Always say what happens next.

A message that states a problem without a next step leaves the reader stranded.

A difficult message that ends at the bad news is incomplete. The reader is now holding a problem, no sense of scale, no idea whether anything is already in motion and no clear action available to them. Into that vacuum goes worry, and worry generates a reply that arrives with far more force than the original matter warranted. The next step is not an optional courtesy. It is the part that makes the message usable.

Next steps come in three kinds and it helps to be explicit about which applies. There is what you will do, with a rough timeframe. There is what the student will do, in specific terms. There is what you are asking the family to do, which may be nothing at all, and saying so plainly removes a burden they would otherwise assume. If the honest answer is that you do not yet know, that is a legitimate next step in itself, provided you say when you expect to know.

Timeframes should be ones you can keep. A promise to follow up this week, quietly missed, does more damage than the original news, because it converts a matter of academic concern into a matter of whether you do what you say. Give yourself room, then meet it. Meeting a modest commitment reliably builds more confidence than an ambitious one delivered late.