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From Prospect to Persistence: Scaling Capacity with AI
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Scaling Student Support at UMES: How AI + Human Expertise Reduced Enrollment Holds by 95%
Scaling Conversations and Cutting Barriers with AI
Small barriers can derail big goals. At the University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES), holds, unanswered questions, and missed steps created friction for students and heavy lift for staff. The shift came when UMES started scaling real conversations—24/7, two-way, and personalized—backed by timely human follow-up.
This work began as part of UMES’s partnership with Ed Advancement, a non-profit organization committed to strengthening HBCUs that have a proven track record of advancing socioeconomic mobility for their graduates, despite historic underfunding.
Ed Advancement provides highly individualized, scalable, sustainable solutions to help HBCU partners, like UMES, serve their students and meet strategic enrollment, graduation, and advancement goals.
From one-way messages to real conversations
Admissions leader Dr. Darryl Isom describes the change this way:
“We’ll send a question… a call to action to the students that they are able to reply to. And the bot, which we affectionately call Harry the Hawk, will reply back to them with a personalized message.”
That loop—ask, answer, act—shifted the dynamic. Students no longer waited for office hours or email responses. At midnight, they could ask about transportation or daycare. Parents received updates too, recognizing their role in helping students stay on track.
“Not only do we engage with prospective students, but we engage with their parents as well… the parents… are really engaged. Like, they really want to be a part of that process,” noted Dr. Greg Shirley, Partner Operations Manager.
Cutting barriers before they grow
The impact showed up quickly in UMES’ numbers. Dr. Reginald Garcon, AVP of Enrollment Management and Registrar, pointed to a striking example:
“We had a 95% reduction rate of students who had holds… to get approved through our health services.”
By asking the right questions early, UMES kept those barriers from ever becoming roadblocks. Financial stress and wellness concerns surfaced through short surveys, and when a student’s responses showed they needed more help, the system handed off seamlessly.
“If it hits a particular threshold, they can always be redirected to our counseling center or health services or student accounts,” Dr. Garcon explained.
The result: fewer crises, fewer delays, more students registered and ready.
Giving staff time back
For staff, these conversations meant reclaimed hours. Dr. Shirley remembered his own days in career services before Mainstay:
“I would come back from a long weekend with 20 emails all asking me the same question… If I had a communication solution, such as Mainstay, I could direct my students to the bot and have more transformational conversations, rather than those transactional conversations.”
That’s exactly what UMES leaders describe now: less time chasing down forms, more time focusing on the student behind the form.
And the students feel it. “When they come on campus, they feel like they know us. They’ve already had those touchpoints… they feel connected,” said Dr. Isom.
Made possible by partnership
The story began with Ed Advancement, whose partnership gave UMES the opportunity to expand student support.Â
The work was originally geared toward reducing summer melt and increasing retention.
What started as a pilot became practice. Bi-monthly brainstorming sessions helped UMES leaders tailor content to their campus. Campaigns expanded from admissions yield to wellness, retention, adult learners, and parent engagement.
Dr. Garcon and Dr. Isom took full advantage of the opportunity and have taken small steps all along their students’ journeys to make a big impact across the student lifecycle.
The shift leaders should note
Three lessons stand out for higher ed leaders:
Students now expect real-time, multi-channel communication.
“The comfort level is there, and the expectation is that we will continue to communicate the way we’re doing now,” said Dr. Isom.Email alone won’t cut it.
“It can’t be just one method of communication… You have to think of a multiple of different ways,” added Dr. Garcon.Leadership and alignment to vision can spark transformative outcomes.
“The leadership team was already aligned around Dr. Anderson’s vision. Our partnership and resources provided a catalyst to help UMES turn post-pandemic challenges into opportunities for long-term growth and transformation.”
– Jim Runcie, CEO, Ed Advancement
Takeaway
Conversation scales capacity. At UMES, two-way nudges, 24/7 answers, and human-in-the-loop escalation have cut barriers, freed staff, and kept more students on track.
EdAdvance provided the springboard. UMES embraced the opportunity. Mainstay helps make it repeatable.
Because sometimes, all it takes is the right conversation at the right time to spark progress.