Background:
New York State is a long-established national leader in providing need-based student financial aid and is home to one of the largest state, need-based grant programs in the nation. The Higher Education Services Corporation (HESC) is New York State’s student financial aid agency. HESC has a deep and long-standing commitment to providing New York State students, families, and educators with the information, resources, and services necessary to build awareness of all available college financial aid options and college affordability. HESC administers the need-based and merit-based grant, scholarship and award programs that benefit eligible resident students attending a degree-granting college or university located inside New York State. At HESC’s core are programs like the Tuition Assistance Program (TAP), Excelsior Scholarship and Enhanced Tuition Awards programs, and over two dozen other State scholarship and award programs. In 2016-17, HESC helped more than 354,000 students achieve their college dreams by providing more than $980 million in grants, scholarships and loan forgiveness benefits, including $917 million awarded through TAP alone. HESC is also the lead administering agency for New York State’s seven-year, $22.4 million federal Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs (GEAR UP) grant, awarded by the U.S. Department of Education in 2014. To bolster high school and college completion rates among traditionally underrepresented groups, the grant funds evidence-based supports to students from districts with low high-school graduation rates, beginning in middle school through completion of high school and their freshman year of college. HESC co-administers New York State’s highly successful 529 College Savings Program with the NYS Office of State Comptroller, and participates in outreach efforts to encourage college access and preparedness among New York State students. The value of a postsecondary education is unquestionable. The more than one billion dollars in non-repayable student financial aid available to New York State’s residents serve to help address both the gap in college enrollment between low-income and high-income households and the affordability of college for all households. HESC’s Communications Division is charged with helping to shape and implement the agency’s communications strategy in support of HESC’s mission. HESC has established, as a strategic goal, a commitment to becoming New York’s “go to” resource for reliable information on NYS student financial aid, and to building consumer awareness of college access, success and affordability.Scope of Work:
Respondents to this RFQ will be required to demonstrate experience and expertise in the following services:Marketing Campaign Development and Management
The vendor must demonstrate knowledge of and experience in developing and managing complex marketing initiatives that successfully establish and promote branding and identification with HESC’s target audience.Web Design
HESC is constantly seeking the most effective ways to convey information to various age groups with engaging design that captures our target audiences and integrate more creative elements, such as video and interactive tools into our web presence.Web Development and Management
Beyond web design, the vendor must demonstrate excellent knowledge of and experience in:- PHP
- MySQL
- HTML5
- CSS3 & SASS/SCSS
- JavaScript
- JavaScript Frameworks (like jQuery, Angular, etc)
- GIT version control
- Drupal & Joomla
