Ed Advancement highlights how the Front Porch Portal is helping students easily access critical information, boosting engagement and reducing administrative burden

NEW YORK, April 8, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Ed Advancement—a national nonprofit strengthening the operational capacity of historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs), which play an outsized role in advancing social and economic mobility— released a new report detailing how a mobile-friendly portal co-created with HBCUs can improve both the student experience and create efficiencies for institutions. The report released today, Answers at Their Fingertips: Building a Front Porch Portal for Centralized Student Support, profiles the multi-year collaboration with Virginia State University to develop an ultra-affordable way for students to navigate digital platforms and stay on track to graduate.

“With the Front Porch, the problem that we’re trying to solve is really to get students access to their data,” said Dr. Makola Abdullah, President of Virginia State University. “We feel very strongly that the more the students are able to navigate the administrative side of their work, then they can spend more time on the academic side and do better in class.”

HBCUs have seen significant increases in enrollment during the post-pandemic era, including an increase of almost 6% from 2023 to 2024 and a nearly 4% increase from 2024 to 2025. Institutions are seeking ways to serve more students effectively, yet many still rely on fragmented systems that make it difficult for students to find critical information, leading to missed deadlines, confusion, and disengagement.

Developed through a collaboration between Ed Advancement and Virginia State University, with support from Axim Collaborative, the Front Porch Portal brings together information from across campus systems into a single, user-friendly interface. The platform enables students to access schedules, grades, financial aid, housing, and campus resources in one place—while surfacing real-time alerts, deadlines, and next steps to drive action. The Front Porch Portal connects to an institution’s existing Slate CRM, adding functionality without additional costs.

“Students today expect clarity, immediacy, and simplicity. Too often and unintentionally, the many and disparate systems on campus make it harder than it should be for students to access critical information easily,” said Jim Runcie, Ed Advancement’s CEO. “The Front Porch Portal gives students the right information, at the right time, in the right format.”

Drawing on implementation at institutions including Virginia State University, South Carolina State University, and Benedict College, the report report highlights several key insights for higher education leaders:

Fragmented communication creates barriers to success: Students often navigate multiple systems to access financial aid, academic records, and campus resources—leading to confusion, missed deadlines, and disengagement. Multiple point solutions mean students may look for tuition payments in a financial aid portal (or financial aid in the payment portal), for example.
Centralized, mobile-first access improves student action: The Front Porch Portal consolidates key information—such as schedules, grades, financial aid status, and deadlines—into a single interface, helping students quickly identify and act on next steps.
High student demand for a unified platform: In design sessions for the Front Porch Portal, 100% of participating students said they would regularly use a single, centralized platform to access critical information.
Operational efficiencies for institutions: By shifting routine inquiries to self-service, institutions project meaningful reductions in administrative workload—Virginia State University anticipates that the Front Porch Portal could reduce call center volume by up to 50%.
Scalable, low-lift implementation: Built on existing CRM infrastructure, the platform can be deployed in as little as a few days for core functionality, with full implementation in approximately three months.

To learn more about Front Porch Portal, read the full report.

About Ed Advancement: Ed Advancement is a national nonprofit dedicated to advancing socioeconomic mobility by strengthening mission-focused colleges and universities, including historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs), that serve low-income, first-generation, and historically under-resourced students. Through deep institutional partnerships, strategic capacity building, and operational and technology-based solutions, Ed Advancement works collaboratively with higher education leaders, philanthropy, and other partners to improve enrollment, retention, and graduation outcomes while supporting long-term institutional sustainability. Since 2018, Ed Advancement has worked alongside more than 70 colleges and universities in 19 states and the District of Columbia, serving nearly 300,000 students.

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