well as the Best of Show award, recognizing it as the best overall piece in the competition.

It will now compete at the district level against Gold ADDY winners from Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina. If the FAN packet wins gold at the district level (winners are announced in April), it will advance to the national competition in June.

“This is truly terrific news,” said Braydon Hoover ’11, MAOL ’21, vice president of enrollment and marketing. “For the nearly 1,000 students and families who have already received the FAN packet, this award demonstrates just how special the financial aid process is here at EMU.”

“We are committed to doing everything we can to make the financial aid process as simple and understandable as possible,” said Troy Martin, director of financial aid for EMU. “The next step, if you’ve received a FAN packet and haven’t done so already, is to review it with your family and your admissions counselor.”

For more information about your financial aid notification, visit .

Note (October 2025): The adjusted gross family income threshold for eligibility to receive the Promise Grant has increased to below $75,000.

With just about everything rising in price these days, EMU is ensuring that a quality college education is within reach of more students than ever before, thanks to its new Promise Grant initiative. 

The EMU Promise Grant, which takes effect during the fall 2024 semester, fully covers the tuition costs for Virginia residents whose adjusted gross family incomes are under $65,000. It is for first-time, full-time undergraduate students. For more details about EMU Promise Grant eligibility, and a sample of frequently asked questions, visit emu.edu/promise-grant. 

Mary Jensen, vice president of enrollment and strategic growth, first unveiled the EMU Promise Grant to the public at Saturday’s Admitted Student Day. She said the new initiative is one way EMU is embodying its vision of opening new pathways of access and achievement, a vision outlined in the university’s 2023-2028 strategic plan, Pathways of Promise: Preparing Tomorrow’s Unifying Leaders.

“It’s part of our recognition of the rising costs that are real,” she said. “We want to make sure the most vulnerable, the most marginalized, those who have the least access, aren’t as impacted by the fact that everything costs more.”

Not only does the EMU Promise Grant create access to education, but it also shows college-bound students that an EMU education is more affordable than they may have thought. After all, the average net cost for an EMU student in 2022-2023 was just $15,309.  

“A lot of students assume a private college is not affordable, so they don’t consider it… they don’t even entertain the possibility,” Jensen said. “We hope this grant will encourage people to consider a private college and put EMU on their list of possibilities.”

In comparison to schools that offer a similar type of promise grant, EMU’s is among the most generous and with the fewest restrictions. EMU’s income threshold for promise grant eligibility is significantly higher, and more accepting, than comparable ODAC member schools. Other schools require that promise grant students pay room and board costs to live on campus. Under the EMU Promise Grant, students can choose to live at home within 30 miles of the Harrisonburg, Virginia, campus and still receive the award. And, there is no minimum high school GPA requirement to receive the EMU Promise Grant, unlike some other schools’ programs.

One of the best parts about the EMU Promise Grant is that students don’t even need to apply for it. If they qualify, they will automatically receive their tuition paid for (after state, federal, and institutional grants or scholarships have been awarded).

February coincides with Financial Aid Awareness Month, a time when many in the higher education community provide crucial information to students and families about access to federal, state and institutional aid. Now that the word is officially out about the EMU Promise Grant, Jensen said undergraduate admissions counselors are eager to let students know about the new program.

“They’re very excited to tell students they’re working with, ‘If your family is eligible for this grant, we have some really good news for you,’” she said.

Super Saturday is one of VASFAA’s annual service projects where individuals seeking funding for post-secondary education can receive FREE, one-on-one assistance in completing the Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) form. The FAFSA is used by colleges, universities and career-technical schools across the country to determine eligibility for student federal financial aid.

VASFAA is hosting more than 60 Super Saturday sites at high schools, colleges, and community and civic centers across the Commonwealth of Virginia.  Each Super Saturday site will offer two financial aid presentations to discuss and simplify the federal and state financial aid process.

Participating sites will also have computers available for students and parents to apply for federal aid electronically, along with volunteer financial aid experts to assist.

This event is open to students and parents of all grade levels, including returning college students and those interested in .

The focus of Super Saturday is to offer one-on-one assistance in completing the FAFSA.  Once the student leaves this event, he/she will have initiated the financial aid process for any college they are interested in attending and will have met the priority filing date for most Virginia colleges.

VASFAA understands that the financial aid process can be daunting. We hope that by offering this opportunity to students and parents, we can help ease this process for hundreds of Virginia residents.

As an incentive for attending Super Saturday, students will have chance to win a $100 Book Scholarship. A Book Scholarship will be awarded to one student at each Super Saturday site to be used at the winner’s college of choice during the 2012-13 academic year.

For more information about Super Saturday 2012, visit .

VASFAA is an organization of individuals who administer financial aid programs or who are otherwise active in a financial aid-related profession. Its mission is to maintain an organization that promotes the professional growth and collaboration of its members in order to serve fairly the needs of students, families, and institutions in matters related to financial and informational resources that support students’ post-secondary education goals.  The organization is determined to help students pursue and attain their educational goals.