Inspiration
The inspiration for FastFa! came from the tedious and often confusing process of applying for financial aid through traditional means. We wanted to create a solution that simplifies this process, making it more accessible and less daunting for students to access educational opportunities. There are many niche scholarships that are local and specific to one's background (ethnicity, interests) that are incredibly tough to find. Hence, we introduce our central platform, FastFa!
What it does
FastFa! is a web application that uses AI to generate a list of specific scholarships based on a student's personal information and financial needs. It takes the user's input, processes it through OpenAI's GPT-4 model, and returns a list of scholarships that are tailored to the user's specific circumstances. It then has a secured payment method utilizing Starknet which allows students to receive these scholarships directly from the institutions.
How we built it
FastFa! is built using JavaScript, with Node.js and Express.js for the backend. We used the fetch API to make requests to the OpenAI API, and the responses are processed and displayed on the frontend. The frontend is built with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. The payment method is built through Startknet, and our feedback responses are stored within the Kinstone database system.
Challenges we ran into
One of the main challenges we faced was integrating the OpenAI API and ensuring that the responses were accurate and relevant. We also had to ensure that the application was user-friendly and intuitive, which required careful design and planning.
Accomplishments that we're proud of
We're proud of creating a tool that can potentially help many students find scholarships that they may not have been aware of. We're also proud of the AI integration, which allows for a high degree of personalization and accuracy in the results. Also, the beautiful UI gradient and feedback page integrated with the KinTone backend were extra features that we are happy we added.
What we learned
Through this project, we learned more about working with AI and how tailoring it to certain use cases such as education can be extremely beneficial for society. We also learned about the complexities of financial aid and scholarship applications, and how technology can be used to simplify these processes.
What's next for FastFa!
In the future, we plan to expand FastFa! to include more features, such as a more detailed breakdown of each scholarship and a feature that allows users to track their applications. We also plan to improve the AI model to ensure more accurate and personalized results.
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