AlbertPlus vs Populi Financial Aid

AlbertPlus is a free, open-source platform for NYU students planning courses, building schedules and tracking degree progress. Its web app is the main course-planning interface, and a browser extension connects with NYU’s Albert website. Students can browse course and program information, check class availability and create schedules. The web app can parse an uploaded degree progress report PDF in the browser, extract completed courses and grades, and compare them with program requirements. Parsing occurs client-side, so the academic record is not sent to the server; extracted course information is stored in Convex under the authenticated user’s ID. AlbertPlus gathers course and offering data from NYU’s public catalog and Albert public class search, including possible instructor, location, meeting-time, section-status and corequisite details. Clerk handles sign-in and sessions, Convex supplies backend services, and scraping runs on Cloudflare Workers. The feature section is marked WIP, and the repository uses the MIT License.

Populi Financial Aid is the financial aid feature in Populi, a hosted platform that also combines college academics, admissions, billing, donations, and reporting. Its Aid tools support packaging, disbursing, and reporting without a third-party servicer. The platform connects directly to the Department of Education for SAIG mailbox documents, COD award syncing, and response resolution. FAFSA information feeds student profiles and aid applications, where staff can review error codes, aid counselings, and MPNs. Other tools include Satisfactory Academic Progress reporting, preset disbursement timetables, built-in Pell tables, and batch disbursements. A financial aid API can connect to servicers and bring disbursed awards into student accounts. Populi is hosted and browser-based, needs no local installation, and says it works on Mac, Windows, and Linux computers. Support and training are included, with phone support Monday through Friday, 6 AM to 5 PM Pacific Time. The monthly price includes 2,000 GB of file storage and 200 GB of data transfer; extra amounts are charged separately. The pricing note says from $199/mo, while the listed Populi plan is $1,999 a month.