How the University of Nevada, Reno is Using a Digital Pass to Turn Campus Visits into College Commitments

When Justin Bouldt, Assistant Director of Admissions at University of Nevada, Reno, met Bandwango at NACAC, he wasn’t expecting to find the missing piece to a long-standing challenge. There were a million vendors pitching — but one caught his eye.

“What really stood out about Bandwango was that it’s totally unique — I've worked with lots of companies in this space over the years, but I had never encountered a company that was doing what Bandwango was doing: enhancing the off-campus visit experience.”

In higher education, the campus visit is everything. It’s the first impression, the emotional hook, and often the final nudge that turns an admitted student into an enrolled one. That’s why universities like UNR invest heavily in programs like Nevada Bound — an all-day, on-campus experience for prospective students and their families.

But Justin realized there was something missing.

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The Problem: Students Weren’t Experiencing the City

Justin realized one critical gap – location is a top factor in the college decision-making process, and there was no exposure to the city of Reno. Students loved the university, but they weren’t getting a full (and sometimes an inaccurate) picture of what life could be like outside the campus. And it was costing UNR students.

Justin had seen this firsthand when he lost a student to Cal Poly, where the turning point was an evening event in downtown San Luis Obispo that showed off the vibrancy of the city. He knew the problem firsthand — as a student from Northern California, Reno wasn’t even on his radar. Other cities, like LA or the Bay Area, were more top-of-mind. The decision was often straightforward: Southern California for the beach, or Bay Area for the city?

“I knew there are a lot of other students like me – and I knew there’s a big need to demonstrate what’s so cool, fun, and interesting about the city of Reno.”

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The Spark: Finding the Right Solution at NACAC

The admissions team had been thinking about how to showcase Reno beyond the campus — its outdoor recreation, access to Lake Tahoe, and college-town energy. But ideas never turned into action… until NACAC.

“I had already been thinking over the summer; how can we integrate some part of the region into our programming? But nothing had happened yet – then I met Mo and Jay and thought, okay here it is.”

That meeting gave Justin the clarity he needed. UNR needed a simple, scalable way to help prospective students experience the city, and Bandwango gave them the tool to do it.

Justin recounts, “here's an opportunity to demonstrate to prospective students and their families what makes Reno a fun, interesting and cool place to go to college. That was initially what caught my attention, and that’s been the first and primary goal of our pass.”

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Introducing: Nevada’s College Town Pass

Built in partnership with Bandwango, the Nevada College Town Pass is a gamified mobile experience curated specifically for prospective students. It offers a guide to local hotspots, from alumni-owned burger joints to hiking trails in the Sierras, and rewards users with swag for visiting them.

Students check in using GPS, earn points, and redeem those points for swag like sunglasses, water bottles, t-shirts and more. Some vendors even add their own perks, like additional discounts or bonus items.

Every location on the pass had been handpicked and vouched for by the university — making it feel like an insider’s guide, and giving students a curated, self-guided way to explore the city on their own terms.

Better yet, the lift was light for the university. Bandwango handled vendor outreach. All UNR had to do was provide the list.

“On our side, it was pretty much effortless.”

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Embedded in the Recruitment Journey

UNR has fully integrated the pass into its recruitment funnel, ensuring prospective students and families encounter it at multiple touch points:

• Campus event presentations
• Follow-up emails and text reminders
• Printed flyers at events and fairs
• Visit registration confirmation emails
• Facebook groups for parents of prospective students
• UNR’s website

“A student that’s planning a visit to campus is going to be hit in multiple ways – they’re going to see it on the website organically, they’re going to have it integrated into their communications after they register, and they’re going to hear about it day-of when they’re on campus.”

Even off campus, it’s part of the outreach strategy. Justin says, “if I go to a college fair event in California, I’m bringing a stack of Bandwango flyers.”

The response has been overwhelming. Hundreds of prospective students have signed up, with many families now using the pass to plan their entire visit around recommended spots in the city.

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A New Way to Influence Yield

While official enrollment numbers won’t be available until July, early signs suggest the pass may be having a meaningful impact on student yield. Justin has already begun spot-checking results, and the connection is clear.

“I’ve spot-checked probably 3–5 students, and every single one of those students had accepted their admissions, and most of them had already completed all the steps to enroll at the university.”

“That relationship is working exactly as we want it to – the folks that are downloading the pass are the folks that are engaged, are the folks that are committing to the university and enrolling.”

That kind of engagement is more than just encouraging — it has the potential to shift the needle on yield. Even without focusing on check-ins or redemptions, the team is happy knowing students are engaging with the pass and exploring the right parts of Reno.

In an era where ghost applicants and self-guided research are on the rise, the pass meets prospective students where they are: on their phones, planning their own experience. Justin explains, “we don’t need to host some event downtown. We can just empower them with ‘these are the best spots to go – now go check them out.’”

This idea of giving students autonomy without sacrificing intentionality has been one of the most valuable takeaways. “They want a pass that we can build them, that they can use under their own power to go explore as they see fit.”

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What's Next for UNR

With strong early engagement from prospective students, UNR is already planning to expand the program with additional passes:

• A campus-based pass to showcase secret study spots and off-the-radar gems for students who’ve already taken a tour
• A new student summer pass, offering engaging campus activities outside of orientation
• Potential future opportunities tied to alumni engagement and event ticketing

“We love the idea of having this platform serve students at every stage of the college life cycle.”

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The Bigger Picture

While Nevada’s College Town Pass was designed specifically for prospective students, this potential extends far beyond that single use case. Universities in medium-sized cities or overlooked college towns could benefit from this kind of curated, self-guided experience — and even collaborate with local tourism boards to co-fund and co-promote their pass.

As Justin put it:

“I think there are going to be lots of people in the Higher Ed space that see the value in this.” 

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