Millions of views helped save students millions of dollars.
There are a lot of myths around financial aid. In fact, when the Department of Education came to Huge, 20% of college students weren’t applying for it simply because they thought they wouldn’t qualify. So we partnered with master-debunker Adam Conover (and SNL’s Ego Nwodim) to set the record straight.
It’s not what you say, it’s how you say it.
While the Dept. of Ed had tried to dispel the widespread myths around financial aid before, their most succinct and successful tool to date had been a pdf which they posted to their social channels. Very few students downloaded (much less read) the pdf. That said, all the content was there—it just needed a far more compelling format. Adam Ruins Everything was the perfect fit. The popular College Humor and TruTV series was well loved among teens and 20-somethings for its sardonic ability to deconstruct complicated and controversial issues.
An engaging primer on financial aid. A 21% increase in applications.
Within days of being posted on CollegeHumor’s YouTube page, the video received over two million views. More importantly, FAFSA completions increased 21% versus the year prior. We had hoped the partnership would continue, but the DeVos administration had other ideas. While the video is no longer live, Adam Conover is now working with the Obama’s Higher Ground Productions on a Netflix series called “The G Word” that explores the workings of the government.