Compliance Guidelines for Higher Ed Messaging

Consent to text should be established before you text anyone. The goal is for contacts to receive relevant, timely messages they’re actually expecting, which increases engagement and helps you hit your outcomes while keeping opt-outs and spam complaints low.

Your consent-collection method should include:

• An explanation of what the recipient can expect to receive if they opt in
• The planned frequency of messages
• A place to provide a valid mobile number

Blanket or vague opt-in language, like “provide your mobile number to receive text messages,” usually isn’t specific enough to count as acceptable consent under the strictest reading of the guidelines.

Consent can’t be obtained:

• In exchange for something else, like purchasing a list of phone numbers from another party
• Through a phone call, unless the call is recorded (a recorded call or a signed physical form counts as proof of opt-in)

If you’ve been texting students without documented consent, the fix isn’t complicated: the best time to collect it was before you started texting. The second best time is now.

Document your consent-collection methods and keep them reproducible, in case a spike in opt-outs or spam complaints ever puts your messaging activity under scrutiny. An increase in opt-outs can trigger a compliance review under the assumption that you’re not respecting your audience’s wishes; documented proof of consent counters that.

Good places to collect opt-in include:

• Application or document submissions (a checkbox authorizing outreach for a specific purpose)
• Forms that collect contact information
• Websites or student portals with communication-preference settings
• Event registrations and sign-ups
• Email campaigns that describe your texting program
• Appointment scheduling

Your consent records should ideally include:

• Contact name
• Contact mobile number
• Opt-in status or preference (a separate status per use case, if you run more than one)
• Date of collection, where possible

See the audience-specific consent examples below for prospective students, current students, alumni, and enterprise-wide programs.

Consent to text someone doesn’t last indefinitely. Your institution’s texting policy should account for when consent was last established, and storing a timestamp alongside opt-in status is the best way to track that. Re-establish consent when enough time has passed without messaging a contact.

There’s no universal standard for how long is too long, but at minimum, treat admissions cycles, academic years, and periodic giving drives as natural checkpoints for re-confirming consent with specific populations.

Beyond the best practices your Mongoose Customer Success Manager will walk you through, a few guidelines help make sure your messages are clear about who’s texting and how to stop:

• Every new outgoing conversation should identify the sender (“Hello, this is Laura from the UM Admissions Team…”). This doesn’t need to happen in every message, but it matters whenever a conversation starts with a new contact or restarts after time has passed.
• The first message to a new contact needs a way to opt out, even something as simple as “Reply STOP to opt out.”
• Repeat that opt-out reminder periodically, the same way you periodically re-identify the sender.
• If someone texts one of your Mongoose numbers first, you’re free to respond. That incoming message counts as both consent to text and proof of consent for that conversation; the message history in Mongoose documents it. If the institution wants to keep texting about other topics after that initial exchange, collect consent again, and doing it within the conversation itself is appropriate.
• If you already have a relationship with a contact based on an action they took (opting in via a website button, setting up an appointment alert), you can text them about that action. Appointment reminders, receipts, one-time passwords, and confirming a support call time are all examples of acceptable messages in these cases.

A contact can opt out of text messages a few ways:

• Texting a keyword to one of your Mongoose numbers (STOP, CANCEL, END, QUIT, UNSUBSCRIBE, etc.), which triggers an automatic opt-out from the corresponding team’s messages in Mongoose
• Texting an opt-out statement directly (“please stop texting me,” “leave me alone”); your team should use the opt-out toggle on the contact’s record to complete the opt-out
• Indicating a desire to opt out (or stay opted out) through a form, document, email, phone call, or in-person conversation; this should be fed into Mongoose through one of its connectors, all of which support consent data and can be automated
• When someone sends a valid keyword, Mongoose delivers one final confirmation message. The only way back in is for the contact to send an opt-in keyword to the same number (UNSTOP, START, YES, etc.)
• Mongoose provides reports, alerts, webhooks, API access, and connectors so you can manage opt-out data in real time across any other campus system

If a Canadian institution is texting U.S. recipients, U.S. carrier rules apply in full. If the contact has Canadian mobile service, assume the same rules apply, since the goal is meeting your constituents’ expectations either way. Mongoose is a member of the Canadian consortium that governs text message sending to Canadian recipients, the rough equivalent of U.S. A2P regulation.

Opportunities to ask for consent:

• Start with your inquiry form: “By checking this box, I consent to receive no more than bi-monthly texts regarding application deadlines and/or events from Mongoose Admissions. I may opt out at any time by texting STOP.”
• Ask through more than one channel: email, inquiry cards, website forms, and so on, as long as each includes the elements above.
• Once students matriculate, hand off the relationship. Orientation, TRIO, and student success teams can pick up personal texting conversations where admissions left off. Share your texting wins with the departments continuing that relationship (see the current-student section below for more examples).

Email example:

Hi, the Admissions team at Mongoose University is excited to connect with you! We’d love to send text updates about upcoming events, application deadlines, and general information about our institution. No spam, promise: you’ll get texts no more than once a week, and you can reply to reach our Admissions staff directly. We recommend not including sensitive personal information (like a Social Security number) in your texts. You can unsubscribe anytime by replying STOP.

Please fill out the information below to opt in to our texting program. Thanks!

Initial text example:

Hi, this is Mongoose University’s Admissions office! We can’t wait to connect and answer your questions. We’ll send event reminders over the next month. Reply STOP anytime to opt out.

Opportunities to ask alumni for consent:

Collect consent through email, printed forms, an alumni portal, or social media, as long as you cover expected frequency and how to opt out. On alumni-update, donation, and event-registration forms:

By checking this box, I consent to receive no more than bi-monthly texts regarding events and/or philanthropic initiatives from The MU Foundation. I may opt out at any time by texting STOP.

Consider a text-to-join campaign around giving day, graduation week, or athletic events:

Text “GO MONGOOSE” to 716-222-2222 and follow the prompts for no more than bi-monthly MU Foundation event and philanthropic updates.

Confirmation text:

Thanks for opting in to bi-monthly Mongoose University Foundation updates. Please reply with your name, graduation year (if applicable), and email address so we can update our records. Reply STOP anytime to opt out.

Loop in the Registrar, Career Services, and Commencement teams to collect consent from graduating seniors as part of graduation communications and outcome surveys, so the relationship doesn’t have to restart from zero once they become alumni.

Opportunities to ask alumni for consent:

Collect consent through email, printed forms, an alumni portal, or social media, as long as you cover expected frequency and how to opt out. On alumni-update, donation, and event-registration forms:

By checking this box, I consent to receive no more than bi-monthly texts regarding events and/or philanthropic initiatives from The MU Foundation. I may opt out at any time by texting STOP.

Consider a text-to-join campaign around giving day, graduation week, or athletic events:

Text “GO MONGOOSE” to 716-222-2222 and follow the prompts for no more than bi-monthly MU Foundation event and philanthropic updates.

Confirmation text:

Thanks for opting in to bi-monthly Mongoose University Foundation updates. Please reply with your name, graduation year (if applicable), and email address so we can update our records. Reply STOP anytime to opt out.

Loop in the Registrar, Career Services, and Commencement teams to collect consent from graduating seniors as part of graduation communications and outcome surveys, so the relationship doesn’t have to restart from zero once they become alumni.

Enterprise licenses have several chances to collect consent. Institutions can group opt-ins together across departments, as long as they list every department, use case, and expected frequency, and it’s worth periodically reconfirming opt-in status and mobile numbers through inquiry forms, applications, enrollment, orientation, and graduation.

By providing your mobile number, you’ll receive personal text updates about your enrollment status, financial aid, and relevant student resources from Mongoose University, no more than twice a week. Reply STOP anytime to opt out.