Mainstay

Mainstay operates an engagement and coaching platform for higher education that places a personalized success coach on each student's mobile phone. The platform combines automated, behaviorally informed conversations with human staff support, aiming to improve enrollment, persistence and retention outcomes. It is organized around three offerings: AI success coaching for students, a conversation co-pilot that helps staff save time while handling student conversations, and conversation insights that give institutional leaders a real-time view of student needs and barriers.

The product engages students across channels including SMS text messaging, live chat, web chat and social media. Conversation design draws on Mainstay's SPARK model and pre-built conversation libraries informed by mindset science, behavioral economics and research. Themes emphasized in the product framing include connection (prompting the right message at the right time), belonging (personalized check-ins) and reach (surfacing and removing hidden barriers, such as students who have not registered for an upcoming term).

Mainstay is a division of Lemnis, a public charity dedicated to expanding opportunity for learners; Lemnis's Collective strategy assembles mission-driven organizations focused on holistic support, learner well-being and future-ready skills. Earlier positioning of the platform also addressed employers, describing behaviorally intelligent chatbots for engaging employees as well as students.