Mainstay

Mainstay, formerly known as AdmitHub, is a leading provider of AI-powered chatbots for higher education institutions. The company's platform utilizes behaviorally intelligent chatbots to engage with students through text messaging, providing personalized support and guidance throughout their educational journey. Mainstay's technology aims to improve student outcomes by sending timely reminders, answering questions, and offering encouragement. The chatbots use Natural Language Processing to understand and respond to student inquiries in a conversational manner, even interpreting slang, misspellings, and emojis. As of 2022, Mainstay had served over 5 million students across the US. The company's chatbots have been shown to reduce summer melt, increase enrollment, and improve completion rates for key enrollment tasks.

Key customers and partnerships

Mainstay has partnered with numerous colleges and universities across the US. Notable clients include Georgia State University, where the chatbot "Pounce" was implemented in 2016 as part of a randomized controlled trial. The trial showed a 3.3% increase in enrollment and a 21.4% reduction in summer melt for students who interacted with Pounce. Other institutions using Mainstay's technology include Valdosta State University, Dallas College, and Kean University. In 2019, Mainstay collaborated with Reach Higher, former First Lady Michelle Obama's initiative to promote higher education, to develop an AI chatbot for the program. The company has also worked with the Washington Student Achievement Council to create "Otterbot," a texting service supporting high school seniors with College Bound Scholarships in Washington state.