TU-2622 Integrated Student Experience, Degree Planning, and Advising.pdf

Request for Information (RFI) Procurement

RFI - towson.edu/procurement

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RFI ISSUE DATE: March 2, 2026

RFI TITLE: Integrated Student Experience, Degree Planning, and Advising

RFI NO.: TU-2622

DEADLINE FOR QUESTIONS: March 13, 2026, at 2:00 PM Eastern Time

RFI DUE DATE AND TIME: March 23, 2026, at 2:00 PM Eastern Time

ISSUING OFFICE

Procurement Department Procurement Officer: Dominic Edet Email Address: dedet@towson.edu Phone Number: 410-704-3492 Towson University 8000 York Road Towson, MD 21252

DIRECT QUESTIONS TO: Dominic Edet via email at dedet@towson.edu.

RESPONSES: Responses are to be submitted via email to bids@towson.edu by the RFI due date and time.

PROJECT OVERVIEW

Towson University (TU) is seeking information from qualified vendors regarding their recommendations for modernizing and streamlining the student experience from first inquiry through graduation. To achieve this, TU is exploring solutions, potentially involving AI, that enhance communication, advising, enrollment, curriculum planning, degree progress visibility, and overall student success. This RFI is intended to gather market intelligence and understand the capabilities of potential vendors available to share information about their tools, platforms, or integrated ecosystems that can significantly elevate TU’s student experience while working within or alongside TU’s existing systems, including PeopleSoft Campus Solutions and Blackboard.

TU is seeking information only. The requirements stated in this RFI may not accurately reflect those which may be contained in a Request for Proposal, Invitation for Bid, or other procurement vehicle. This issuance does not constitute a commitment to issue a request for bids, award a contract, or pay any costs incurred in preparation of a response to this request. Furthermore, TU requires that all responding vendors abstain from providing any quotes in response to this RFI. Should TU decide to move forward with the services, a formal solicitation may be issued.

BACKGROUND

Towson University is the largest university in the Baltimore area, and the second-largest university in the University System of Maryland. Located in Towson, MD, a suburb of Baltimore, the university has 19,500 undergraduate and graduate students and more than 3,100 faculty and staff. For a profile of the University, see https://www.towson.edu/about.

PROJECT GOALS

The goal of this project is to provide students with clear, flexible academic pathways, personalized support, proactive guidance, and simple, intuitive digital tools.

mailto:dedet@towson.edu mailto:dedet@towson.edu mailto:bids@towson.edu https://www.towson.edu/about

RFI- towson.edu/procurement Page | 2

A. PROJECT OBJECTIVE

The purpose of this RFI is to explore solutions, potentially involving AI, that enhance communication, advising, enrollment, curriculum planning, degree progress visibility, and overall student success and shall focus on the following areas:

1. Creating a Modern, Student-Centered Degree Pathway

• Enable students to view a full academic journey from today through graduation.

• Support dynamic updates when students modify majors, minors, or course selections.

• Integrate curriculum changes and alert faculty to the impacts of proposed modifications.

• Identify additional opportunities for majors or minors based on completed coursework.

• Offer career-aligned and co-curricular recommendations.

• Coordinate degree planning and graduation processing so that only a single set of degree requirements is maintained in one unified system.

2. Deliver a Connected, Supportive Student Experience

• Provide students with timely, accurate answers through an interactive website chatbot and mobile experience.

• Offer clear and personalized next steps through nudges, reminders, and alerts.

• Streamline enrollment with modern interfaces and language that is easy to understand.

• Equip students with clear pathways and real-time insights about the impact of decisions such as adding, changing, or dropping a course.

3. Enhance Advising and Reduce Administrative Burden

• Provide advisors with a single workspace for degree planning/audits, student communication, and advising records.

• Offer built-in predictive analytics based on the institution’s population with academic insights for early interventions conducted within the tool and beyond interventions.

4. Improve Operational Planning and Data Access

• Provide real-time information about student course demand.

• Surface insights based on degree audits, transfer credits, and plans to anticipate future course availability needs.

• Improve access to data needed for forecasting and curriculum planning.

5. Provide Tutoring Support in Critical Courses

• Offer online tutoring services available at times ideal for students (i.e. outside traditional business hours).

• Leverage AI to provide support at a larger scale that is personalized to a student’s learning needs.

B. Key Functional Areas of Interest

1. Student Chatbot and Digital Engagement

• Provide 24/7 responses to current student registration, advising or continued enrollment questions/assistance.

• Guide users to instructions, forms, or appointments.

• Consolidate notifications across institutional offices.

2. Degree Planning and Pathway Tools

• Auto-generate a personalized degree plan from today to graduation.

• Distinctions for a saved/locked/official academic plan reviewed by the advisor.

• Support schedule changes with immediate impact analysis.

• Enable what-if planning for majors/minors.

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• Include curriculum-change alerts for faculty.

• Suggest minors, certificates, or electives aligned with goals.

• Support co-curricular and career-aligned recommendations.

3. Academic Requirement / Degree Progress Tools

• Easy to read and modern interface for academic requirements (responsive, mobile friendly)

• Registration available directly from academic requirements interface

• Integration with degree planning tools (add courses to planner and view planned courses in

Academic Requirement Interface)

• Integrated exception handling to transparently manage requests/approval status.

4. Enrollment Experience Enhancements

• Improve mobile usability.

• Use intuitive language, especially for drop/withdrawal.

• Provide guardrails and financial aid implications.

• Integrate with PeopleSoft or function as an overlay.

5. Advising and Student Support

• Offer a unified advising interface for degree planning, communication, and advising records.

• Track interactions in a CRM-like structure.

• Serve as an early alert tool including automated course-based progress reports from faculty

• Support tool-based student communications through email and text message with campaign and nudging features based on student action/inaction.

• Provide an appointment scheduling feature that syncs with existing systems.

• Offer generative AI to support student communications, advisor notes, student profile review, and academic planning adjustments.

6. Course Specific Adaptive Tutoring

• Offer an online platform for tutoring available 24/7 to students.

• Provide an AI enhanced learning environment tailored to the learning needs of specific students.

• Adapt explanations based on student responses and difficulty level.

• Prevent direct answer-giving to foster learning and prevent academic integrity concerns.

• Prompt reflection and learning strategy awareness in addition to solving problems.

• Trigger referrals to human support services when appropriate.

• Detect patterns of confusion, disengagement, and repeated errors.

7. Financial Aid, Billing, and Compliance Support

• Warn students proactively about the financial implications of course actions.

• Automatically alert advisors or administrators about student actions such as dropping, withdrawing, auditing, etc.

• Integrate with compliance and reporting requirements

8. Data and Institutional Insights

• Use built-in reporting tools from the proposed solution to offer real-time dashboards for departments.

• Forecast course demand based on degree audits.

• Alert students to update addresses and emergency contacts regularly.

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• Offer delegated access controlled by the student.

C. Technology Requirements and Constraints

1. PeopleSoft Integration

• How does Campus Solutions Degree Audit configuration support the solution?

• How does the solution support a unified student and faculty experience with existing Campus

Solutions functionality?

• What integration framework is used?

• Integration with PeopleSoft data structures

2. Outlook Integration

• Scheduling advising appointments

• Shared calendar support

3. Architecture and Compatibility

• API-based or headless architecture.

• Provide a unified experience.

4. Scalability and Accessibility

• Support for large student populations.

• Mobile-first design.

• ADA/WCAG compliance.

• FERPA and privacy compliance.

D. QUESTIONNAIRE/RESPONSE

1. Company Background:

• Company overview and relevant experience in alerting environment.

• Key personnel involved in this project, including their qualifications and expertise.

• Client testimonials or case studies demonstrating similar project success.

2. Technical Capabilities:

• Detailed description of your proposed solution or approach to address the project requirements.

Note: You may be required to demonstrate your solution.

• Key features and functionalities that align with TU’s needs.

• Any unique processes or methodologies you plan to utilize.

3. Pricing and Cost Structure:

• Provide a general cost estimate for the project

• General breakdown of potential costs associated with implementation, maintenance, & ongoing support.

4. Phasing and Implementation Expectations:

We anticipate a multi-year modernization journey. Vendors are encouraged to propose:

• Outline your proposed project timeline, including key milestones and deliverables.

• Describe your implementation methodology and approach to project management.

5. Subcontracting Opportunities:

• Do you believe this requirement could be subcontracted out to provide for Minority Owned

Business (MBE) or Veteran-owned Business (VSBE) participation? If so, how would you go about

Page | 5 subcontracting this work or breaking it up to provide for MBE/VSBE participation.

E. RFI Evaluation Criteria:

• Technical capability and understanding of the project requirements.

• Relevant experience and proven track record with Higher Education.

• Project management expertise and solutions