We’re Looking for a Pilot School to Field Test a New App

Get alerts, stay on track.

That phrase summarizes the goal behind our latest app, Cue365, aimed at helping students stay on track during the various stages of their academic journey by sending them reminders.
Each year hundreds of thousands of high school and college students, their parents, and counselors struggle to stay on top of deadlines. The list of dates to keep track of is long, and missing an important deadline can derail a student’s plans and progress toward a degree. There’s the FAFSA, class registration, admissions applications, scholarship opportunities, tuition payment schedule, drop and withdrawal deadlines, etc. Sometimes students, parents, and advisors need to keep track of important dates from multiple schools, making it even more difficult. All of this information typically resides in a school’s calendar, published on their website or in their catalog.
What’s the best way to remember those dates? Some write them in a planner or add them to a digital calendar application. We think there’s a better way: SMS (text) message reminders. There are many reasons to use SMS versus other mediums like email, phone calls, and social media. The open rate for SMS messages is 99%! Perhaps that’s because texts feel personal, or because on average it takes about 5 seconds to read a message. Over 80% of Americans use SMS to communicate daily, 90% of teenagers, and 77% of students say they want colleges to send important information via text. The statistics on SMS messages are undeniable; it’s the best communication method to reach students. An added benefit of SMS is that it’s accessible to nearly all students, because a smart phone isn’t required.
Our idea for creating this app originated from wanting to help address Summer Melt, the phenomenon where students who have been accepted to a college fail to matriculate. Summer Melt disproportionately impacts low-income, minority, and first-generation students and can be as high as 40% in some areas. One reason for Summer Melt is missed deadlines. We quickly realized, however, that reminders can benefit students throughout the high school and college journey, not just the summer before classes begin.
Using Cue365 is simple. Search for a school and select an academic calendar. Choose from the list of dates and add them to your Cue. Select your notification preferences of text message, email, or both, and how many days before the event you want to be reminded. You can also create a custom reminder, such as when to contact your advisor, ask friends about their schedule, or mail a check.
We’re looking for pilot schools to help us field test this app. Collecting data is laborious, expensive, and becomes out of date quickly (every year, to be exact). It’s better if we can target our collection and test it with real people before scaling our operations.
If you’re interested in helping us, please complete the form below. Or if you want to check it out you can sign up free at cue365.com. We look forward to working with you to improve the lives of students and those that support them!