---
title: "How WGU Uses Tealium + Databricks to Manage Student Data and Improve Operational Efficiency"
id: "97903"
type: "resource"
slug: "how-wgu-uses-tealium-databricks-to-manage-student-data-and-improve-operational-efficiency"
published_at: "2026-10-19T14:05:05+00:00"
modified_at: "2026-10-19T14:05:05+00:00"
url: "https://tealium.com/resource/video/how-wgu-uses-tealium-databricks-to-manage-student-data-and-improve-operational-efficiency/"
markdown_url: "https://tealium.com/resource/video/how-wgu-uses-tealium-databricks-to-manage-student-data-and-improve-operational-efficiency.md"
taxonomy_resource_type:
  - "Video"
  - "Webinar"
taxonomy_product:
  - "CloudStream™"
taxonomy_topic:
  - "Data Layer"
  - "Data Orchestration"
  - "Data Orchestration & Enrichment"
---

Webinar

Video

# Data Cloud Week: How WGU Uses Tealium + Databricks to Manage Student Data and Improve Operational Efficiency

## Speaker: Luis Sanchez, AI Product Lead - Student Lifecycle Services TEch @ Western Governers University (WGU)

Pick up a Truman and move him around.Pause wandering

Summary  
 In this interview, Luis Sanchez shares how Western Governors University (WGU), the largest enrollment-based university in the U.S., leverages Databricks and Tealium to unify student data and optimize operations. He explains how WGU combines Databricks’ central “golden record” data lakehouse with Tealium’s real-time CDP activation capabilities. By creating a bi-directional data loop between systems, WGU successfully optimizes marketing ad spend and dynamically intercepts enrollment fraud to save critical staff time and improve genuine student experiences.

## Key Learning Points

- **Bridging Enterprise Intelligence & Activation**: Combining Databricks (centralized 360-degree student data) with Tealium (real-time customer signals) eliminates operational silos and drives instant action across channels.
- **Real-Time Paid Media Optimization**: Streaming student application status from Databricks to Tealium allowed WGU to instantly suppress paid retargeting for converted prospects, reducing ad spend by over 40%.
- **Dynamic Enrollment Fraud Prevention**: Integrating third-party risk analysis (Sardin) through Tealium enables WGU to identify high-risk fraudulent applications in real time, automatically killing malicious web sessions and saving staff hundreds of manual review hours.
- **Bi-Directional Data Feedback Loop**: Streaming live event signals into Databricks enriches long-term student profiles, while feeding analyzed risk and audience models back into Tealium ensures continuous, intelligent decisioning.
- **Pragmatic Implementation Playbook**: Start by identifying quick-win use cases with measurable ROI, quantify the potential financial/operational impact to align stakeholders, and establish a common prioritization framework to maintain momentum.

## Featured Resources [Powered by Tealium](https://tealium.com/blog/teal-on-teal/how-we-used-our-own-stack-to-personalize-tealium-com/?db_surface=web&db_slot=0)

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