Email forwarding sends messages from your existing inboxes, such as admissions@ or financialaid@, to your agent. Your agent replies to the sender and copies your inbox. As soon as a staff member joins the thread, your agent stops replying. Students keep writing to the address they already know.
How it works
Here's an example. Monza University forwards its admissions inbox to Finny, its agent.
A student emails [email protected]. The email arrives in the inbox as usual.
The email is forwarded to Finny, either by a rule or by a staff member.
Finny replies to the student and copies [email protected], so your team sees the whole conversation.
The student replies and the conversation continues with Finny.
When a staff member, or the admissions inbox itself, replies in the thread, Finny stops responding and your team takes over.
Every reply from your agent looks like this:
From: your agent (for example, Finny, Monza University)
To: the student
CC: your original inbox
💡 Forwarding doesn't replace your inbox. Your team keeps full access and should keep monitoring it, especially for conversations your agent escalates.
Choose how email reaches your agent
You can combine these options.
Forward all email: every email to the inbox goes to your agent automatically.
Forward by rule: rules in Gmail or Outlook decide which emails are forwarded. The rest stay with your team.
Forward manually: staff forward individual emails whenever they want your agent to respond.
What to expect
Your agent replies to every email it receives, even off-topic ones. It explains what it can help with and offers to find someone for the rest. If an inbox gets a lot of email your agent shouldn't handle, forward by rule instead of forwarding everything.
Some emails raise an escalation. Sensitive or out-of-scope emails usually go to your team through your escalation paths. See How escalations work at CollegeVine.
Every reply copies your inbox. This is the inbox you name during setup.
Before you start
Choose your inboxes. Start with two or three high-volume inboxes that mostly get routine questions, such as admissions@, visit@, transfer@, financialaid@, registrar@, or housing@. Inboxes that mostly handle decisions, appeals, or personal situations are better left with staff.
Confirm your escalation paths with your CollegeVine team, for example who should receive appeals, specific aid questions, and exceptions.
Find out which email system each inbox uses (Gmail or Outlook) and who on your IT team can change its settings.
Setup
Setup takes a few steps on each side. Forwarding only works once both are done.
What CollegeVine does
Updates your agent so it can handle forwarded email.
Adds each forwarding inbox as a trusted address, so your agent can copy it on replies.
For Gmail, verifies the forwarding address. Gmail requires this before it will forward to an outside address, so tell your CollegeVine team when your IT team adds it.
What your team does
Add your agent's email address as a forwarding address in Gmail or Outlook. Your CollegeVine team will give you the address.
Create the rules or filters that decide which emails are forwarded.
Exclude email that would loop. Don't forward messages sent from your agent's own address or from the inbox itself.
Forward a copy instead of moving the message, so your team can still see it in the inbox.
Optional: add an auto-reply on the inbox so senders know their message was received.
Optional: add an archive rule (such as a BCC to an archive address) if your institution needs a record of forwarded mail.
💡 Some institutions block automatic forwarding to outside addresses by default. If a rule doesn't work, ask your IT team whether external forwarding is allowed for that inbox.
Optional: departmental routing
Instead of raising an escalation, your agent can forward a question to the office that should answer it. For example:
If someone asks about | The email goes to |
Athletic recruiting | Athletics |
Login or account access | IT |
That office replies directly in the same thread, so there are no separate escalation emails to track. Ask your CollegeVine team to set this up.
Optional: a dedicated inbox for your agent
Along with forwarding (or instead of it), you can create a new address just for your agent, such as [email protected] or one named after your agent. Your IT team creates the address and points it to your agent. A dedicated address is easy to promote on your website, in print, and in email signatures.
Test before you launch
Send a test email to the forwarded inbox from an outside address.
Confirm your agent replies and copies the inbox.
Reply from the test address and confirm the conversation continues.
Reply in the thread as a staff member and confirm your agent stops responding.
Confirm your agent's replies aren't forwarded back to it.
Limitations
Your agent can't forward attachments. If a student sends a recommendation letter, portfolio, or other file, your agent can't pass it to another department. Your team can still see the attachment in the original inbox. If this happens often, your CollegeVine team can help you adjust your forwarding rules.