A new editorial analysis argues that higher education’s retention problem persists because advising, financial aid, academic support, and student success systems still do not coordinate across platforms. The piece cites the scale of attrition costs—$16 billion annually—and the share of undergraduates who leave without a degree. The analysis says universities often have retention-relevant data, but fragmented systems prevent a coherent early-warning picture. As a result, students may surface as “at risk” too late, after warning signals appear in separate tools with unclear ownership for interventions. The proposed fix is structural: treating retention as a shared, coordinated institutional function across the full student journey, not just first-year retention metrics. For student support leaders, the immediate focus becomes governance—who can act with what tools—along with data mobility across CRM, SIS, advising platforms, and LMS systems.