At Lenoir Community College, many students who applied to the college did not take the necessary steps to enroll and attend classes. One of the main barriers for students was scheduling a meeting with their advisor to choose classes and complete registration.
In their work with Mainstay, LCC randomly split students into two groups: One group received messages from — and access to — their chatbot, Lance. The other group did not receive messages or access. Lance messaged the first group of students about their next steps after applying, and offered information about how to contact their advisor (and the importance of doing so).
At the end of the trial, LCC compared results for both groups and discovered that there was a 14% increase in enrollment among students in the group that had Lance. Only 32% of students in the control group enrolled, while 46% of students in the treatment group enrolled, bringing 23 more students to the college.
