RNL contracts and reports

Todd Feathers filed this request with the Lamar University of Texas.
Submitted May 11, 2023
Status
Completed

Communications

From: Todd Feathers

Subject: Texas Public Information Act Request: RNL contracts and reports

Email

To Whom It May Concern:

Pursuant to the Texas Public Information Act, I hereby request the following records:

1) All model workbooks since Jan. 1, 2017 for the university's RNL ForecastPlus models and/or RNL Search models. These workbooks, which RNL provides in Excel (.xlsm) format, contain the model(s)' glossary of variables, market summaries, and model scores and results, among other information.

3) All Scoring Analysis workbooks since Jan. 1, 2017 for the university's ForecastPlus model. These workbooks (also provided in .xlsm format) contain aggregate statistics about average model scores across different variables.

4) All annual reports prepared by university enrollment staff or RNL since Jan. 1, 2017 describing the university's use of the Demand Builder, Applicant Cultivator, ForecastPlus, and/or Search products.

If you have questions about any aspect of this request, please don't hesitate to ask. I'm happy to provide examples of the requested records and workbooks, if helpful.

I ask that all fees be waived as I am a journalist and I intend to use the requested records to further public understanding of public education enrollment efforts.

Should you choose to reject this request or redact portions of responsive documents, I ask that you provide a detailed breakdown of the statutory exemptions and associated case law underlying your decision to withhold each/any portions from public review.

The requested documents will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes.

In the event that there are fees, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not.

Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 10 business days, as the statute requires.

Sincerely,

Todd Feathers

From: Lamar University

Subject: Fw: [EXTERNAL] RE: Texas Public Information Act Request: RNL enrollment and financial aid models

Email

________________________________
From: Open Records <openrequests@lamar.edu>
Sent: Friday, April 22, 2022 2:06 PM
To: requests@muckrock.com <requests@muckrock.com>
Subject: Re: [EXTERNAL] RE: Texas Public Information Act Request: RNL enrollment and financial aid models

Dear Mr. Feathers:

Please find attached information responsive to your request. You should receive a total of thirty-six (36) attachments. I will send them in separate emails if they are too large to send in one. Please confirm that you have received all attachments.

Additionally, there are no charges for fulfilling this request and this particular request is considered closed.

Sincerely,

Cynthia Dean
Public Information Coordinator
Lamar University

Office: (409)880-7695

Fax: (409)880-8404

openrecords@lamar.edu

________________________________
From: requests@muckrock.com <requests@muckrock.com>
Sent: Thursday, April 21, 2022 12:00 AM
To: Open Records <openrequests@lamar.edu>
Subject: [EXTERNAL] RE: Texas Public Information Act Request: RNL enrollment and financial aid models

Lamar University
Texas Public Information Act Office
P.O. Box 10001
Beaumont, TX 77710

April 21, 2022

This is a follow up to a previous request:

To Whom It May Concern:

I wanted to follow up on the following Texas Public Information Act request, copied below, and originally submitted on March 10, 2022. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response.

Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.

View request history, upload responsive documents, and report problems here:
https://www.muckrock.com/

If prompted for a passcode, please enter:
VBNPVKRE

Filed via MuckRock.com
E-mail (Preferred): requests@muckrock.com

For mailed responses, please address (see note):
MuckRock News
DEPT MR 126006
411A Highland Ave
Somerville, MA 02144-2516

PLEASE NOTE: This request is not filed by a MuckRock staff member, but is being sent through MuckRock by the above in order to better track, share, and manage public records requests. Also note that improperly addressed (i.e., with the requester's name rather than "MuckRock News" and the department number) requests might be returned as undeliverable.

---

On March 9, 2022:
Subject: Texas Public Information Act Request: RNL enrollment and financial aid models
To Whom It May Concern:

Pursuant to the Texas Public Information Act, I hereby request the following records:

1) All contracts with Ruffalo, Noel, Levitz (RNL) since Jan. 1, 2018 for enrollment management and financial aid optimization services.

2) The following documents/reports provided to the university by RNL since Jan. 1, 2018:

- ForecastPlus model reports for the prospect model, inquiry model, and admit model . I have attached an example of one of these reports from the University of Nebraska-Kearney, for your reference.

- Historical Research & Competitor Benchmarking reports. RNL describes these documents as "a comprehensive investigation of undergraduate student enrollment behaviors related to their needs, academic credentials, population segments, and financial aid offers (approximately 100+ pages)."

- Econometric Modeling reports. RNL describes these models as "logistic regression models based on two or three years of historical information and the goal is to understand ... how student variables, such as household income, ZIP code, academic profile, etc. interact with one another, so we can predict how changes in some variables will affect the future course of others."

- Revenue Optimization & Simulation reports. RNL describes this service thusly: "this tool determines the appropriate amount of financial aid—down to the student level—and creates a series of optimized awarding parameters that can influence the recommended awarding structure."

3) De-identified copies of all enrollment and financial aid model datasets received from RNL for 2021-2022 school year applicants, containing:
- All non-identifiable variables for each applicant that the university supplies to RNL for the purpose of building and training its predictive models (i.e., GPAs, majors, test scores, etc.)
AND
- All output data fields (i.e., model scores, receptivity scores, lead categories, etc.) generated by RNL's predictive models for each applicant.

With regards to item 3 of my request, please note that I am asking for a de-identified data set that does not include fields that could be used to identify an individual applicant (e.g., name, address, SSN). These fields can easily be redacted by deleting those columns from the responsive spreadsheet.

I ask that all fees be waived as intend to use the requested records to further public understanding of public agencies and not for any commercial purpose. In the event you choose to impose fees, I request a detailed breakdown of the fees, including the hourly wage of each employee involved and an explanation justifying the employee hours required to fulfill the request.

Should you choose to reject this request or redact portions of responsive documents, I ask that you provide a detailed breakdown of the statutory exemptions and associated case law underlying your decision to withhold each/any portions from public review.

The requested documents will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes.

In the event that there are fees, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not.

Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 10 business days, as the statute requires.

Sincerely,

Todd Feathers

View request history, upload responsive documents, and report problems here:
https://www.muckrock.com/

If prompted for a passcode, please enter:
VBNPVKRE

Filed via MuckRock.com
E-mail (Preferred): requests@muckrock.com

For mailed responses, please address (see note):
MuckRock News
DEPT MR 126006
411A Highland Ave
Somerville, MA 02144-2516

PLEASE NOTE: This request is not filed by a MuckRock staff member, but is being sent through MuckRock by the above in order to better track, share, and manage public records requests. Also note that improperly addressed (i.e., with the requester's name rather than "MuckRock News" and the department number) requests might be returned as undeliverable.

**ALERT** This email originated outside Lamar University. Do not click links, open attachments, or respond unless you validate the sender and know the content is safe.

CONFIDENTIALITY: Any information contained in this e-mail (including attachments) is the property of The State of Texas and unauthorized disclosure or use is prohibited. Sending, receiving or forwarding of confidential, proprietary and privileged information is prohibited under Lamar Policy. If you received this e-mail in error, please notify the sender and delete this e-mail from your system.

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From: Lamar University

Subject: Re: [EXTERNAL] RE: Texas Public Information Act Request: RNL contracts and reports

Email

Mr. Feathers,

Thank you for sending this follow-up email. I have no record of receiving the May 11, 2023 request, copied below. I've checked my clutter/junk folders. I do have a record of sending you 36 documents similar to the records requested in this May 11, 2023 request on April 22, 2022. I will forward this email for your reference.

Please clarify the following:

* Please review the forwarded email from April 22, 2022 with attachments and clarify if you are still requesting the same information in this May 11, 2023 request.

Please let me know how you'd like me to proceed.

You may send your clarification by mail or e-mail. Additionally, you may deliver your clarification in person to our office.

Lamar University

P.O. Box 10001

Wayne A. Reaud Building, Suite 316

Beaumont, Texas 77710

Email: openrecords@lamar.edu

Pursuant to section 552.222 of the Government Code, if a written response to this request for clarification is not received within 61 days, this request for information is considered withdrawn and closed by operation of law.

Sincerely,

Cynthia Dean
Public Information Coordinator
Lamar University

Office: (409)880-7695

Fax: (409)880-8404

openrecords@lamar.edu

From: Lamar University

Subject: Fw: [EXTERNAL] RE: Texas Public Information Act Request: RNL enrollment and financial aid models

Email

Sincerely,

Cynthia Dean
Public Information Coordinator
Lamar University

Office: (409)880-7695

Fax: (409)880-8404

openrecords@lamar.edu

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From: Todd Feathers

Subject: RE: Texas Public Information Act Request: RNL contracts and reports

Email

Hello Cynthia,

Thank you very much for your help with this request and for your question.

There are a few cases where the documents you provided in response to my 2022 request satisfy portions of my request from earlier this month (e.g., contract documents), but my recent request is seeking records that the university hasn't yet provided.

For example, the contract the university provided in response to my 2022 request states that the university uses both RNL's Search and ForecastPlus models. my new request seeks the workbooks RNL generates regarding these models. The university previously provided one workbook for the ForecastPlus model from 2017, but my new request seeks all workbooks in the timeframe for both the Search and ForecastPlus models.

Please let me know if I can provide any more clarification, and thank you again!
Todd

From: Lamar University

Subject: Re: Texas Public Information Act Request: RNL contracts and reports

Email

Mr. Feathers,

Lamar University is still in the process of gathering the documents responsive to your request. We anticipate that the information will be released to you on or before 5:00 pm, Friday, June 23, 2023.

Sincerely,

Cynthia Dean
Public Information Coordinator
Lamar University

Office: (409)880-7695

Fax: (409)880-8404

openrecords@lamar.edu

From: Lamar University

Subject: Re: Texas Public Information Act Request: RNL contracts and reports

Email

Hi Mr. Feathers,

My contact for this dept. has been out of the office some unexpectedly the last week. We are still in the process of gathering the documents responsive to this request. I anticipate that they will be released to you on or before Friday, July 14, 2023.

Sincerely,

Cynthia Dean
Public Information Coordinator
Lamar University

Office: (409)880-7695

Fax: (409)880-8404

openrecords@lamar.edu

From: Lamar University

Subject: Re: Texas Public Information Act Request: RNL contracts and reports

Email

Mr. Feathers,

Please find attached the information we've found to be responsive to your request in addition to the attachments sent to you on April 22, 2022. Additionally, there are no charges for fulfilling this request and this particular request is considered closed.

Sincerely,

Cynthia Dean
Public Information Coordinator
Lamar University

Office: (409)880-7695

Fax: (409)880-8404

openrecords@lamar.edu

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