Customer Story: Canisius University
August 21, 2025
First Year Experience & Orientation Guide
August 22, 2025Customer Story: Canisius University
August 21, 2025First Year Experience & Orientation Guide
August 22, 2025Summary
Students in Opportunity Programs face some of the most complex financial realities in higher education. Many are the first in their families to attend college, managing multiple aid sources with little guidance and no safety net at home. For institutions, this creates higher costs for wraparound support and greater risk of attrition.
Arbol provides a unified platform that simplifies the financial journey, connects students to resources, and gives staff the tools to intervene earlier. The result is stronger persistence, higher retention, and greater institutional stability.
The Student Challenge
- Navigating complex requirements like FAFSA, state aid forms, and EOP checklists is overwhelming for first time students.
- Financial and academic supports are scattered across multiple offices, making it difficult to deliver coordinated care.
- Wraparound support is expensive and hard to scale as more high need students enroll.
- The result: declining persistence, higher intervention costs, and lost tuition revenue.
The Institutional Challenge
- Navigating complex requirements like FAFSA, state aid forms, and EOP checklists is overwhelming for first time students.
- Out of pocket expenses, living costs, and borrowing implications are often unclear.
- Even when tuition bills are covered, mismanaged refund checks or unplanned living expenses can lead to basic needs insecurity.
- Students who fall behind risk losing aid, accruing balances, and facing registration holds that disrupt their path to graduation.
Solution with Arbol
- Automated Financial Advisor: Ensures students meet aid requirements and deadlines with timely reminders.
- Personalized Roadmap: Gives every student a clear financial pathway that includes aid, costs, and living expenses.
- Proactive Alerts: Surfaces risks such as eligibility loss or registration holds before they escalate.
- Coordinated Staff Support: Aligns Opportunity Program leaders, financial aid, and advising on one platform.
- Resource Connection: Matches students to scholarships, emergency funds, and campus supports based on their profile.
How It Works
- Onboarding – Students receive a consolidated view of aid, costs, and financial obligations from day one.
- Guided Prompts – Students get reminders to complete forms, budget refund checks, and plan for upcoming expenses.
- Early Detection – Staff dashboards flag risks before they disrupt eligibility or enrollment.
- Coordinated Care – Opportunity Program staff, advising, and financial aid work from the same platform.
- Resource Matching – When gaps appear, students are routed to available resources like scholarships, emergency funds, or food support.
Impact You Can Expect
- Higher persistence and retention for first generation and underserved students.
- Lower staff burden through automation of manual checklists and outreach.
- Protected tuition revenue by reducing stop outs tied to financial barriers.
- A scalable model for wraparound support without adding headcount.
Case Study: Buffalo State University – Roar2Success
Buffalo State was recruiting a growing number of students from high need backgrounds. While the Roar2Success Program provided strong academic and social supports, financial challenges remained the biggest barrier to persistence through the first two years.
With Arbol, Buffalo State:
- Detected financial risks earlier and intervened before they escalated.
- Provided every Roar2Success student with a personalized financial roadmap.
- Replaced manual diligence with streamlined workflows.
- Connected students to emergency funds and scholarships when needed.
- Enabled staff to support more students without adding headcount.
Result: Persistence and retention improved across vulnerable student populations, staff efficiency increased, and Buffalo State scaled its ability to serve more students equitably.
Shawnte Wilson, Director of Student Success and Retention: "With Arbol, our Roar2Success students no longer face the financial journey alone. They have a clear pathway, timely reminders, and access to the right resources — while our staff can focus on guiding the most complex cases. Arbol has become a cornerstone of how we drive persistence at Buffalo State."