Key Takeaways 

• Clarity's financial aid application is built to be customized, so schools can shape the process around their own policies rather than working around a rigid system.
• Schools can set conditional rules that automatically request specific documents based on a family's financial profile, like tax forms for business owners or pay stubs for new families.
• These rules reduce back-and-forth by collecting the right documentation upfront, before gaps in the application slow things down.
• With more than 20 customizable methodology settings, Clarity gives schools the flexibility to tailor the financial aid process to their mission, market, and values.

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At Clarity, we understand that every school is unique and has its own challenges when it comes to the financial aid process. That’s why we created a responsive application that can be customized by each school based on their individual needs. This means that schools have the flexibility to create their own “rules” to simplify the financial aid process and align their awards with their market, mission, and value.  

To give you a better idea of how this works, the Client Success Team put our heads together to come up with our “Top 5" most commonly used rules for families whose financial profiles fall outside the norm. Of course, it will be up to you to decide which rules best align with your school’s methodology.

1. S-Corp Owners: If Owns Business Type includes S-Corporation, then require Form 1120S, with all schedules, statements, and K-1s from S-Corp owners.
2. Partnership Owners: If Owns Business Type includes Partnership Agreement, then require Form 1065, with all schedules, statements, and K-1s from Partnership owners.
3. Non-US Tax Filers: If Tax Filing Status equals Did not file US taxes, then require a letter from employer stating salary and benefits; some schools also require the Clarity International Supplement and/or a recent pay stub.
4. New Families: If Family Status equals New, then require a recent pay stub.
5. Requesting Current-Year W2s: If Household Salaries in Wages > 0 for the current year, then require current-year W2s to confirm parent-reported salaries.

Clarity’s rules functionality takes customization a step further by allowing schools to write conditional requests for any custom document they’d like from families. With more than 20 customizable methodology settings, the possibilities are endless.

As we get deeper into the financial aid season, we will continue to share real-life examples of how our clients are removing barriers and streamlining the financial aid process with Clarity.

[Editor's note: This blog was originally posted on October 19th, 2022. Molly has updated it to reflect changes to the platform (because she's awesome like that).]