Background
The City University of New York’s Financial Aid Support Team (CUNY FAST) works to support students in their completion of the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA®), the New York State Tuition Assistance Program (TAP), and the Dream Act applications. This program was founded in 2024, in response to the setbacks and difficulties created by the delayed roll out of the FAFSA and the “Better FAFSA” initiative. CUNY FAST has partnered with New York City Public Schools, the State University of New York (SUNY) system and more to connect with high school and college students throughout the area. Since the birth of the program just a year ago, CUNY FAST has helped submit 100,000 FAFSA forms.
Challenges
There were three major challenges that CUNY FAST wished to address with Grouptrail. First, they needed a way for students to directly access the help that was available to them. Second, they needed a way to send reminders and ensure that students were made aware of the help that they could provide. Lastly, they needed an effective way to track their work, and provide necessary follow-ups. Completion of these applications often consist of challenges that cannot be overcome in a single session; therefore, it was necessary to be able to track and contact students quickly and effectively.
Solution
Grouptrail addressed these challenges by working with CUNY FAST to develop a single-sign-on texting system. Through the texting system, they are able to reach out to each of their students with reminders and updates. This provides a direct way for them to communicate with students. CUNY FAST has said that the ability to customize fields within Grouptrail has been an invaluable feature. In addition, students can sign-on to the Grouptrail website that allows current CUNY students to view their college credentials. This also provides them with a form that they can fill out to request the kind of help that they need. This help can then be sent out through the texting system - a quick, impactful, and direct way to communicate with students. Grouptrail has also helped centralize the data, making it easier to track students and their interactions along the way. This has facilitated the tracking of student engagement and follow-ups, allowing CUNY FAST to make the strongest impact possible.
Benefits
Grouptrail’s help in generating targeted texting outreach to students has significantly increased participation in FAFSA completion events. The texting outreach facilitated by Grouptrail has helped CUNY FAST in achieving the goal of 100,000 FAFSA forms completed with their help. Additionally, the improved data tracking methods that the Grouptrail platform has provided have helped demonstrate the impact and importance of the program’s work. CUNY FAST Project Director, Shaquinah Wright, has stated that: “We truly appreciate the collaborative partnership we’ve had with Grouptrail. They didn’t just create a database system for us; they helped us carefully consider our needs, workflows, and how we wanted to utilize the data to make a meaningful impact on our students.”
CUNY received the Higher Education Innovation Award from the National Partnership for Student Success in recognition of the CUNY FAST launch and impact. The University’s initiative also supports seven campuses in setting Federal Work Study goals, placing more college students as paid mentors and tutors for high school students. Dean of CUNY’s K16 Initiatives, Andrea Soonachan, and College and Career Bridge Program Director, Daitwan David, proudly accepted the award from U.S. Deputy Secretary of Education Cindy Marten in Washington, D.C.