Stratus User Stories

“Stratus delivers real-time, self-service transfer credit visibility that enables students to make informed enrollment decisions earlier while shifting recruiter effort from manual explanation to yield-focused engagement.”

Pinch Point

Transfer credit information existed in two spots: official transfer credits on the degree audit, and unofficial transfer credits on a checksheet. Applicants who had submitted transcripts — official or unofficial — could only reference a PDF that had to be emailed to them by a recruiter. This created an unnecessary delay in getting students their transfer evaluation results: first, the transfer evaluation team would upload the transcripts to the student’s file, a recruiter would search for it, then download it and email it to the student. Students couldn’t self-serve basic questions like “how many credits do I have left?” or “which of my previous courses count toward my program?”

Stratus Solution

Stratus now surfaces unofficial and official transfer credit evaluations directly in both the applicant and student portals. Students can see how their credits map to their degree program’s core requirements — including a visual representation of progress toward degree completion. The portal distinguishes between unofficial and official transcript status and shows students how many credits are still needed, giving them a clear picture of where they stand before and after enrollment.

Impact

Students can now access transfer credit evaluations directly through the applicant and student portals, including which courses transferred, how they apply to program requirements, and how many credits remain. Una can interpret and explain this information using live student data.

Recruiters no longer retrieve and send transfer evaluations manually and instead direct students to self-service tools. Advising conversations begin with students already understanding their credit position, allowing discussions to focus on next steps rather than status clarification.

All prior course information is centralized within Stratus, enabling the registration process to reference transfer data and recommend appropriate courses without requiring advisors to consult multiple systems.

Who Benefits

Students gain early clarity on their degree progress, increasing confidence and reducing uncertainty prior to enrollment.

Recruiters reduce time spent on manual explanation and can focus on enrollment planning and yield. Advisors operate with clearer, centralized data and are able to concentrate on forward-looking academic planning.

The institution benefits from improved enrollment conversion, more informed student decision-making, and stronger alignment between students and their chosen programs.

Stratus embeds identity verification as a required step in the application process, protecting federal financial aid, reducing staff time spent on fraudulent applications, and ensuring compliance with federal requirements without adding meaningful friction for legitimate students.

Pinch Point

As online enrollment grew, Unity, like many institutions, faced rising exposure to fraudulent applications. “Ghost students” using stolen or synthetic identities were submitting applications to access federal financial aid, a problem serious enough that federal investigations have documented over $1 billion in attempted student aid fraud nationally since January 2025. Beyond fraud prevention, Unity had no systematic way to confirm that the person submitting an application was who they claimed to be before granting access to enrollment systems, financial aid, and coursework. Identity confirmation was either absent from the process or handled inconsistently, creating both compliance risk and institutional vulnerability.

Stratus Solution

Identity verification was integrated directly into the Stratus applicant portal as a required checklist item in the application process. Using a third-party verification provider, students are prompted to photograph a government-issued photo ID and take a live selfie. Verification software compares the images and confirms identity before the applicant can progress to enrollment systems or financial aid. The step is embedded in the existing Stratus checklist flow, and incomplete identity verification prevents students from registering. It appears as a required action item alongside other application steps, keeping the experience unified and the process trackable on the student record.

Impact

Identity confirmation moved from an unstructured, inconsistently applied process to a mandatory, automated step built into every application. Staff no longer need to manually flag suspicious applications or attempt identity confirmation through other means, such as a video call, which were time-consuming and easily fallible. By utilizing the Stratus action plans and tasks, the verification step is treated as an expected part of the student experience and is easily tracked between applications for the same student. The current verification either passes, or it doesn’t, and the outcome is reflected on the student’s record in Stratus. Students who complete verification move forward; those who can’t are flagged for follow-up. The process is designed to take only a few minutes, minimizing friction for legitimate applicants while creating a meaningful barrier to fraudulent ones. Unity is also positioned for compliance with the U.S. Department of Education’s direction, making identity verification mandatory for certain first-time federal aid applicants.

Who Benefits

Legitimate students benefit from a secure and consistent verification process that protects their identity and financial aid.

New Student Navigators and financial aid staff engage only with verified applicants, reducing time spent on potentially fraudulent cases and allowing effort to focus on real students.

The institution benefits from strengthened protection of federal financial aid funds, reduced exposure to fraud-related liability, and alignment with emerging federal compliance requirements.

Stratus centralizes real-time financial aid data, enabling self-service student access, scalable staff reporting, and proactive outreach while reducing manual processing and inbound volume

Pinch Point

Before Financial Aid Summaries in Stratus, all information related to a student’s financial aid information was contained within the financial aid system, other than the aid appearing on the billing statement. If offices wanted to pull reports related to a full caseload of students or new incoming class, a member of the financial aid office would need to access and export that report on behalf of Recruitment and Student Success and it would require significant cross comparison to match student information to the staff member in the assigned advisor field, and to compare their financial aid status to other required items needed to be successful at Unity, such as participation. It was also impossible to give students access to their financial aid information on demand, as all communication was email/text/call based.

Stratus Solution

Several new objects, items, and fields were created to sync with the Academic Enrollment(s) in Stratus, giving student-facing staff access to important information such as aid year on the FAFSA, missing documents, outgoing communications from the financial aid team, internal comments/notes from our financial aid team, and the ISIR codes from the FAFSA submission. By virtue of being in Stratus, this information was also made available in the applicant/student portals and to Una.

Impact

Before the update, Recruitment and Student Success staff accessed financial aid information in a separate system and reviewed student records individually to confirm document completion, aid status, and FAFSA accuracy.

Financial aid data is now integrated into Stratus and updated multiple times per day, enabling staff to build and monitor reports across their caseloads. Students can view their financial aid status directly in the portal and access Una for real-time explanations and updates outside of business hours.

Who Benefits

Students gain immediate visibility into their financial aid status and can take action on missing items without waiting for staff support, reducing delays and confusion.

Recruitment and Student Success staff operate at scale with real-time data, enabling more timely and targeted outreach. Financial Aid staff experience reduced inbound volume as both students and frontline staff have direct access to the information needed to move forward.

The institution benefits from faster issue resolution, more proactive student support, and improved continuity across the enrollment and onboarding process.