Who on campus uses it?

It’s built for the Dean of Students and the student life team, residence life and RAs, first-year program staff, campus ministry and mentors. Each person gets the access their role allows.

How do new students get in?

Today you import the incoming class from a spreadsheet and invite them. Student information system sync and single sign-on with your campus login are being set up with our founding colleges.

Does the Assistant know a student is in their first year?

Today it works with what’s on each record: when someone joined, the groups they’re in, the events and check-ins they’ve come to. So a new student who isn’t in a group yet shows up with that reason. First-year reasons, such as not in a group by week three or an RSVP with no check-in, are being built with our founding colleges.

Will the AI message students on its own?

No. The Assistant suggests who to reach and drafts the note. Nothing reaches a student until someone on your staff sends it.

What will it do to our retention rate?

We don’t promise a number. Belonging is one of the reasons students give for stopping out, and this is a tool for noticing and reaching students sooner. To see what retention is worth to your college, try the retention calculator: it’s an estimate from your numbers.

First-year belonging

The first six weeks matter most.

A new student who finds a group, a mentor and a reason to show up has somewhere to belong. Socio Connect helps every first-year student find theirs, and shows your staff who hasn’t yet.

Talk to us about a founding launch See the whole platform

Now taking founding colleges for spring 2027, with founding pricing and a direct hand in shaping the product.

An older man and a younger woman working through notes together at a table

Why the first year

Belonging matters as much as cost.

About 31%

of first-year students don’t return to the school they started at.

Source: National Student Clearinghouse Research Center, fall 2024 starting cohort: 69.1% retained at the same institution.

24%

Belonging now ties with cost as a reason students consider stopping out, at 24% each.

Source: Lumina Foundation and Gallup, State of Higher Education study.

Retention calculator: an estimate from your numbers

What you work with

Everything a first-year program runs, on one record.

Cohorts

Put the whole first-year class in a cohort, so you can message them, see them and follow them together.

Groups and clubs

Every club, team, hall and small group gets its own space. Students join from their phones.

Events and check-in

Orientation sessions, the club fair and hall nights with RSVPs, tickets and check-in, on each student’s record.

Mentoring

Students apply for a mentor and get paired. Each pair has steps, check-ins and gentle nudges.

Texting

Reach commuters and students who don’t read email, by text, alongside email and messages in the app.

The Assistant

A weekly list of who needs someone, with the reason and a note drafted for your staff to edit and send.

The first six weeks

Six weeks, with no one slipping through.

How a first-year program could run on Socio Connect, using what works today.

Week 1
Orientation
Every new student is in the first-year cohort. Orientation sessions run with check-in, so you know who came.
Week 2
Find a group
The club fair is an event with RSVPs. Students join groups from their phones, and commuters get a text about what’s on.
Week 3
Meet a mentor
New students apply for a mentor and get paired, with the first steps and a check-in set out.
Week 4
Who hasn’t found a place?
The Assistant lists new members who aren’t in a group yet, with a note drafted for an RA or staff member to edit and send.
Week 5
Who stopped coming?
Students who came to things in September and haven’t been in for a few weeks show up on the list, with the reason.
Week 6
Before midterms
Text and email the whole cohort about advising and study nights, and see who RSVP’d.

Every Monday

What your staff see each Monday.

A summary email lands first thing, and the Assistant’s list is waiting: the people who need someone this week, ranked, each with the reason and a note to edit and send.

Last week’s attendance against the four weeks before
New people, and who to follow up with
What needs people this week
A short AI summary with up to three next steps

Meet the Assistant

app.socio-connect.com/admin/assistant

Screens from the real product. Lakeside College Alumni is a made-up example.

What’s real today

What works now. And what we’re building with you.

The left column runs in the product today. The right column is what founding colleges help us shape.

Live today

Works now, in the real product.

Basic cohorts for the first-year class
Groups and clubs, each with its own space
Events with RSVPs, tickets and check-in
Mentoring programs: applications, pairing, check-ins and nudges
Messages by email, in the app and by text
The Assistant’s weekly list: new members not in a group yet, regulars who haven’t been in, people who’ve gone quiet
A Monday summary email for staff
Courses with lessons and progress

Building with founding colleges

Not live yet. Shaped with you.

First-year reasons in the Assistant: not in a group by week three, RSVP’d but didn’t come, missed chapels, a stalled course, a mentee who’s stuck
Class year, major and student status fields
Student information system sync, so new students arrive without a spreadsheet
An admitted-student community before day one
Single sign-on with your campus login (built, being enabled)

Questions about the first year.

Something else? Email hello@socio-connect.com.

Help every first-year student find their people.

We’re taking a small group of founding colleges for spring 2027 launches. They get founding pricing and a direct hand in shaping the product.