Portland Startup Helps Colleges Reduce Student ‘Melt’ Rates by Using Technology to Combat Isolation

Colleges and universities lose out on millions of dollars in tuition revenue each year as a certain percentage of incoming students never actually show up on campus in the fall—whether because of financial worries, fear, loneliness, or just plain apathy, they simply melt away.

A Portland-based startup believes it can help schools reduce this “summer melt,” as it’s called, by using technology to foster more connections between incoming students over the summer and, in doing so, help encourage more of them to show up to campus in the fall.