Retention is Revenue: Data-Driven Ways to Stop Attrition Before it Starts

Everyone agrees that retention is essential – for student success, for institutional mission and reputation, and yes, for revenue. Yet too often, schools wait until students are already struggling before stepping in. By then, it’s frequently too late.

Even setting aside the high cost of recruiting each student, retaining them directly drives revenue – through tuition payments and, in many provinces, government grants tied to enrolment. Still, most institutions continue to rely on students to seek out help themselves. But that’s not how it plays out in reality. Studies show that 60–70% of students who leave never once connect with support services.

What if you could identify your highest-risk students before classes even begin – and intervene proactively?

In this session, Kirk Kelly (CRI) and Christine Chan (University Canada West) share how UCW is piloting a bold, data-informed approach to retention using the HeadStart system. By combining predictive risk models with targeted outreach, UCW is testing a scalable model of early intervention that aims to improve student outcomes and safeguard tuition revenue.

We know this might sound ambitious – maybe even too ambitious.

But what if we could show you clear, measurable actions that it works?

This session is ideal for enrolment managers, academic advisors, student success leaders, intervention teams, and senior administrators looking for scalable, data-backed ways to improve retention, generate revenue, and elevate the student experience.

Learning Outcomes

• How HeadStart works, amalgamating 12 recent studies on outreach impact among at-risk students
• How UCW operationalizes early intervention both before and after Day 1
• The real-world outcomes of those interventions seen in the 12 studies
• Practical steps for building a proactive, high-ROI student success strategy at your institution