Agentforce helps College Possible serve four times more students.

College Possible is a nonprofit dedicated to giving students a fair chance at higher education. They provide personalized coaching and resources to help students get into and graduate from college.

College Possible needed a faster way to onboard 200 new coaches every year.

For nearly 25 years, College Possible has opened doors for students who are the first in their families to go to college as well as students from low-income backgrounds, helping thousands every year navigate the complexities of applying to and thriving in college. With a proven curriculum and 200 dedicated AmeriCorps volunteer coaches, the nonprofit provides the guidance these students need to achieve life-changing success: A college degree doesn’t just mean better job opportunities — it’s a path to $1 million more in lifetime earnings and a step toward generational financial stability.

“At College Possible, we want students everywhere to have access to higher education, regardless of the zip code they grow up in, paving the way for a brighter future,” said Scott del Rossi, Vice President of College and Career Success at College Possible.

The college application process is often challenging, with varying deadlines, essays, test scores, and recommendation requirements for each school. College counselors play a vital role in guiding students, but there often aren’t enough to meet the need. The average high school has one counselor for every 385 students.

College Possible tackles this gap by enlisting recent college graduates as near-peer coaches who volunteer for a year. These coaches provide personalized support for hundreds of students to help them navigate everything related to college, from scholarships to financial aid systems. To skill up, coaches rely on College Possible’s curriculum and a vast library of online articles created by previous coaches. But their old process of manually searching for answers to respond to student questions slowed them down and limited the number of students they could help.

When peer coaches completed their volunteer year, the history and context of each student’s needs and relationship with their previous coach were lost. This created a gap in support, resulting in lag time for new coaches as they got up to speed with each student's unique goals. With 200 new coaches trained annually, College Possible recognized the need for a solution to bridge this gap and ensure continuous, personalized support for every student.

Agentforce helps coaches spend less time looking for answers and more time supporting students.

College Possible turned to Agentforce, the agentic layer of the Salesforce Platform, to augment their coaches with digital labor and deliver personalized support at scale. Agentforce will provide the right information to coaches instantly on demand, saving them valuable time and effort. 

Coaches engage Agentforce simply by asking a question in natural language, as they would an expert colleague. Agentforce then reasons through all of College Possible’s curriculum, knowledge articles, and historical student interactions and delivers the information they need immediately.

For example, a new coach preparing to meet a student for the first time can use Agentforce to review summaries of past sessions and key takeaways, helping them quickly get up to speed. They can also ask Agentforce to suggest tailored resources by cross-referencing previous conversations with that student with College Possible’s curriculum, ensuring the student’s experience is seamless even after coaches have completed their one-year terms.

In another common use case, a coach getting ready to support a new cohort of students might have a mix of students who are not yet in college, enrolled in community college, or attending a four-year university. These different segments require varying levels of expertise and a variety of resources, which may take hours of research before sessions. With Agentforce, coaches can find relevant information in minutes, reducing prep time and helping them swiftly meet the students’ needs during sessions. 

“Instead of near-peer coaches needing to be subject matter experts on all the universities and colleges out there, Agentforce enables us to train near-peer coaches to focus on supporting the students in front of them,” said del Rossi.

To make sure Agentforce provides accurate, contextual, and personalized answers, it’s integrated with Education Cloud, which manages all of College Possible's curriculum, student info, coach notes, and appointment data. Because Agentforce and Education Cloud are part of the integrated Salesforce Platform, it took College Possible only one month to build and deploy their first agents. Agentforce’s low-code tools and ability to ingest and harmonize both structured and unstructured data, like curriculum and chat histories, respectively, simplified the process of building agents that can pull relevant information from multiple solutions and deliver accurate answers. 

Their initial pilot of 12,000 students is already showing impressive results: Agentforce empowers College Possible to serve four times as many students with the same number of coaches. Coaches can spend less time researching and more time interacting with their students, which means College Possible serves 25,000 students total per year.

Agentforce is there for students with 24/7 real-time help and answers.

In addition to helping coaches, Agentforce will also help students navigate the complexities of the college application process. With Agentforce, students will get instant access to answers and resources 24/7 through an online portal, powered by Experience Cloud, which will deliver a personalized digital experience based on their profiles.

Through the portal, students will be able to ask questions in their own words and Agentforce will provide immediate answers personalized to their needs and goals. This will give students an on-demand resource for accurate information, whether they’re looking for feedback on their personal statement, tracking application deadlines, or exploring financial aid options. “Students are engaging with us on their phones and on their schedules, not ours,” said Josh Newby, Director of Curriculum and Instruction at College Possible. “Salesforce is helping us harness AI so we can continue to meet students where they are.”

For example, imagine a student trying to finalize their admissions essay, which is due tomorrow. Their next meeting with their coach isn’t for another week, but with Agentforce, they can still get the help they need. By asking Agentforce for tips on writing a compelling essay, the student will receive detailed suggestions drawn from College Possible’s curriculum and knowledge base. If they have follow-up questions, Agentforce will continue the conversation until the student feels fully supported and ready to take the next step.

Agentforce will also help students with tactical questions, like confirming application deadlines or scheduling appointments with their coaches. By handling these quick, transactional needs, Agentforce will enable coaches to focus on more meaningful topics when they meet with students. 

“Agentforce is freeing up our staff time so that our near-peer coaches can lean into their student support superpowers,” said College Possible CEO Dr. Siva Kumari‌. “[This allows] them to connect more deeply with each student and really make a difference.”

Agentforce empowers College Possible to deliver their mission of ensuring that students, regardless of their family’s income level, get the personalized, timely support they need to succeed in college — and beyond.

The seamless way Agentforce works with Education Cloud has been key to College Possible’s ability to scale its impact and change lives. Education Cloud gives College Possible a 360-degree view of each student with centralized student and curriculum data. Agentforce turns that data into actionable, relevant guidance for coaches and students on demand – all from one integrated platform. 

College Possible is part of the Salesforce Accelerator – AI for Impact initiative, which provides them with intensive coaching, pro bono expertise, and a donated 24-month contract for Salesforce products. 

“Salesforce’s transformative support has reshaped our organization's trajectory, carrying us to new heights,” said Kumari. “We look forward to seeing how Agentforce empowers us to help even more students now and in the future.”