EAB financial aid optimization documents

To Whom It May Concern:

Pursuant to the Vermont Public Records Act, I hereby request the following records:

1) The university’s contract(s) with EAB for financial aid optimization and enrollment management services.

2) All financial aid optimization analyses performed by EAB and provided to the university from the beginning of the university’s contract until the present.

3) All aggregated data analysis reports or documents provided to the university by EAB regarding financial aid and enrollment

4) Documentation of the financial aid optimization and/or enrollment management statistical model(s) built for the university by EAB. This should include any documents describing the variables incorporated into the model(s) and how those variables are weighted, the model(s)' accuracy metrics (such as AUC), the model(s)' parameters, the machine learning techniques employed, and any validation or disparate impact analyses performed.

5) A de-identified copy of the input and output data from any EAB enrollment and/or financial aid models used by the university for the 2021-2022 incoming class. This should include fields for all predictions/outputs made by the models (e.g., that a student is less likely, neutral, likely, etc. to attend if admitted) as well as fields for all university-supplied input data used to generate those predictions (e.g., GPA, zip code, test scores, race, major, etc.). Please note, I am not asking for any personally identifiable information about students. Rather, I'm asking for a copy of the dataset that excludes identifiable information such as student names and street addresses. This can easily be done by removing those columns from the spreadsheet.

I ask that all fees be waived as I am a journalist and intend to use the requested records to publish articles in the public interest. 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 it, 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 3 business days, as the statute requires.

Sincerely,

Todd Feathers