How Western Iowa Tech Lifted Visit Day Turnout to 90 Percent With Campus-Wide Texting

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When Dr. Christina Brandon became Associate Dean at Western Iowa Tech Community College (WITCC), nobody on campus was texting students. Today, nine teams at the two-year public college in Sioux City, Iowa, text students from Mongoose, and about 90 percent of campus visit day registrants now show up.

The reason higher ed texting works at WITCC comes down to ownership. Christina is now Dean of Outreach and Information Technology, leading recruitment, marketing, and IT. In her model, IT owns what the platform can do and the guardrails around it. Each department owns what it says to students.

The Challenge

Every Department Reaching Students on Its Own, Mostly by Email

Christina has spent more than 22 years at WITCC, moving from adjunct instructor to TRIO to Associate Dean of Students to her current role. When she asked what the college used for texting, the answer was nothing. Student communication ran through email, and each office sent messages on its own schedule.

“I felt that each department was doing their own thing. We were assuming that the students were going to read email all day long and pick up everything that they needed.”

– Dr. Christina Brandon, Dean of Outreach and Information Technology, Western Iowa Tech Community College

The results showed it. Attendance was low for student activities, housing events, and campus visit days. Staff couldn’t tell whether students were reading messages, who was responding, or what time of day worked best.

The Solution

A Texting Platform That Felt Like a Text From a Phone

The college’s technology director asked Christina to vet products herself. She had two requirements. Staff anywhere at the college, including the non-credit corporate college, needed to pick it up without a long learning curve. And students needed to receive a normal text, without a separate app to download or a group to join.

“What I said when I went to vet products is, make me think that I’m sending this message from my iPhone to this person.”

– Dr. Christina Brandon

WITCC was an early Mongoose adopter. At the time, there were no texting templates, no AI features, no connector to Ellucian Recruit and Ellucian Advise, and less reporting than there is today. Christina chose Mongoose partly for its roadmap, and because Mongoose responded to the ideas she raised. “It’s hard to get all the features that you need, but I knew that we were getting there along the path,” she said.

Key Outcomes

How Western Iowa Tech Scaled Higher Ed Texting Across Nine Teams

Campus visit days recruitment can plan for

Recruitment used to prepare for 100 visit day guests and see about 60 arrive, sometimes closer to half. With texted invitations, reminders, and two-way replies, about 90 percent of registrants now attend. Students who need a different date say so by text, so staff know who’s coming before the day starts.

“Now it’s so nice to be able to say, this is actually how many are coming. You can make the experience better for everyone.”

– Dr. Christina Brandon

IT as the team that finds what’s next

Marketing and recruitment write templates and nudges together. IT looks for new capabilities, tests them, and teaches the departments how to use them. IT set up the connector between Mongoose and Ellucian Recruit and Ellucian Advise, so staff who used to log in to two systems now work from one. IT also added WhatsApp before the departments knew it was available. (For more on how Text, WhatsApp, and Web Chat fit together, see how the pieces of the Mongoose platform work together.)

“It’s easy to get the product, and it functions for what you want right now, but that doesn’t mean that it doesn’t have new capability to move beyond that.”

– Dr. Christina Brandon

One view of every message a student receives

A marketing-led working group mapped every student communication while the college refreshed its brand. Leads from recruitment, financial aid, marketing, student services, and housing joined. With every team on one platform, WITCC can see how many texts a single student gets, how often, and from whom, and can keep admissions and student activities from texting the same student on the same day.

Shared inboxes, assigned on purpose

Early on, Christina gave every staff member a personal number. Now each team’s leader decides which roles need their own number and which work from a Shared Inbox. The admissions front desk, for example, answers from a team inbox.

Pro Tip: Before you assign numbers, ask what each role does with student replies. A role that answers general questions usually belongs on a Shared Inbox. A role that builds one-to-one relationships, like a recruiter, usually needs its own number.

A 10 percent drop in unreturned laptops

WITCC’s IT team texts students in its one-to-one MacBook program when devices are due back. Christina estimates a 10 percent decrease in students who don’t return laptops, pay a late fee, or stop responding about the device.

Very low opt-outs

WITCC reviews opt-out rates at its quarterly meetings with Mongoose, and they stay very low. Christina’s rule is that every text carries an action for the student.

“If they get a text, there’s an action connected to it, and I think that that’s important, too.”

– Dr. Christina Brandon

Guardrails built from an early lesson

A few months after launch, the research department asked students to update personal information by text. “The phone rang off the hook that day here at the institution, because everybody thought it was a giant scam,” Christina said. WITCC now reviews texting practices against its FERPA policy and cybersecurity guidance.

Texts point students to secure systems for balances and grades instead of including them. If your IT team is evaluating AI features with the same care, Mongoose’s security and data privacy approach for AI agents covers FERPA, SOC 2, and how student data is handled.

AI for the quick answers, people for the rest

WITCC uses AI for quick responses and one-off questions, and hands anything deeper to a person who knows what comes next for that student. Christina also uses AI-Generated Templates to refresh messages that had started to sound alike. That mirrors what human-in-the-loop AI in student success looks like in practice.

“When it gets to that point where you’re still giving that information, and you haven’t got to what it is yet, then that’s where you have to kick in as the human side of it and be that person.”

– Dr. Christina Brandon

Working with Mongoose

Buy-in across departments came from data. When colleagues asked whether texting worked, or whether a 9 a.m. send beat 3:30 p.m., Christina showed them the campaign results in Mongoose. Teams found that texting cut work instead of adding to it. “Try it. You’re going to get more appointments, I’m just telling you,” she said.

Christina calls Mongoose “probably the most organized and thoughtful” vendor she works with. Quarterly meetings look at how WITCC uses the platform and recommend changes.

“Most of the time, the suggestions that are being offered aren’t to add more, or do more, or cost more. It is, use what we already gave to you, and use it more effectively.”

– Dr. Christina Brandon

After implementation, staff need very little hands-on help. Most find answers in the Mongoose Knowledge Base. “Everybody uses it here, and they’re like, I wish every product had that,” Christina said.

The Mongoose Difference

An IT Team That Keeps the Platform Moving

Because IT tests and introduces connectors and channels, departments get new capabilities without researching them on their own.

One Platform, One Record of Student Outreach

Every team texts from the same place, so leaders can see message volume, frequency, and ownership for each student.

Inbox Design That Matches the Work

Shared Inboxes and personal numbers are assigned by role, with each team’s leader making the call.

Guardrails Students Can Trust

Texting practices sit next to FERPA and cybersecurity policy, and every message gives the student something to do.

What’s Next for Western Iowa Tech

Christina wants students to have one number they can text with any question, with each question routed to the right department. Today, students can ask questions on the college website, but the answers come from a summary of web pages. A text answered by staff who know the student’s program would be more useful.

“If you get a text, and I have the information behind that person, of the program, who they are, and what they’re doing, my answer might be very tailored instead of that general web summary.”

– Dr. Christina Brandon

Her advice for other community colleges is to set up the teams first, then start. “It is not going to take you very long to see an impact, and I think that’s what we need now at community colleges,” she said. Other Mongoose customers describe the same pattern in what getting started with Mongoose looks like.

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Want to see what one coordinated texting model could look like at your college? Book a demo.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many teams at Western Iowa Tech Community College use Mongoose?

Nine teams at WITCC text students from Mongoose, including recruitment, housing, accommodations, student services, and IT. Before Mongoose, no one at the college was texting students.

How did texting change campus visit day attendance at Western Iowa Tech?

Before Mongoose, about 50 to 60 percent of visit day registrants attended. With texted invitations, reminders, and two-way replies, about 90 percent now show up, and students can reschedule by text.

Should higher ed texting run through shared inboxes or individual numbers?

WITCC decides by role. Each team’s leader determines whether a role needs its own number for one-to-one relationships or should answer from a Shared Inbox, like the admissions front desk.

How does Western Iowa Tech keep texting in line with FERPA?

WITCC reviews its texting practices against its FERPA policy and cybersecurity guidance. Texts don’t include exact balances or grades. They direct students to secure systems where they can see that information.

Does Mongoose connect with Ellucian Recruit and Ellucian Advise?

Yes. WITCC’s IT team set up and tested Mongoose’s connector with Ellucian Recruit and Ellucian Advise, so staff work from one place instead of logging in to separate systems.

Will students know when they’re talking to AI instead of a person?

At WITCC, AI handles quick responses and one-off questions, and a staff member takes over when a conversation needs more. Christina’s rule is that once a student needs more than information, a person steps in.