Building Early Belonging and Higher Enrollment Yield at HBCUs

New data highlights measurable enrollment impact from the Ed Advancement–Raftr partnership

SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 14, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) continue to lead the nation in cultivating deep community, belonging, and opportunity. Today, Raftr and Ed Advancement shared early findings from their three-year collaboration supporting a cohort of HBCUs with admitted student engagement. Partner institutions saw a 2-3x higher enrollment yield from admitted students who engaged on Raftr compared to those who did not. 

This underscores the impact of early connection and community building during the enrollment decision process: The partnership accelerates digital capacity, strengthens community-building efforts, and supports students and families in feeling connected and confident as they navigate enrollment decisions. Recent research from RAND found that a significant number of prospective college students quit before enrolling. Other studies show as many as two-thirds disappearing between application and official enrollment counts.

Since launching the partnership in 2023, Ed Advancement and Raftr have supported three consecutive enrollment cycles (2023, 2024, and 2025), a period that aligns with their partner HBCUs reporting record demand and historic enrollment highs.

"HBCUs have long set the national benchmark for cultivating community and belonging," said Sue Decker, Founder and CEO of Raftr. "We're proud to help extend that strength into the enrollment experience. The data reinforces what educators have long known: when students feel connected early, they step into their next chapter with confidence."

Student engagement with Raftr at partner HBCUs has accelerated year over year. In the most recent enrollment cycles, in-app activity and chat interactions more than doubled compared to the prior year, alongside consistent repeat usage. During that period, the platform averaged over 9,100 monthly active student users who logged more than 21,600 sessions per month, signaling growing reliance on Raftr to connect, communicate, and access campus resources during the enrollment journey.

Enrollment outcomes further highlight the return on early engagement with prospective students. As Ed Advancement's initial funding phase concluded, nearly 90% of partner HBCUs are renewing Raftr using institutional funds, demonstrating both clear institutional value and long-term sustainability.

"Our mission is to support HBCUs as they expand opportunity and strengthen the student experience," said Jim Runcie, CEO and Co Founder of Ed Advancement. "Raftr supports our institutional partners as they seek new, digital ways to engage admitted students and families. The early momentum we are seeing reflects the student-centered work happening across these campuses."

Early Impact & Enrollment ROI (2023–2025)

Across partner HBCUs, student engagement on Raftr is both substantial and growing. Over the past three years, nearly 90,000 students have generated more than 22 million in-app actions, reflecting widespread adoption and sustained use across campuses. Communication is central to that engagement, with students sending and interacting with chat messages from administrators and peers over 122,000 times, making chat the platform's most-used feature.

Enrollment outcomes further demonstrate the impact of early engagement. Students who activated their Raftr accounts generated measurable incremental enrollment gains, with incremental tuition revenue meaningfully more than covering the cost of Raftr. As Ed Advancement's initial funding phase concluded, the majority of partner HBCUs transitioned to institutional renewals, signaling durable value and long-term viability.

During the same period, several partner HBCUs publicly reported record enrollment levels through their own institutional announcements. While these outcomes reflect the longstanding strength, leadership, and student-centered focus of these HBCUs, they provide important context for the environment in which this collaboration supported early connection, belonging and engagement.

The partnership complements the student experience by:

• Reaching admitted students earlier in the decision cycle
• Supporting yield, and melt reduction, through community-centered communication
• Providing insights that help institutions shape and grow the class
• Scaling belonging across the full enrollment journey

To learn more about Raftr and how it can support prospective student engagement and enrollment, visit www.raftr.com.

About Ed Advancement

Founded in 2018, Ed Advancement strengthens HBCUs and other mission-focused colleges and universities by providing scalable operations, technology-driven solutions, and enrollment and student-success capacity.

About Raftr

Raftr is a community-building and insights platform that enables higher education institutions to create early belonging, streamline communication, and access actionable analytics, all designed to strengthen enrollment, improve retention, and support student success.

SOURCE Raftr