- Complexity: Standard
- Deployment: Platform-native
The problem
Universities lose admitted students during the summer window between acceptance and enrollment, a period called summer melt. Staff capacity is lowest exactly when admitted students have the most questions about financial aid, housing and registration, and legacy communication systems only broadcast one way.
- One-way SMS broadcasts cannot answer an individual student's question
- Financial aid and housing questions pile up outside business hours
- Senior staff spend time manually managing mass messaging campaigns
- Students who cannot get answers quietly stop enrolling
The solution
An engagement workflow gives admitted students conversational access to answers on financial aid, housing and registration around the clock, replacing one-way broadcasts with two-way dialogue while staff keep the complex decisions.
- Grants admitted students conversational access immediately after acceptance
- Answers common questions on financial aid deadlines, housing confirmation and course registration using the student information and communication systems
- Runs structured outreach campaigns to admitted students through the summer window
- Escalates any complex or sensitive case to staff with the full conversation history attached
Where people stay in control
- A staff member takes over complex cases with full conversation context attached
- Escalation happens before any financial aid or enrollment decision is made
- Opt-out remains available to every student on every message
Systems and data
The workflow reads admitted student records and financial aid and housing status from the student information and communication systems, sends and receives messages over SMS, and writes escalated conversation context to staff queues.
- student information and communication systems
- SMS
Results
- Enrollment grew 2 percent in the documented deployment, representing additional tuition revenue
- 300,000 messages were sent at less than 1 percent opt out rate in the documented deployment
Why platform-native
The workflow runs as conversational messaging on top of the university's existing systems with staff handling escalations, so it fits directly on the model platform with Altivus providing monitoring and governance.
Frequently asked questions
Does AI replace admissions or financial aid staff?
No. It answers common questions directly and escalates complex or sensitive cases to staff with full conversation context attached.
What problem does this solve for universities?
It addresses summer melt, the loss of admitted students who fail to enroll, by keeping them engaged with real time answers during the low staff capacity summer window.
Can students opt out of messages?
Yes. Students can opt out at any time, and opt out rates stayed under 1 percent in the documented deployment.