Case Study: Georgia State University boosts student insights and AI-powered financial aid support with Elastic

Georgia State University increases data insights and explores helping students apply for financial aid with AI-powered search

Georgia State University, a large public university with more than 50,000 students, needed a better way to monitor its many custom applications and make student information easier to access. Using Elastic, the IT team moved beyond fragmented native observability tools and began building a unified search and analytics approach, while also exploring how AI could help students navigate complex financial aid and payment processes.

Elastic implemented Elasticsearch and Kibana for observability and used Elastic’s ELSER semantic search model to power a proof of concept for AI-enhanced financial aid guidance. The solution supports retrieval augmented generation with personalized answers and deadline alerts based on university data, helping GSU create a viable pilot for students and build generative AI skills; the team also improved visibility into application traffic, errors, jobs, and IT costs.

Georgia State University

Jaroslav Klc

Director of Strategic Initiatives and Development for IT