Case Study: San Francisco State University achieves $40,000+ annual savings and a paperless admissions process with Liaison's UniCAS

San Francisco State University saves over $40,000 per year on application processing costs

San Francisco State University faced a fragmented, manual graduate admissions process across 90+ programs that lacked document uploads, secure record handling, applicant tracking, and integration with its Student Information System. The Division of Graduate Studies moved to Liaison’s UniCAS™ platform via the Cal State Apply rollout to replace paper files and duplicate applications and modernize communications and document collection.

Liaison implemented Cal State Apply/UniCAS™ campus-wide, creating program-specific application portals and integrating with SFSU’s SIS to make admissions fully paperless. The result was a 100% paperless process, a 10% reduction in supplies and services in the first year, faster faculty decision-making, and a cut in student assistant headcount from seven to three — saving about $40,000 annually — while enabling staff to focus on advising and student support.

San Francisco State University

Noah Price

Associate Dean for the Division of Graduate Studies