Admission and enrollment teams are seeing a growing challenge: more families are applying for financial aid, earning higher incomes, and still saying, “we can’t make this work.” This “middle class squeeze” is reshaping the enrollment landscape—driving increased aid demand, more frequent appeals, longer decision timelines, and added pressure on yield. As schools stretch limited aid budgets across a broader range of families, those in the middle are often the hardest to enroll. In this session, we’ll ground the conversation in key demographic and Clarity application data trends, then distinguish on what matters most for enrollment teams: how to more effectively illustrate value and affordability with middle-income families, and how to plan for the conversations that most often stall or derail enrollment decisions. Participants will leave with a clearer understanding of this population and a more focused, practical plan for converting middle-income families in an increasingly competitive environment.