Maria's college academic file looked fine in August: fifteen credits, a signed advising plan, no flags. By December, she had withdrawn. Three offices each saw a piece of what was happening to her. None of them saw the whole. While Maria—not a real person but a composite drawn from patterns across multiple institutions—is fictional, the gap in the signs showing a student is leaving rarely sit in one place. It costs institutions more than most realize. The schools that catch students in time are the ones set up to see all the signs at once. More are turning to wellconnected to capture those signs. Founder Duane Conners' company was built to be that home, with wellconnected's allco platform turning retention from a set of disconnected efforts into one coordinated practice. A coordinator can see every place a student has been referred, across advising, student affairs, basic needs, and community partners, along with whether each referral was actually met. The pantry email that disappeared into the void becomes a tracked referral with a known outcome. Your team learns whether the student connected, and can act if she didn't. When several offices touch the same student, everyone can see it while there's still time to coordinate, rather than weeks later. Leaders can see which programs and populations are quietly losing students, and which supports actually help them stay, so the next dollar goes where it does the most good. And wellconnected operates in compliance with FERPA and applicable privacy law, with each partner controlling exactly what it shares. That is what makes cross-agency coordination possible at all, and it is the gap almost nothing else on the market safely closes. The result is a retention function that finally has the tools to match the job. Fewer students slip away unseen, referrals turn into connections, and decisions rest on the full picture instead of fragments. When a student like Maria withdraws, the institution can usually explain why, afterward. The transcript shows the GPA slide. The advising notes show missed appointments. A referral sits unanswered in someone's inbox. But that story is an autopsy. It arrives too late to help. The cause is structural. Academic success, student engagement, and basic needs are studied, staffed, and funded separately. A struggling student shows up as a partial signal in all three areas, and no one is positioned to see them together. No one owns that vantage point, which is why prevention keeps turning into hindsight. Academic success covers classes, advising, and tutoring. Maria's advisor approved her schedule in August, logged missed check-ins in October, and sent emails that went unanswered. Student engagement is whether a student feels connected enough to stay. Maria's resident advisor noticed she stopped attending floor events but had nowhere to send that observation. Basic needs include food, housing, transportation, and childcare. A financial aid counselor emailed a community food pantry on Maria's behalf, then never learned whether she went or whether it helped. The referral left the building and vanished. Each stream has its own research, tools, and owner. Maria lived all three at once. Proof of where the real signals live can be seen across the student's experience. By October, Maria's GPA had slipped from 3.1 to 2.4, she had missed two advising check-ins, and she had stopped attending residence hall programming. Academic success saw a student falling behind. Engagement saw a student pulling away. Basic needs, had anyone known, would have seen a student picking up extra shifts to make rent. It creates a blind spot, with three layers: About two-thirds of community college students face food or housing insecurity, yet fewer than half use campus supports (RP Group, 2025; Hope Center, 2024). Meanwhile, even one substantive advising contact lifts first-year retention by three to six points (EAB, n.d.). Read together, these describe one student whose needs no single office can see. Patterns, such as a feeder school whose students all need tutoring, stay invisible because referral data lives in separate systems. When a referral goes to a food bank or housing authority, most institutions lose the thread. Sharing data across FERPA, HIPAA, and agency rules is genuinely hard. The cost of one withdrawal can not be undervalued. At $9,000 per semester with five semesters remaining, one withdrawal means $45,000 in lost tuition. Add a conservative $3,000 to recruit a replacement, and a single preventable exit costs about $48,000. Multiply that across the students you lose each year, and you're into the millions. Whether you own tuition revenue, accreditation evidence, or service delivery, you're looking at the same problem from a different seat. Revenue leaks when signals go unconnected. Planning suffers when decisions rest on partial data. Service teams track referrals by spreadsheet and personal email, with no way to know whether other offices are working with the same student. Picture Maria's semester with one change. The advisor's concern, the resident advisor's worry, and the unanswered pantry referral all appear in one place. In October, someone sees one student in trouble instead of three separate notes, and can still reach her. That is the job of a head of retention: a function that sees academic, engagement, and basic needs signals together, on campus and beyond. Its hardest part, following a student's need off campus and back, safely and lawfully, has never had a home. Mary Ruelle, Director of Higher Education and Workforce Development at WellConnected, compiled this information as part of a research brief on why students slip through the gaps between university departments.

When he's not polishing his business acumen studying at Amherst College, Yoon Chae pitches and plays shortstop for the Mammoth's varsity baseball team. Yoon has poured himself into the opportunity as easily as he turns a 6-4-3 double play. Here shared his reflections on a semester's work as an analyst intern with Brown and White Ventures. My experience as a Fall 2026 Intern at Brown & White Ventures has been an incredibly valuable opportunity to gain hands-on exposure to venture capital and early-stage investing. Coming into the internship, I had a strong interest in investing and entrepreneurship, but I wanted a better understanding of how investors evaluate companies and make investment decisions. Brown & White Ventures has given me the opportunity to develop that understanding through meaningful, hands-on work. One of the most rewarding aspects of the internship has been the level of responsibility and involvement I've had in the investment process. I've worked on investment memos, conducted due diligence on prospective investments, and researched companies across a variety of industries. This has involved analyzing financial statements, evaluating business models, assessing market opportunities, and identifying potential risks. I've also had the opportunity to participate in investment discussions, where I've learned how different perspectives contribute to the decision-making process. I've really appreciated being encouraged to think critically, ask questions, and form my own opinions about investment opportunities. I've learned that evaluating a startup isn't just about understanding its financial performance or growth potential, but also about assessing the strength of its management team, the sustainability of its competitive advantages, and its ability to execute on its plans. Being involved in this process has helped me become more analytical in how I evaluate businesses. Another highlight has been working alongside Jim and Neil. They've been generous with their time and knowledge, and I've appreciated the opportunity to learn directly from their experience in investing and entrepreneurship. The collaborative environment has made it easy to ask questions, receive feedback, and continue improving. Overall, my experience at Brown & White Ventures has strengthened my interest in investing and given me a much clearer understanding of how investment decisions are made in practice. I would highly recommend the internship to students interested in venture capital, finance, or entrepreneurship, particularly those looking for an opportunity to take on real responsibilities, develop analytical skills, and learn from an experienced team. Undergraduate, and post-graduate students may apply for an internship at Brown and White Ventures by submitting a resume and cover letter to: invest@brownandwhiteventures.com. Applications are being accepted for the fund's Winter 2027 semester program.

The newest Brown and White Ventures podcast dives into one of the most powerful financial tools available, the #HealthSavingsAccount (HSA) and a new company energizing their growth. HSA’s unique tax advantages and long-term investment potential help individuals save for both current healthcare expenses and retirement. #MaxHSA, a portfolio company of Brown and White Ventures, steps in to activate account holders, many of whom never contribute enough to fully realize their HSAs value. MaxHSA introduces the first gamified loyalty platform designed specifically to help consumers increase their HSA contributions without reducing their take-home pay. Founded by healthcare benefits veterans Sanders McConnell, CHSA®McConnell and Bill Stuart under parent company Benegames, Inc., MaxHSA combines financial education, rewards-based savings, and innovative technology to transform how people fund their healthcare future. "We've seen firsthand how HSAs can transform long-term financial well-being," said McConnell, MaxHSA's CEO. "MaxHSA gives people the knowledge and opportunity they need to fully unlock that potential." A major obstacle to growing these accounts, according to McConnell, is the perception that raising contributions sacrifices money from each paycheck. MaxHSA solves that challenge using a host of strategies, including: Roundups, which automatically round everyday purchases like coffee, groceries, and fuel to the nearest dollar and contribute the difference toward an HSA. Cashback Rewards, which allow members to earn contributions while shopping with participating merchants. Referral Rewards, giving users another way to grow their HSA simply by introducing friends and family to the platform. "The small, everyday actions accumulate over time," according to McConnell, and help members steadily boost their healthcare savings without changing their spending habits. MaxHSA addresses this challenge by pairing its rewards platform with clear, jargon-free education. Members receive practical guidance, personalized goal setting, and easy-to-understand resources that empower them to make smarter healthcare and financial decisions. By removing complexity and making savings engaging, MaxHSA helps users build confidence while creating healthier financial habits. The value of MaxHSA extends well beyond individual account holders. Employers, financial institutions, benefit advisors, and HSA administrators all benefit when employees actively engage with their accounts and contribute more consistently. The result is a stronger HSA ecosystem that benefits employees, employers, and administrators alike. To learn more, head to the Brown and White Ventures Youtube page to discover how small everyday decisions can lead to lasting financial wellness.