About ADVi
ADVi – which is short for “advisor” – is a chatbot powered by Mainstay. ADVi uses artificial intelligence to provide on-demand support to students looking to attend or return to higher education.
ADVi uses text messages to reach students with accurate and engaging information about key college access milestones, common questions, and action steps. If ADVi can’t answer a question or a student needs personalized support, the Virtual Advising Project’s trained advisors step in to help.
About the Virtual Advising Project
The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB) developed the Virtual Advising Project to support Texas students with their postsecondary journey. The project strives to give all Texans the information they need to access higher education and earn credentials at Texas colleges and universities. This project provides a safe and cost-effective way for the state of Texas to reach students with critical, timely information needed to meet key college and career milestones. It also supports the agency’s strategic plan for higher education, Building a Talent Strong Texas.
The Virtual Advising Project began as a partnership with Advise Texas and The University of Texas at Austin in 2018. It initially targeted high school seniors and adult learners with significant college credit but no credential in central, south, and west Texas. The project was brought fully in-house to the THECB in 2020 and scaled up to serve learners across the state. Since then, the project has served more than 850k Texans looking to attend or return to higher education.
Today, ADVi continues to serve both high school seniors and adult learners through weekly proactive text campaigns. ADVi also serves high school juniors and recently graduated seniors through a partnership with Texas A&M AgriLife Extension’s Rural Student Success Initiative. Other project partners include Mainstay (formerly AdmitHub), the College Advising Corps, ApplyTexas, and Get Schooled. The Urban Education Institute at The University of Texas at San Antonio serves as an evaluation partner for the project.
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