RNL enrollment and financial aid models
It is a clone of this request.
Tracking # |
22-053 |
Submitted | March 9, 2022 |
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Communications
From: Todd Feathers
To Whom It May Concern:
Pursuant to the New York Freedom of Information Law, I hereby request the following records:
1) All contracts with Ruffalo, Noel, Levitz (RNL) since Jan. 1, 2018 for enrollment management and financial aid optimization services.
2) The following documents/reports provided to the university by RNL since Jan. 1, 2018:
- ForecastPlus model reports for the prospect model, inquiry model, and admit model . I have attached an example of one of these reports from the University of Nebraska-Kearney, for your reference.
- Historical Research & Competitor Benchmarking reports. RNL describes these documents as "a comprehensive investigation of undergraduate student enrollment behaviors related to their needs, academic credentials, population segments, and financial aid offers (approximately 100+ pages)."
- Econometric Modeling reports. RNL describes these models as "logistic regression models based on two or three years of historical information and the goal is to understand ... how student variables, such as household income, ZIP code, academic profile, etc. interact with one another, so we can predict how changes in some variables will affect the future course of others."
- Revenue Optimization & Simulation reports. RNL describes this service thusly: "this tool determines the appropriate amount of financial aid—down to the student level—and creates a series of optimized awarding parameters that can influence the recommended awarding structure."
3) De-identified copies of all enrollment and financial aid model datasets received from RNL for 2021-2022 school year applicants, containing:
- All non-identifiable variables for each applicant that the university supplies to RNL for the purpose of building and training its predictive models (i.e., GPAs, majors, test scores, etc.)
AND
- All output data fields (i.e., model scores, receptivity scores, lead categories, etc.) generated by RNL's predictive models for each applicant.
With regards to item 3 of my request, please note that I am asking for a de-identified data set that does not include fields that could be used to identify an individual applicant (e.g., name, address, SSN). These fields can easily be redacted by deleting those columns from the responsive spreadsheet.
I ask that all fees be waived as intend to use the requested records to further public understanding of public agencies and not for any commercial purpose. In the event you choose to impose fees, I request a detailed breakdown of the fees, including the hourly wage of each employee involved and an explanation justifying the employee hours required to fulfill the request.
Should you choose to reject this request or redact portions of responsive documents, I ask that you provide a detailed breakdown of the statutory exemptions and associated case law underlying your decision to withhold each/any portions from public review.
The requested documents will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes.
In the event that there are fees, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not.
Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 5 business days, as the statute requires.
Sincerely,
Todd Feathers
From: State University of New York at Buffalo
Mr. Feathers,
I acknowledge your Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) request. I am working with our campus partners to gather the information. Once received, I will review and release any responsive documents. I anticipate this process to take several weeks. You can expect to hear back from me by 04/06/2022. Should you wish to follow up on this request, please reference FOIL 22-053.
Thank you,
Shannon Davis
FOIL Administrator
University at Buffalo
ubfoil@buffalo.edu<mailto:ubfoil@buffalo.edu>
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~WRD0000
From: Muckrock Staff
To Whom It May Concern:
I'm following up on the following New York Freedom of Information Law request, copied below, and originally submitted on March 9, 2022. You previously indicated that it would be completed on April 6, 2022. I wanted to let you know that I am still interested in the following documents, and to see if that date was still accurate. You had assigned it reference number #22-053.
Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.
From: State University of New York at Buffalo
MuckRock News,
In response to your FOIL request, I provide the following information in red text:
1) All contracts with Ruffalo, Noel, Levitz (RNL) since Jan. 1, 2018 for enrollment management and financial aid optimization services.
Attached. These documents has been redacted in accordance with FOIL section 87(2)(d), “are trade secrets or are submitted to an agency by a commercial enterprise or derived from information obtained from a commercial enterprise and which if disclosed would cause substantial injury to the competitive position of the subject enterprise.”
2) The following documents/reports provided to the university by RNL since Jan. 1, 2018:
- ForecastPlus model reports for the prospect model, inquiry model, and admit model .
- Historical Research & Competitor Benchmarking reports.
- Econometric Modeling reports.
- Revenue Optimization & Simulation reports
There are no records that match the reports requested, therefore there are no responsive documents.
3) De-identified copies of all enrollment and financial aid model datasets received from RNL for 2021-2022 school year applicants, containing:
- All non-identifiable variables for each applicant that the university supplies to RNL for the purpose of building and training its predictive models (i.e., GPAs, majors, test scores, etc.)
- All output data fields (i.e., model scores, receptivity scores, lead categories, etc.) generated by RNL's predictive models for each applicant.
There are no records that match the request, therefore there are no responsive documents.
Should you wish to appeal this decision, you must do so within 30 days of this decision. Appeals must be sent to:
Aaron Gladd
FOIL Appeals Officer
The State University of New York
H. Carl McCall SUNY Building – 353 Broadway
Albany, NY 12246
Thank you,
Shannon Davis
FOIL Administrator
University at Buffalo
ubfoil@buffalo.edu<mailto:ubfoil@buffalo.edu>
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