Case Study: University of Alabama Birmingham improves student retention with CampusESP

UAB improves student retention with family engagement

University of Alabama Birmingham (UAB) wanted to know whether its family engagement efforts were truly improving the student experience and retention for first-year students. Working with CampusESP, UAB’s Director of Off Campus Student & Family Engagement, Meredith Kahl, set out to measure whether parent communication and participation were statistically linked to student outcomes.

Using CampusESP and data from UAB’s student systems, the university tracked a Total Parent Engagement score and compared it against GPA and retention. The results showed that higher family engagement was associated with stronger retention, and students were 1.297 times more likely to be retained for every one-point increase in engagement. CampusESP also helped confirm that email click rates were a strong indicator of engagement, reinforcing the value of UAB’s family communications strategy.

University of Alabama Birmingham

Meredith Kahl

Director of Off Campus Student & Family Engagement