ConexED Retain

ConexED Retain is a web-based intervention and case-management platform for colleges and universities. It suits advising and student-success teams coordinating large caseloads across campus services. The strongest case for it is a connected alert-to-resolution workflow; custom pricing and web-only access make it a considered institutional purchase.

Overview

Retain brings learning-system signals, faculty concerns, and student self-referrals into advisor-managed cases. Teams can connect cases with ConexED meeting and outreach records, then send resolved outcomes to the Report dashboard. That end-to-end structure is more useful for institutions standardizing intervention work than for a department that only needs a simple alert queue.

Key features

Early alerts and referrals

Canvas, Blackboard, Moodle, and D2L activity feeds can raise alerts when attendance, grades, or engagement change. Configurable rules also watch attendance patterns, grade trajectories, missed appointments, and milestone slippage. Faculty can flag a concern from a student profile, while configurable student forms create self-referral cases on an advisor’s caseload. Multiple intake routes reduce reliance on any one person spotting a problem.

Case coordination

Each case records severity, assignment, resolution reason, and change history. Soft deletes preserve records for compliance, while timestamped notes, labels, attachments, and threaded comments let advising, tutoring, financial aid, and counseling work in one record. This shared-care model is a clear advantage when an intervention crosses offices; teams seeking only private advisor notes may find the broader workflow unnecessary.

Scoring and automation

Composite success scores combine LMS engagement, attendance, milestone completion, and advising touchpoints. Alerts can automatically assign a cohort, start a drip campaign, or open a milestone. Those controls can make large-scale follow-up more consistent, although institutions will need to set rules and scoring practices that match their own advising model.

Connected platform and safeguards

Retain works with Canvas, Blackboard, Moodle, D2L Brightspace, Ellucian Banner, and PeopleSoft. Degree planning, intervention workflows, a student planning portal, email and SMS campaigns, CRM synchronization, and funnel recruitment analytics extend its reach beyond alerting. ConexED states that data uses TLS 1.2 or higher in transit and AES-256 at rest, and that the platform is TX-RAMP certified and FERPA compliant. Personalized ticket support includes email follow-up Monday through Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. MST.

Pricing

Retain has paid, custom pricing. Institutions are directed to book a discovery call, and no public plan price, seat allowance, quota, trial, or renewal term is provided. It is therefore best suited to colleges prepared for an institutional sales process and budget review, not buyers comparing transparent self-serve subscriptions.

Platforms

Retain is delivered on the web, including mobile web access. There is no separate native mobile platform identified, so institutions wanting a dedicated iOS or Android app should account for that limitation.

Who it's for

ConexED positions Retain for higher-education leaders and advisors, including CIOs, vice chancellors, and staff supporting hundreds of students. It fits institutions that need shared records, configurable early-warning logic, and automated outreach across advising and support units. Smaller teams with straightforward referral handling, or organizations outside higher education, are unlikely to benefit from its institutional scope.

Pros and cons

Pros

• Multiple alert sources: LMS activity, faculty flags, student referrals, and proactive rules can feed one process.
• Cross-campus casework: Shared notes, attachments, comments, assignments, and history support coordinated interventions.
• Operational automation: Scores, cohort assignment, campaigns, and milestones reduce repetitive follow-up.
• Institutional controls: Compliance claims, soft deletes, and connections to meeting, outreach, and reporting records support governed programs.

Cons

• Custom pricing: Without a published price or plan limits, procurement requires a discovery call and institution-specific quote.
• Web-only delivery: Teams seeking native mobile applications will need to rely on browser access.
• Integration diligence: Compatibility with a campus stack should be confirmed before committing to a connected workflow.

Alternatives

Academic Advising Software is the broader category to compare when you want several advising products side by side. For recruitment-focused tools, see Student Recruitment Software; for engagement-centered options, see Student Engagement Software.

• Ellucian Degree Works is worth choosing when degree-audit planning is the priority; it supports web and multiple other platforms, with pricing based on institutional scope.
• FlightPath is the better fit for organizations wanting a free, self-hosted web system with its Community Edition.
• EAB Navigate360 suits institutions wanting an enterprise license covering all staff and students without per-user or per-office fees.
• Civitas Advising is an alternative for institutions seeking an annual, scaled subscription priced around scope and integrated systems.
• Slate is the choice when admissions and enrollment workflows are central; its listed license for fewer than 1,500 annual submitted applications costs $30,000 a year.
• Stellic is another paid option for institutions evaluating advising-related software.
• CoreCampus fits schools wanting a cloud platform with all software modules included and pricing based on average annual FTE students.
• Ellucian Advising is an alternative paid web platform sold through a demo or contact-led process.

Verdict

Choose ConexED Retain if your institution needs one governed workflow that turns early signals and referrals into shared, automated interventions. Look elsewhere if transparent pricing, native mobile apps, or a narrower and simpler advising tool matters more than cross-campus coordination.