Build Your Application Form

Admins design the application form in the Application Builder: the questions, their order and which ones are required. For what applicants see, read What Applicants See.

Open the Builder

Go to Application Builder in the admin menu. You see your current questions, which you can rearrange, edit, add to or remove.

At the top of the page, under Your Live Application, is the public URL applicants use. Copy puts it on your clipboard. Open loads the live form, meaning your last saved version, in a new tab.

Application Settings

The Application Settings card at the top of the builder controls the form itself:

• Form Title: the heading applicants see at the top of the form. It is also the name of the browser tab. With no title, both read Program Application.
• Languages: the languages your application is offered in besides English, or English only. See Translations Are Automatic.
• Show program logo at top of application: this checkbox stays disabled until you upload a logo in Settings, on the Program tab, under Program Logo.
• After Submission: what happens the moment someone submits. Three choices, covered below.

What Happens After Someone Submits

Pick one of the three After Submission options:

• Just show the confirmation screen. The applicant sees your confirmation message. Nothing else happens.
• Send them to a web address. Choosing this reveals a box for the URL. Type the full web address, starting with https:// or http://, for example https://stonefield.edu/thanks. TRIOPilot will not save a blank box or any other address, and says so under the box. The confirmation screen appears first, then a ten-second countdown carries them to your page, with a Continue link for anyone who does not want to wait.
• Invite them to book an appointment. The applicant stays on the confirmation screen and, just under your message, sees an invitation to pick a time with your program. This option needs appointment scheduling turned on in Settings, on the Features tab. Until it is on, the option is visible but cannot be chosen, and applicants see the confirmation screen.

A link in a text block or on the Confirmation Screen must be a page on your site (starting with /), or a full address starting with https://, http://, mailto: or tel:. The Link button says what to change, and Save and Publish refuses a new link that goes nowhere, such as www.stonefield.edu. A link your form already held does not stop a save.

Below your questions is the Confirmation Screen editor: the message applicants read immediately after they submit. Leave it blank and they see "Application Submitted" plus the gray wording in the box, which thanks them and says someone will be in touch.

If you invite applicants to book, write your message with that in mind. The booking invitation appears under it, so do not tell people to wait for a call. Say you have their application and let the invitation do the rest.

All of it saves together when you choose Save and Publish.

Add and Arrange Questions

1. Choose Add Question below the list, or hover above or between the cards and click the + to insert one in place. The + offers Question, Text Block or Page Break; a text block is explanatory copy rather than something to answer, and a page break starts a new page (see Split the Form Into Pages).
2. Type the wording in the card header, in place of New question.
3. Set Type. The Standard Fields group includes Short Text, Long Text, Dropdown, Multiple Choice (single), Multiple Choice (multi-select), Date, Email, Phone, File Upload and Yes / No. The APR / Special Fields group holds the ready-made ones described below. A File Upload question takes photos and PDFs up to 25 MB each, and one application can upload up to 10 files across all its File Upload questions. When an applicant chooses a file that is larger than 25 MB, or is not a photo (JPG, PNG, GIF, WebP or HEIC) or a PDF, the question leaves it off and says right away which file and why, so nothing is lost after they submit. The form states the limit of 10 files under each File Upload question and warns an applicant who chooses more; the application still submits with the first 10 files, and the applicant brings the rest to your program office.
4. For choice questions, type each option and press Add. A required question needs at least one answer, because no one could submit the form otherwise: Save and Publish names the question until you add an answer or untick Required. To change their order, see Reorder Answer Choices. A question cannot offer the same answer twice: Save and Publish names the answer until you remove or reword one of them. An answer of a Multiple Choice (multi-select) question cannot contain a comma, because the answers an applicant ticks are stored together separated by commas: Save and Publish names the answer until you reword it. While you edit, an answer worded the same as another answer of that question shows Same wording as answer and that answer's number under it.
5. Tick Required where you need an answer. Required is enforced when the form is submitted, not just in the browser.
6. Drag a card by the handle on its left to reorder. The live form follows the same order.

Names, Numbers and Dates the Form Checks

The form stops a few answers your APR could not use. A name box shows the form's own sentence in the language the applicant chose; a number, date or ZIP Code question shows the browser's own message:

• First Name and Last Name need at least one letter from A to Z (accented letters such as é count). A name written only in another alphabet, such as Chinese or Arabic, is stopped with the sentence "Please write your name using the letters A to Z. Letters with accents, such as é or ñ, are fine.", and the applicant enters the spelling in the letters A to Z. Federal reports and the Clearinghouse file carry names in those letters only.
• A Short Text question mapped to Middle Initial takes one letter, with or without a period, so a whole middle name is stopped before the applicant submits. Every APR record file takes one letter there.
• A Phone or Email question mapped to one of your text fields stays Phone or Email when you save, so applicants keep the box that checks their answer. A Long Text or Date question does too.
• A Short Text question mapped to one of your number fields (a profile field of type Number, such as a GPA) shows a number box, so an answer such as 3.5/4.0 or B+ is stopped. TRIOPilot would otherwise store nothing for it. Preview still shows it as a text box.
• A Date question takes a year from 1900 to 2200, so a two-digit year is stopped. The Date of Birth question keeps its own limits, see How Age at First Service Is Calculated.
• A Short Text question mapped to ZIP Code takes a 5-digit ZIP Code or ZIP+4, as the Address question does.
• An Email question takes a full address, so jane@gmail is stopped until it has a dot after the @.
• A Short Text question mapped to a field your APR record file writes in a fixed format is stopped by the browser the same way. A school code or an IPEDS ID takes that shape, and an unweighted GPA takes a number up to 4.000. These limits are in the browser only: an application that reaches TRIOPilot is always kept, and the validation report names a value the file cannot use.

Staff entering a paper application get the same checks; see Add a Student by Hand.

Questions Your Form Must Have

Your form needs a question mapped to each of First Name, Last Name and Email, marked Required and with no Show only when… rule. The public form refuses an application with no email address, and federal reports need a name. New programs start with these three.

Save and Publish refuses a form that loses one of them, and says what to change. A missing question is named above your questions. A question that is not required, or that shows only for some answers, is named on its card.

What a Mapped Question Needs

Some Maps to fields need a certain kind of answer. Choosing the field sets the question up for you, and Save and Publish refuses a question changed away from that. The reason shows on the question's card.

• Date of Birth, Phone and Email: choosing the field sets Type to Date, Phone or Email, so applicants get the date picker or the box that checks their answer.
• ZIP Code: the Type stays Short Text.
• Hispanic / Latino, Low Income Status, Limited English Proficiency and SMS Opt-In (text consent): these record only Yes or No. Choosing the field sets Type to Yes / No. A Multiple Choice or Dropdown question may stay only if its answers are exactly Yes and No, because any other answer would record No.
• Gender / Sex, Race and Military / Veteran Connection: each answer stores a value your reports read, shown beside the answer, for example Stores: Female. Typing in the answer changes only the wording applicants see. To add an answer, pick a value from Add an answer for a value…. To take one off the form, remove its answer with the ×.

If your saved form already has a question that breaks one of these rules, its card shows the reason in amber and the form still saves, so you can change something else first. For an answer that stores a value its field does not accept, choose the value from Choose a value beside it, and the answer keeps its wording. Nothing changes until you change that question. Once you change it, Save and Publish holds it to the rule.

Reorder Answer Choices

On a Multiple Choice, Multiple Choice (multi-select) or Dropdown question, the form shows the answers in the order you set.

• On a computer: drag an answer by the handle on its left, or use the Move Up and Move Down arrows on its right.
• On a phone: use the Move Up and Move Down arrows.
• With a keyboard: Tab to an arrow and press Enter. The focus stays on the moved answer, so you can press again.

Choose Save and Publish to put the new order on your form. Each answer keeps its wording, its translations and its link to an advisor. Answers students already gave do not change.

The answers of a question mapped to a profile field with its own list (for example a federal code list) keep that list's order and have no arrows. Hover over Codes set by the mapped field to see why.

Split the Form Into Pages

A long form can be split into pages. Applicants then see one page at a time, with the page names and Step 2 of 3 above the questions, and Back and Next below them. Your form stays one page until you add a page break, and that is the default.

1. Choose Add Page Break below the list, or Page Break from the + between two cards. The first page break you add anywhere but the top also adds one at the top, so the first page has a name too.
2. Type each page's name in its Page Title box, for example About You or Financial Information. Each card shows its page number beside Page Break.
3. Drag page breaks like any card to move questions between pages.

When you choose Save and Publish, the builder checks your pages:

• Name every page. A page break needs a title, and a form with pages needs a page break at the top.
• A page needs at least one question or text block, so two page breaks in a row, or one at the end of the form, are refused.
• A Show only when rule must name a question on the same page or an earlier one. A question on a later page would make something appear on a page the applicant already finished.

What applicants get:

• Next checks the required questions on that page before it moves on. Required answers are still checked again when the form is submitted.
• Back keeps every answer, including attached files and the signature.
• A page whose questions are all hidden by Show only when rules is skipped, and it is left out of the step count.
• Question numbers continue from one page to the next, and Submit Application is on the last page.
• On a phone, the page names collapse into one line, such as Step 2 of 3: Financial Information, over a progress bar.

Page titles are translated with the rest of the form. The application PDF on the student's record stays one list of answers, without page titles. Add New Student uses the same pages; the staff settings show on every page.

Ready-Made Questions

The APR / Special Fields group in the Type picker holds questions that configure themselves. Pick one and it sets its own type, maps itself to the right profile and reporting field, and fills in the answer options:

• Education Level (APR status): seeds the education-status choices for your program type. Each answer stores one of your program's federal statuses, which is what your APR counts. You can reword every answer; the status it stores stays the same. See The Education Question below.
• Income Eligibility Calculator: asks household size, then offers income ranges built from that size's limit in your Low-Income Eligibility Thresholds on the Reporting tab in Settings, and records the low-income result. The ranges read "$L or less" and "More than $L", because an income exactly at the limit qualifies: the federal definition is a family taxable income that "did not exceed 150 percent of the poverty level amount". The income box is labeled with the measure the definition uses (programs that have not switched to this wording yet see Household Income), family taxable income for "the calendar year preceding the year in which the individual initially participated in the project": for example Total Taxable Household Income (2025) on a form filled in during 2026. TRIOPilot sets the year from today's date on your program's calendar (on Add New Student, from the Program Year you choose; see Add a Student by Hand). If a student will first take part in a later calendar year, confirm the right year's income with them. The low-income result becomes the student's Low-Income, and the APR reports it as the profile records it (see Run Your APR). An applicant who gives a household size but chooses no range records no Low-Income, so you record it on the profile. The question needs the table: while your Low-Income Eligibility Thresholds are empty, the builder says so on the question and does not save a new Income Eligibility Calculator, so fill in the table in Settings first.
• First-Generation Status (Federal Definition): one question, Which of these describes your parents?, whose answers state your program's federal definition, part by part: neither birth or adoptive parent has a bachelor's degree; before 18 the student lived with and was supported by only one parent, who has no bachelor's degree; and, for EOC, Talent Search and McNair only, before 18 the student did not regularly live with or get support from either parent. The last answer is None of these describes me. Each answer records First-Generation College Student as Yes or No for you. The definition counts birth or adoptive parents only, never a guardian, so the question does not ask about guardians. You can reword the answers; what each one records stays the same. New programs start with this question.
• Immigration Status (eligibility): U.S. citizen, Lawful permanent resident (Green Card holder), FAFSA-eligible non-citizen.
• Address (autocomplete): one field that autocompletes and fills Address Line 1, Address Line 2, City, State and ZIP Code.
• Signature: a draw-with-your-mouse canvas. The signature is embedded in the application PDF stored in the student's files.
• SMS Opt-In (text consent): arrives with the consent wording you need before texting a student.
• Also here: Sex (APR), Race (APR, select all that apply), Hispanic / Latino (APR ethnicity), Military Connection (APR), Limited English Proficiency (APR), First-Generation Status (APR eligibility) and Other Federal Programs (APR). First-Generation Status (APR eligibility) is the older yes or no question, "Does either of your parents or guardians hold a bachelor's degree?", where No records first generation. Forms that ask it keep working; it counts a guardian's degree and has no answer for a student raised by one parent without a degree whose other parent has one, so use First-Generation Status (Federal Definition) for a new question. A ready-made question says "(APR)" only where your program's APR has its field: Military Connection is on the EOC and Talent Search forms, Limited English Proficiency on the EOC, Talent Search, Upward Bound and UBMS forms, and Other Federal Programs on the EOC and Talent Search forms. On other programs the question is still offered, without "(APR)". Upward Bound and UBMS programs do not see Other Federal Programs (APR), because their APR form records other programs in field #29 instead (below). A question that already uses it keeps working, and its Maps to field shows the list with "(not offered for your program)". Other Federal Programs (APR) offers EOC for a student also served by an Educational Opportunity Centers project, so a student served by EOC and SSS counts as served by two other programs. An EOC program does not see the EOC choice, because the student is already in your EOC project. A question added before EOC was offered keeps its own choices: to offer it, edit the question's options.

Several arrive already ticked Required, where eligibility or reporting needs an answer. You can untick that per question.

If you change your mind, changing a ready-made question back to a plain type, or clearing its Maps to field, also clears the answer options it filled in for you. When you clear Maps to, there is one exception: if you added or removed options yourself, the builder leaves your list as it is. Changing the question to a plain type clears its options even then, including any you added.

To collect a high school, set a question's Maps to field to High School Attended. Applicants then get a dropdown of the schools in your High School List in Settings, plus an "Other (not listed)" choice that opens a text box. Add those schools first, on the Participants tab: with an empty list, the question renders as a plain text field.

Upward Bound and UBMS can ask field #29, Served by Another Federally Funded College Access Program, on the application. Add a Dropdown question and set its Maps to field to Served by Another Federally Funded College Access Program (for reporting year) (APR). The answers arrive in words an applicant understands, for example I am also in Talent Search or No, I am not in any other college access program, and each one stores the federal code your APR counts. You can reword an answer; the code it stores stays the same. The form's code 9 (Not applicable, prior-year participant) is not offered, because nobody applying is a prior-year participant; staff record it on the profile when it applies. New Upward Bound and UBMS programs start with this question on their application, and staff can correct the answer on the profile.

Each profile field can be mapped to only one question. If a Type pick would duplicate an existing mapping, the builder refuses it and says another question is already mapped to that field; in Maps to, a field another question holds shows "(already mapped)" and cannot be chosen.

The Education Question

The question whose Maps to field is Educational Status at Entry decides where each applicant is counted in your APR, so its answers work differently from other options:

• Each answer stores one of your program's federal statuses. The status is shown beside the answer, for example Stores: 12th grade. Typing in the answer changes only the wording applicants see, never the status.
• To add an answer, pick a status from Add an answer for a status… under the answers. The list offers only the statuses that are not on the question yet. The new answer starts with the status's standard wording, which you can reword.
• To take a status off the form, remove its answer with the × beside it. Clearing an answer's wording entirely puts back the status's standard wording when you save.
• Use the arrows beside an answer to move it up or down. The status moves with its wording.
• A question can have two answers that store the same status, for example two wordings for students who are in college now. Applicants see each answer's own wording. The student record keeps only the status, so a Show only when… rule lists that status once, with both wordings joined by "or", and the application PDF shows both wordings.
• If an answer stores no status (for example, wording that was saved as the answer itself before this check existed), a Choose a status list appears beside it, with a red note under it. Pick the status that answer stands for. The answer's wording stays as it is.

Save and Publish saves nothing while any answer stores no status. The message at the top of the page names each answer and its question.

Choosing a new status for an answer can leave a Show only when… rule on another question pointing at an answer that no longer exists. That rule is marked in red with Choose an answer, and the save names both questions until you choose the answer again.

Let Applicants Choose an Advisor

You can ask applicants who they would like to work with and have their answer become the student's Assigned Advisor the moment the application is submitted.

1. Add a Multiple Choice (single) or Dropdown question, for example "Select an Advisor", and type one option per advisor in whatever words you like: a first name plus the languages they speak, a campus, anything. Add a "No Preference" option if you want to offer one.
2. Set the question's Maps to field to Assigned Advisor, in the Student Assignment group at the bottom of the list. Only single-choice questions offer it, and only one question per form can carry it.
3. An Advisor picker appears under each option. Pick the staff member that option stands for. The list holds only staff who can currently carry a caseload (advisors and admins who are not archived). Leave an option on No preference (let the program assign) for choices like "No Preference".
4. Choose Save and Publish.

Applicants see only your option text; the link to a staff member is invisible to them, and their answer is stored on the application exactly as they chose it. When the application comes in, the linked staff member becomes the student's Assigned Advisor and is notified the same way as any other assignment. An option left on No preference, or an option whose staff member has since been archived, leaves the student unassigned so your program can assign someone later. If a linked staff member is no longer assignable, the option shows a warning in the builder until you pick someone else.

Staff entering a paper application through Add New Student get the same question. There, the advisor chosen in Assign to Advisor at the top of the form wins. The applicant's preference is used when Assign to Advisor is left on Unassigned. For an advisor, Assign to Advisor starts on their own name, so they choose Unassigned to use the applicant's choice.

Show Questions Only When They Apply

Every question card has a Show only when… checkbox. Tick it to add a condition, so a follow-up appears only when someone gives a particular answer. With more than one condition you choose whether All or Any must match.

The trigger has to be a Yes/No, dropdown, or multiple-choice question, and it can sit anywhere in the form, before or after the question it controls. On a form split into pages, it must be on the same page as that question or an earlier one. Until your form contains one, the checkbox stays disabled.

A rule matches the answer as it is stored. If you reword or remove an answer of an ordinary choice question, a rule that named it can no longer match: the builder marks that rule in red with Choose an answer, and Save and Publish names both questions until you choose the answer again. Moving an answer up or down does not change any rule.

If you delete a question that a rule names, the card with the rule says so, and Save and Publish names the question with that rule until you remove the condition.

Translations Are Automatic

Choose the languages your application is offered in under Application Settings, in Languages: Spanish, Haitian Creole, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Vietnamese, Arabic, Tagalog and Portuguese. English is always offered. Leave every language unchecked for an English-only form with no language choice. A new program starts with Spanish; the change takes effect when you choose Save and Publish.

Each time you save, TRIOPilot translates into each of your languages the question text, help text, answers, page titles and confirmation message you changed. A language you just added gets your whole form. Wording you did not change keeps its translation word for word, even when you move a question or an answer. The form's own buttons and notes, and the receipt email applicants get, are already in every language.

Applicants choose a language at the top of the form: buttons such as English, Español, Kreyòl when you offer one or two languages, or a language menu when you offer more. Arabic is shown right to left. To check the wording yourself, open Preview and choose a language there; Preview uses the languages selected on the page, even before you save.

If the translation cannot be updated after a save, a note above Save and Publish says so. Your form is saved; choose Try Again to update the translated wording. A language appears on your form once its translation is saved, so a failed translation never shows applicants translated buttons around English questions.

The application PDF saved to each student's Documents is always in English. An answer the applicant typed in their own language, such as a goal written in Chinese or Vietnamese, prints as typed.

The form title is one exception: it is shown as you typed it in every language. With no title, the heading reads Program Application in the language each applicant chooses.

Preview Before You Publish

Preview opens a new tab with the same form applicants get, conditional logic active, including edits you have not saved yet. Three things behave differently: answers are not saved, file uploads are disabled and the booking invitation never appears. All three work on the live form.

Preview publishes nothing. When it looks right, return to the builder and choose Save and Publish. The live form picks up your changes right away.

Each save is recorded in your program's audit log, with who saved it and how many questions changed. See See Who Changed What.

Leaving Before You Save

Your changes stay on this page until you choose Save and Publish. If you try to leave with changes that are not saved, TRIOPilot asks first:

• When you leave from inside TRIOPilot, by choosing a menu item, a link, a notification, Sign Out, or another program, the Leave without saving? message appears. Choose Keep Editing to stay, or Leave Without Saving to discard your changes.
• When you close the tab, reload the page, or type a new address, most desktop browsers show their own message asking whether to leave, in their own wording. Browsers on an iPhone or iPad do not ask, so save before you close or reload the page there.

Your browser's Back and Forward buttons, and the back swipe on a trackpad, do not always ask first. Save before you use them.

To discard your changes on purpose, choose Cancel, then Discard Changes. The builder returns you to the dashboard.

Share Your Form

• Copy the live URL from the top of the builder and share it anywhere: your website, emails, texts.
• For flyers and events, the Application QR Code card under that URL offers Download PNG and Print for a sheet students can scan.

Every application form is protected from bots automatically, so there is nothing to set up.

Filling the Form for a Student

To enter a paper application, use Add New Student on the Students page. It opens this same form with staff-only settings, such as the advisor and the program year, and the email address is optional there. See Add a Student by Hand.

You can also help someone apply on the public form, which has no sign-in. Submitting creates no account.

One thing matters on the public form: enter the student's own email address, never your own. It is how your program reaches them afterwards, and a matching email is one of the signals that flags a possible duplicate for staff review. Put your own address on ten applications and all ten will flag each other.

Tips

• Keep it short. Each extra question makes an applicant more likely to stop before submitting.
• Tick Required only on the fields you need.
• Deleting a question does not erase anything a past applicant submitted. Their answers stay on their student record and in their application history. It does stop collecting that data from here on, which is why the builder names the linked field before you confirm.
• The special questions read their choices from Settings. See Find Your Way Around Program Settings for the income thresholds, high school list and logo they use.