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Jacksonville State University Increases Enrollment by 28% with Mongoose Text

Case Studies

Overview

Jacksonville State University (JSU), a regional public university in Alabama serving more than 9,500 students, reimagined its recruitment communication strategy with Mongoose Text. By integrating Mongoose with Ellucian Recruit and expanding its use across undergraduate enrollment, campus visits, dual enrollment, and graduate school recruitment, JSU significantly improved student engagement. The result: a 28% increase in total enrollment over three years.

The Challenge: Declining Enrollment and Ineffective Communication

In 2018, the Undergraduate Admissions team at JSU faced two key issues—declining student enrollment and low student response rates to traditional communication methods like email and phone calls. To reverse this trend, they needed a modern solution that would streamline their efforts and engage students more effectively throughout the admissions process.

The Solution: A Text-First Engagement Strategy

To modernize their outreach, JSU adopted Mongoose Text in 2019. The platform provided the team with a centralized, intelligent texting solution that integrated seamlessly with Ellucian Recruit. This allowed the university to send personalized, timely messages to students, automate workflows, and reduce wait times for response.

“Mongoose is easy to work with. Recruit is a robust CRM system. Learning to work with it was a much bigger hurdle than working with Mongoose APIs.”
Shaun Stancil, Systems Administrator, JSU

Key Outcomes

28% Enrollment Record Increase

Since implementing Mongoose, JSU has achieved a sustained upward trend in enrollment—setting an enrollment record for the third time in four years.

2019: 1,493 students
2020: 1,313 students
2021: 1,818 students
2022: 1,941 students

“We broke records for enrollment in 2019, 2021, and 2022. In 2020, we even came out better than most.”
— Roxanne Stancil, Coordinator for Recruitment and Technology

293% Increase in Text Messages Sent

As Mongoose became embedded in their communication workflows, JSU saw a sharp rise in message volume, proving text messaging to be a powerful student engagement tool.

2019: 125,374 texts
2020: 281,943 texts
2021: 433,256 texts
2022: 493,096 texts

Creative Anti-Melt Campaigns

To combat summer melt, JSU launched creative campaigns like building a Spotify playlist from favorite songs submitted by JSU students, reinforcing a student-centered approach and building a sense of belonging even before arrival.

Time-Saving Automation

Using Mongoose’s Campaigns feature, the team created automated text flows triggered by data in Recruit, allowing staff to automate communications and save hours of manual effort.

Data-Driven Engagement

Mongoose analytics provided valuable insights to track campaign performance and measure retention impact. Real-time syncing between Recruit and Mongoose allowed staff to monitor responses and make adjustments.

“Even though auto responses are triggered through our CRM, I can go back into Mongoose and track campaign success, student engagement, and response rates.”
Roxanne Stancil

The Mongoose Difference

Seamless Integration with Ellucian Recruit for real-time updates and smarter communication
Automation Tools to reduce manual tasks and improve response rates
Scalable Campaigns that adapt to JSU’s evolving communication needs

Future Plans

JSU will continue refining its strategy with expanded use of automation and personalization through Mongoose. These improvements aim to support retention and optimize outreach.

Download the Full Case Study

Since adopting Mongoose, JSU has seen dramatic improvements in undergraduate enrollment, student engagement, and communication efficiency. By blending technology, data, and empathy, JSU has created a model of effective, student-centered recruitment for other higher education institutions to follow.

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