Case Study: Valdosta State University boosts retention with Modern Campus Involve

Harnessing Involvement Data To Uncover Key Indicators & Improve Retention at Valdosta State University

Valdosta State University, a mid-size public university with more than 10,500 students, needed a better way to prove that student engagement truly mattered for retention. Student Affairs struggled to show its value with reliable data, and without that evidence, the division faced limited funding and less-than-ideal programming. To address this, Valdosta State turned to Modern Campus and its Involve student engagement platform to make participation data easier to capture and assess.

With Modern Campus Involve, Valdosta State tracked event attendance through mobile check-ins and analyzed the data to identify a “magic number” of engagement. They found that students who attended at least 10 events per semester had a 95% next-term retention rate, a 13-point increase over the baseline. The data also helped prove engagement was a major driver of persistence, supported continued and increased funding for student affairs, and informed new gamification and incentive strategies to boost participation even further.

Valdosta State University

Vince Miller

Vice President for Student Affairs