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I just returned from EDUCAUSE 2025, and one message came through loud and clear: Belonging isn’t soft. It’s a signal. 
This became undeniable during our joint session with Tyton Partners. We examined the Driving Toward a Degree 2025 findings, and the data tells a clear story:
- Students aware of 5+ support services are 71% likely to re-enroll compared to just 43% who know only a few.
- Fully online and disabled learners report the lowest awareness of advising and career supports.
The takeaway is simple: mind the gap.
Persistence doesn’t come from more systems - it depends on whether students are aware of, and receptive to, help when they need it most. That means institutions need infrastructure that can:
- Reach out automatically when a student might be struggling.
- Connect them to the right person or resource.
- Give staff the data they need to act before it’s too late.
The Challenge
The question facing colleges and universities today isn’t whether belonging matters - it’s whether they’ve built the systems that make it happen.
CIOs and CTOs at EDUCAUSE were candid: most discretionary budgets are frozen, and spending is focused on what they define as core infrastructure - integration, data governance, and AI policy. Engagement tools, they said, don’t yet rise to that level of priority.
But the schools making real gains in retention think differently. They don’t treat belonging as a program - they treat it as a capability. They’ve built ways to make connection routine, data-informed, and institution-wide.
When belonging is treated like an add-on, it stays optional. And optional doesn’t scale.
The Path Forward
The next generation of student success systems will be designed to make connections as operational as enrollment or advising.
That’s what we call the Mentorship Operating System - the technology and process layer that helps institutions build belonging into how they run, not just what they offer.
The Mentorship Operating System helps institutions:
- Identify early signals that a student needs support or is ready to grow
- Activate timely outreach through trusted human relationships
- Give leaders real-time insight before intervention windows close
Belonging is the goal. Our Mentorship Operating System is the infrastructure that enables it.
The Future is Human-in-the-Loop
The most energizing conversations at EDUCAUSE were about AI as an amplifier of human connection, not a replacement for it.
In a “human-in-the-loop” model, AI helps surface insights — but people turn those insights into action. One tutoring company found that its AI actually increased demand for in-person tutors by helping students recognize when they needed help. Faculty are experimenting with AI tools that enrich class discussions, while students push for policies that keep technology in the service of human connection.
The future will belong to systems that blend human judgment with intelligent automation - making education more responsive, personal, and humane.
Our Commitment
At Mentor Collective, that’s exactly what we’re building.
The Mentorship Operating System uses AI to surface the moments that matter - and empowers mentors, advisors, and staff to turn those signals into meaningful human connections.
- AI-powered to spot early signs of risk or opportunity.
- Human-delivered to build real relationships.
- Institutionally integrated to make support measurable and scalable.
It is our mission to build an interconnected system of learners, mentors, and employers, and we are doubling down to reach all learners. We hope that together, alongside you, we will spark the first of many steps for a generation ready to realize its full potential.
See how our partners are using the Mentorship Operating System to make belonging possible, book a demo.
Mentorship for All,
-Erin Mayhood, Mentor Collective CEO