At this year’s NCAN National Conference, we joined a panel of innovators from leading advising organizations as they shared their experiences integrating AI into student support systems.
The session, “Embracing AI in College Attainment: A Playbook for Hybrid-Advising Success,” highlighted insights from a two-year study involving five nonprofits. The result of this collaboration was the unveiling of the Hybrid-Advising Playbook, offering practical guidance for blending AI with human advising to create more effective and equitable support systems. Below are key insights from the panelists, and a look at the playbook, which is now available for download.
A Community of Practice
Maurice McCaulley, Program Officer at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, set the stage by acknowledging the collective mission behind the initiative: “There’s something really special about the way everyone in this room shares information—it’s a community of practice.” This collaboration, known as the Hybrid Advising Co-op, brought together nonprofits committed to improving outcomes for Black and Latinx students, ensuring they receive equitable support on their educational journeys.
Each organization tailored AI to their unique advising models, united by a shared goal of enhancing information equity and improving student success. AI was not simply seen as a technological addition but a thoughtful tool for scaling human-centered advising in an increasingly digital world.
AI as a Thoughtfully Applied Tool
Ellen Bzomowski, Partnerships Director at Mainstay, emphasized the importance of intentional AI integration. Each nonprofit approached AI with a purpose that aligned with their specific advising goals. Some organizations adopted a “bot-forward” model, like Bottom Line, which used AI to automate some conversations, while others, like Let’s Get Ready, leveraged AI as a background tool that supported advisors while engaging directly with students.
Bzomowski’s key point was that AI should not be adopted for the sake of using AI. Instead, it must be thoughtfully implemented in a way that complements the existing human programming, thereby enhancing the capacity for personalized and equitable student support. Afterall, our philosophy is that AI is an enabler of empathy and efficiency rather than a replacement for human interaction.
Using AI to Strengthen Human Connection
Dennis Dumpson, Chief External Affairs Officer at Let’s Get Ready, demonstrated how AI was used to improve—not replace—advisor-student interactions. Let’s Get Ready implemented AI as a behind-the-scenes tool, gathering critical data while advisors engaged directly with students via text messaging. This allowed advisors to more effectively group students based on their needs and provide timely, individualized guidance.
By automating data collection in the background, AI helped advisors focus on building meaningful relationships with students—something that remains at the heart of successful advising. Let’s Get Ready’s model showed how AI can help institutions manage growing student populations while ensuring no student goes unnoticed.
Streamlining the Advisor-Student Connection
Steve Colón, Founder and CEO of Bottom Line, provided insight into how AI streamlined advisor-student connections. One of Bottom Line’s key goals was to free advisors from repetitive tasks, like sending reminders and tracking student progress, so they could focus on providing personalized guidance. AI helped by handling these logistical tasks, allowing advisors to reclaim eight hours per week for direct 1-on-1 engagement.
Moreover, AI-enabled advisors to pick up conversations with students right where they left off. By analyzing data and guiding students through their educational journey, AI ensured that advisors could offer seamless, tailored advice—improving the overall student experience. Bottom Line also ensured that students could differentiate between conversations with AI and human advisors by clearly indicating which was which, keeping the process transparent.
AI played a crucial role in this by reducing the amount of time advisors spent on outreach and coordination. Tasks like sending follow-up emails, making phone calls, and trying to “get on the same page” with students—what Colón referred to as “the middle part”—were largely handled by AI. As a result, advisors no longer had to start from scratch with every conversation. Instead, AI tracked each student’s progress and flagged when an advisor’s intervention was needed, allowing advisors to jump in at the right moment with personalized guidance.
Regarding whether AI would replace human advisors, Colón highlighted the need to integrate technology rather than fear it, drawing a comparison between the rise of AI and the advent of the internet. “Not long ago, we said ‘we won’t need advisors anymore now that we have websites,'” Colón said joyfully as the audience began to laugh.
Reaching the Unseen Students
Both Steve Colón and Dennis Dumpson emphasized AI’s role in promoting equity by identifying students who might not proactively seek help. Through data analysis, AI highlighted students at risk of falling behind, allowing advisors to step in before these students slipped through the cracks. This proactive approach ensured that all students—especially those from underserved backgrounds—received the support they needed.
Additional Insights from KIPP, College Advising Corps, and OneGoal
Though KIPP, College Advising Corps, and OneGoal were not represented on the panel at the NCAN session, their participation in the Hybrid Advising Co-op brought unique insights into AI-enhanced hybrid-advising models.
- KIPP Public Schools leveraged AI to streamline communication between advisors and students, particularly through proactive, personalized text campaigns. KIPP’s approach involved using chatbot-driven nudges to keep students on track with critical deadlines, such as FAFSA completion and college applications. Importantly, their AI was designed to work alongside human advisors, enhancing—but not replacing—the relational trust built between students and their advisors.
- College Advising Corps focused on expanding advisor capacity through AI. Their chatbot, “Aribot,” helped manage repetitive administrative tasks while providing personalized reminders about college milestones. Aribot’s interventions were particularly effective in increasing FAFSA completion rates and encouraging students to take actionable steps toward their college goals.
- OneGoal took a thoughtful approach to integrating AI with their advising model, emphasizing that technology should simplify administrative tasks and amplify human connection. Their pilot program showed that the combination of AI-driven nudges and advisor-led engagement significantly boosted student outcomes by ensuring that students were supported with timely, personalized advice throughout their postsecondary journey.
A Playbook for Hybrid-Advising Success
The session concluded with the introduction of the Hybrid-Advising Playbook, a comprehensive resource that draws on the experiences of the five participating organizations. The playbook outlines best practices for using AI to complement human advisors, offering guidance on how to strike a balance between automating routine tasks and preserving the human touch.
Whether your organization is exploring AI for the first time or looking to refine its current systems, the playbook provides actionable steps for creating a hybrid-advising model that enhances both efficiency and equity. It reflects Mainstay’s mission of “sparking progress with conversation” and reinforces the message that human-centered AI should empower advisors to do more, not replace them.
