AI-Powered Financial Aid Automation Improves Efficiency, Accuracy, and Student Support
DePaul University is the largest Catholic university in the U.S. Nationally recognized leader in student-centered education, DePaul serves a diverse student population committed to academic success and equity. Since financial aid remains one of the most critical yet complex touchpoints in the student lifecycle, DePaul sought an AI-powered, scalable solution for its internal operations while preserving compliance, accuracy, and empathetic communication.
Partnering with Cloud for Good, DePaul implemented a Financial Aid Counselor Assistant Agent using Salesforce Agentforce, built on Salesforce Education Cloud and powered by Salesforce Data Cloud. The result: a governed, AI-driven financial aid support system that streamlines internal workflows and enhances the student experience.
The Challenge: Managing Financial Aid Complexity at Scale
Higher education institutions face increasing operational pressure in financial aid management, particularly as FAFSA regulations evolve and student expectations for rapid response grow.
At DePaul, the Financial Aid team identified key challenges:
- Difficulty hiring and upskilling financial aid counselors in a complex regulatory environment
- Annual FAFSA rule changes increase the risk of inconsistent or outdated information
- Nuanced conversations with students and families requiring balanced policy precision and empathetic tone
- Knowledge and best practices are dispersed across multiple repositories and systems
During peak periods, counselors may handle 30–40 student inquiries per day. Investigating each case often requires navigating multiple systems and policy websites, with individual research tasks commonly taking 5–20 minutes, depending on complexity.
“Financial aid is one of the most complex and sensitive areas we manage. Our counselors were spending significant time navigating multiple systems and policy sources just to answer a single student inquiry, which limited how much time they could dedicate to advising.” – Bob Cormick, Vice President for Information Services, DePaul University
This fragmented workflow limited scalability and reduced time available for high-value student advising.
The Solution: Salesforce Agentforce for Financial Aid Teams
Core Capabilities
1. Automated Student Financial Aid Summaries
The agent generates consolidated student views, including:
- Academic program and enrollment information
- Term-based balances
- Service indicators and holds
- Financial aid status details
Previously, assembling this information required navigating multiple system tabs. The agent consolidates it into a single structured summary, accelerating decision-making and reducing manual system navigation.
2. Intelligent Action Plans for Financial Aid Scenarios
Using contextual student data, the agent:
- Identifies relevant financial aid scenarios, such as SAP issues, FAFSA renewals, and loan status updates
- Recommends next steps aligned with institutional policy
- Links directly to supporting Knowledge Articles
Counselors can also request draft communications based on the action plan, improving consistency and saving time.
3. AI-Powered Policy & Knowledge Search
The agent supports:
- Consolidated internal Knowledge Article search
- Simultaneous search across approved policy sources, including FAFSA-related websites
- Responses with direct source links for verification
This eliminates the need to manually search multiple external sites or consult other teams for clarification.
“With Agentforce, we now have a single place to access student information, policy guidance, and next steps. It has fundamentally changed how our team approaches case resolution and daily workflows.” – Bob Cormick, Vice President for Information Services, DePaul University
Responsible AI in Higher Education
Because financial aid operations require strict compliance and student trust, Cloud for Good configured robust AI guardrails, including:
- Empathetic tone guidance
- Bias-awareness prompts
- Internal-source grounding
- Confidential data protections
- Explicit exclusions such as tax advice
By embedding these controls within Salesforce Education Cloud, DePaul ensured AI governance aligned with institutional and federal standards.
Implementation Approach: Sprint-Based Delivery with Adoption Focus
Cloud for Good delivered the Agentforce implementation over a structured 12-week engagement:
- Planning & Discovery
- Iterative sprint-based build
- Pilot group testing
- Knowledge transfer and go-live support
This agile approach ensured continuous feedback, refined outputs, and strong internal adoption.
“From strategy to pilot testing and training, Cloud for Good supported us every step of the way. Their structured approach ensured strong adoption across our financial aid team and positioned us for future expansion.” – Bob Cormick, Vice President for Information Services, DePaul University
Results: Early Adoption and Operational Gains
Following go-live, DePaul observed strong internal engagement:
- Approximately 250 agent requests submitted within the first week
- Nearly 40 internal users actively leveraging the tool
- Most-used features: Student Summary generation and Action Plans
Workflow mapping conducted during implementation identified measurable efficiency opportunities:
- Reduction in repetitive research tasks previously taking 5–20 minutes per inquiry
- Decreased cross-team interruptions for policy clarification
- Potential to increase daily case resolution capacity by up to 20–30 additional cases per day during peak periods
By consolidating institutional knowledge and automating context-aware guidance, DePaul improved internal productivity while enhancing consistency in student communications.
“We’ve moved from a fragmented, search-heavy process to a more streamlined and intelligent model. This allows our team to respond faster, stay consistent with policy, and ultimately provide better support to our students.” – Bob Cormick, Vice President for Information Services, DePaul University
Strategic Impact: Advancing Digital Transformation in Higher Education
As one of the early Salesforce Agentforce implementations in higher education, DePaul’s Financial Aid Assistant Agent establishes a scalable framework for:
- AI-driven student services
- Financial aid automation
- Education Cloud optimization
- Data Cloud-powered decision support
- Higher-Ed digital transformation
With a governed AI foundation in place, DePaul is positioned to explore future expansion into student-facing AI experiences. It’s looking into extending the benefits of streamlined policy access and contextual guidance directly to learners.
| Area | Before Agentforce | After Agentforce |
|---|---|---|
| Speed and Capacity | ||
| Time per inquiry | 5 to 30 minutes per case | Instant Structured answers surfaced in real time |
| Daily case capacity | 30 to 40 cases per day during peak periods | +20 to 30 cases/day Opportunity to expand capacity through AI-assisted handling |
| Systems accessed per case | Up to 4 external sites plus wiki, Drive, and Knowledge Articles | 1 Environment All data consolidated inside Salesforce |
| Staff Workflow | ||
| Student summary | Manual tab navigation across systems | Automated Enrollment, balances, holds, and service indicators in one view |
| Financial aid review | Retrieved across multiple pages, cross-checked manually | Automated Consolidated offer view generated automatically |
| Action plan creation | Policy interpreted and steps drafted from scratch each time | AI-Generated Plans aligned to institutional policy, ready to review |
| Email drafting | Manual composition every time | AI-Assisted Drafts aligned to tone and compliance guardrails |
| Visibility and Resolution | ||
| Hidden issue detection | Reactive, dependent on what staff knew to search for | Proactive SAP issues, blockers, and missing steps surfaced automatically |
| Cross-team interruptions | Frequent follow-ups to locate documents and clarifications | Reduced Self-service guidance cuts internal back-and-forth |
“ Cloud for Good helped us move from a fragmented, search-based workflow to an AI-enabled model that prioritizes student engagement. By consolidating our data and institutional knowledge into Salesforce, we’ve strengthened both operational efficiency and the consistency of support our students receive.” – Bob Cormick, Vice President for Information Services, DePaul University
Why Cloud for Good
DePaul selected Cloud for Good based on:
- A strong ongoing Managed Services partnership
- Proven expertise in Salesforce Education Cloud and Data Cloud
- Thought leadership in AI for higher education
By combining deep Salesforce expertise with domain knowledge in higher education, Cloud for Good delivered a secure, scalable, and mission-aligned AI solution.
Lead the Future of AI in Higher Education
Institutions that act now are redefining what modern student support looks like.
Like DePaul, you can move beyond fragmented systems and manual workflows to deliver AI-powered financial aid operations that increase efficiency, strengthen governance, and elevate the student experience.
The question isn’t whether AI will reshape higher education, but whether your institution will lead or follow.
Partner with Cloud for Good to build a governed, scalable AI strategy that positions your institution at the forefront of digital transformation.