Virtual adviser may help apply to college
A new virtual adviser may help Texas students with their college applications and information on the Free Application for Federal Student Aid.
ADVI — short for “adviser” — is a virtual chat bot that uses artificial intelligence to answer questions about college applications, financial aid, FAFSA and related deadlines via text message. Students are required to complete the FAFSA to receive federal and some state aid, along with on-demand resources.
Created by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board and the Dallas nonprofit Educate Texas, the resource is part of Future Focused Texas, an initiative aimed toward maintaining enrollment rates at colleges throughout the state.
“We’re trying to use the same techniques social media (platforms) use to engage students,” said John Fitzpatrick, the executive director of Educate Texas.
Students and counselors can use the chat bot to ask questions about applications and the FAFSA at any time and as many times as they need, said Jerel Booker, the coordinating board’s assistant commissioner for college readiness and success. The chat box also directs students to websites for applications or admissions offices, and it covers topics such as writing college essays, creating a resume, recommendations and application submissions.
For more complicated questions, live counselors are available during the day. Students can opt into the ADVi service by texting the word “college” to the number 512-829-3687.
Texas Higher Education Commissioner Harrison Keller said the initiative began before COVID-19 but that the need for college application support resources was amplified during the pandemic.
College enrollment across Texas is down 3 percent from last fall, and the state also received 18 percent fewer completed FAFSAs in October, compared with last year.
As of late November, 874,960
FAFSA applications were filed across the country for the high school class of 2021 — 16 percent fewer than the number completed at that point in the previous year for the class of 2020, according to the National College Attainment Network.
“That’s awarning sign — a cause for concern,” Keller said, noting that a decrease in FAFSAcompletion can indicate a decrease in enrollments. “What we’re concerned about is, we have many more students not enrolling across the state than we’d expect or hope to see right now.”
John Fitzpatrick, executive director of Educate Texas, said there aremore than 350,000 Texas high school seniors for the 2019-2020 academic year at risk of not being able to enroll in college.
African-American, Hispanic and low-income students — many of which are underrepresented at higher education institutions — are particularly at risk, Keller added.
Fitzpatrick said that “our high school counselors and college admission officers
are working so hard to engage 350,000 students, but it’s incredibly hard in time of COVID-19.”
College advisers and recruiters have had to pivot, resorting to online or virtual techniques to reach their students. Meanwhile, students and their families have experienced hardships of their own during the pandemic, which might have renderedfillingout anapplication or applying to college a lower priority. But for those still looking to attend college, the FAFSA is particularly important because it lets students assess what financial aid is available to them, which might determine which colleges they will or can afford to attend.
The ADVi platform could be especially helpful for students who are filling out the application for the first time or for the many students who cannot get in-person assistance or reminders from other students and counselors when they need it, the coordinating board’s Booker added.
The goal, however, is “not to totally eliminate humancontact, but to help the counselors do it online” during a time when many resources are being offered in remote formats or virtually, Booker said.
Fitzpatrick said: “It’s not going to fix everything, but we think it can help.”