Financial-aid academic progress was evaluated once a year, so struggling students got no warning until the aid was already gone — made worse by a portal status label ("Undetermined") that a predictable wave of students misread every spring as "you've lost your aid." I built a horizontal swimlane journey map to pinpoint exactly where the ambiguity originates, then paired the problem statement with a business case modeling the directional cost of delayed intervention. I proposed a phased fix: a low-lift language rewrite shippable immediately, and a structural redesign separating eligibility from academic standing with a term-by-term monitoring dashboard. Connecting the label to enrollment-risk exposure turned a technical UX request into a business rationale leadership could fund, with a pilot recommendation to test the intervention with success coaches.
Student Portal Redesign
Redesigning a status label — and the once-a-year process behind it
