FWIW: On grid communications can be made fairly secure with GPG/PGP ( https://gnupg.org/ ). The 4096 bit key is pretty secure and will keep most folks out of your business. Using encrypted messaging on the Internet may raise eyebrows though.
Encryption is the norm in many college/educational email accounts ( .edu ). Less chance of being singled out on encryption here. You can get an account at many colleges by just requesting an application to the school, although you may have to pay a fee.
Encryption of information is an entirely different topic from performing digital communications (In this case SMS) without a grid.