AI Playbook
for Higher Education Administrators

• CFOs, budget directors, and controllers
• Business office and student accounts staff
• Advancement, alumni relations, and development staff
• Sponsored programs and grants administrators
• Financial aid, enrollment, auxiliary services, and facilities staff

• Start with: variance narrative or enrollment revenue scenarios
• Save as a skill: reporting format, thresholds, assumptions
• Connect: ERP and budget system reports
• First agent: quarterly budget variance drafter
• Measure: reporting time, forecast accuracy

• Start with: funding opportunity summary or burn rate review
• Save as a skill: checklist formats and rules
• Connect: research administration and grant ledger exports
• First agent: grant burn rate & closeout watch
• Measure: late reports, disallowed costs

# Alumni Event Follow-Up Coordinator

## Job to be done
Turn event attendance into continued engagement.

## When it runs
Two days after each alumni event.

## Approved context
Event attendance (IDs), engagement history, volunteer opportunities.

## Operating loop
Group attendees by engagement level; draft thank-you and next-step messages; flag potential volunteers and prospects for staff.

## What it delivers
A follow-up list and drafts.

## Human owner
Alumni relations staff.

## What it must never do
Never send messages or add alumni to lists without staff approval.

## How to measure it
Post-event engagement, volunteers recruited.

## Operating rules
1. Use only approved sources and follow the linked higher education skill.
2. Cite source records and separate facts from assumptions.
3. Route compliance questions, material variances, and restricted-data issues to the human owner.
4. Keep a record of trigger, inputs, output, reviewer, decision, and override.
5. Stop and ask for human review when regulation, policy, or approval authority is unclear.
6. Never process restricted student, aid, or personnel data outside approved systems.

# Aid Communications & Deadline Assistant

## Job to be done
Keep students informed about aid steps and deadlines.

## When it runs
Weekly; ahead of each aid milestone.

## Approved context
Aggregate task status counts, policy and dates, templates.

## Operating loop
Identify upcoming milestones; draft communications and FAQ updates; summarize task completion trends.

## What it delivers
Drafts and a milestone status report.

## Human owner
Director of financial aid.

## What it must never do
Never access individual student aid records, send messages, or decide any case.

## How to measure it
Task completion rates, call volume, verification turnaround.

## Operating rules
1. Use only approved sources and follow the linked higher education skill.
2. Cite source records and separate facts from assumptions.
3. Route compliance questions, material variances, and restricted-data issues to the human owner.
4. Keep a record of trigger, inputs, output, reviewer, decision, and override.
5. Stop and ask for human review when regulation, policy, or approval authority is unclear.
6. Never process restricted student, aid, or personnel data outside approved systems.

# Enrollment Funnel Watch

## Job to be done
Give leadership a same-date funnel view and early warning.

## When it runs
Weekly; daily from admit release through deposit deadline.

## Approved context
Funnel counts by population, prior-year same-date data, deposit and task counts.

## Operating loop
Compare to last year; flag populations behind; summarize melt risks; draft actions.

## What it delivers
A weekly funnel narrative.

## Human owner
Enrollment VP.

## What it must never do
Never contact applicants or touch individual application records.

## How to measure it
Forecast accuracy, yield, melt.

## Operating rules
1. Use only approved sources and follow the linked higher education skill.
2. Cite source records and separate facts from assumptions.
3. Route compliance questions, material variances, and restricted-data issues to the human owner.
4. Keep a record of trigger, inputs, output, reviewer, decision, and override.
5. Stop and ask for human review when regulation, policy, or approval authority is unclear.
6. Never process restricted student, aid, or personnel data outside approved systems.

# Compliance Calendar Monitor

## Job to be done
Make sure no federal, state, or accreditor deadline is missed.

## When it runs
Weekly; 60 and 30 days before each deadline.

## Approved context
Compliance calendar, evidence inventory, owners.

## Operating loop
Find upcoming deadlines; check evidence status; draft reminders; flag overdue items.

## What it delivers
A compliance status report.

## Human owner
Institutional compliance officer.

## What it must never do
Never file, certify, or publish.

## How to measure it
Missed deadlines, overdue evidence, findings.

## Operating rules
1. Use only approved sources and follow the linked higher education skill.
2. Cite source records and separate facts from assumptions.
3. Route compliance questions, material variances, and restricted-data issues to the human owner.
4. Keep a record of trigger, inputs, output, reviewer, decision, and override.
5. Stop and ask for human review when regulation, policy, or approval authority is unclear.
6. Never process restricted student, aid, or personnel data outside approved systems.

• What AI does: Performance by constituency and channel
• Helps: Invest where giving grows
• Control: Follow counting policy

• What AI does: Impact reports for endowed funds
• Helps: Repeat and larger gifts
• Control: Student consent for stories

• What AI does: One-page summaries of announcements
• Helps: Faster go/no-go
• Control: PI reads full announcement

• What AI does: Burn rates and cost transfer flags
• Helps: Avoid overruns and findings
• Control: PIs confirm plans

• What AI does: Discount rate and net tuition scenarios from aggregates
• Helps: Align aid and revenue
• Control: VP and CFO review

• What AI does: R2T4, verification, and PJ documentation templates
• Helps: Consistent, auditable processes
• Control: Verify against FSA Handbook

• What AI does: Drafts quarterly narratives from approved figures
• Helps: Faster reporting
• Control: Unit officers confirm drivers

• What AI does: PBC and Single Audit preparation
• Helps: Shorter fieldwork
• Control: Confirm scope with auditors

• What AI does: Occupancy and revenue by hall
• Helps: Protect debt service
• Control: Update weekly

• What AI does: Utilization and energy intensity
• Helps: Avoid unnecessary building
• Control: Registrar decides scheduling

• What AI does: Same-date comparisons by population
• Helps: Early warning
• Control: Note calendar changes

• What AI does: Task-based summer reminders
• Helps: Keep deposited students
• Control: Owner per task

• Ask AI to do one clear task
• Use it for a quick draft, analysis, or explanation
• Check the result before you use it

• Run a skill on a schedule or when something happens
• Gather the information, prepare the work, and flag issues
• Leave student, gift, grant, and financial decisions with people

• Giving analysis and segmented appeals
• Ethical prospect profiles and proposals
• Funding opportunity summaries
• Burn rates and closeout plans

Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, and Copilot write, summarize, and follow instructions.

On campus: appeals, trustee memos, award term summaries, FAQ content.

Compares transactions to policy and flags exceptions.

On campus: P-card reviews, cost transfers, restricted fund charges.

• Student education records (FERPA)
• Financial aid and tax data (Title IV, GLBA)
• SSNs, health, or disability information
• Personnel files and confidential trustee matters

• Public: records and open meetings laws
• Private: Form 990 and donor confidentiality
• All: accreditor standards
• All: state reporting obligations