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Today’s undergraduates arrive at college seeking connection and a sense of belonging. They aspire to build meaningful networks, find guidance from peers, advisors, and faculty, and chart a path toward a purposeful future. However, achieving those aspirations, particularly in the classroom, have never been more intense.

1. Workload anxiety is students’ number one challenge, yet institution leaders point to academic readiness being a greater issue.
2. Students want both real-world application and professional skills to ensure career readiness. Institutions anchor heavily on the latter, leaving students to navigate applied, hands-on experience independently.
3. Students are using AI across multiple areas, with writing and editing assignments being their top AI use case, while just 32% of institutions have adopted a policy to guide that use.

There is no shortage of research about student perspectives on higher education today. This longitudinal effort is unique because it explores important differences between student and institutional perspectives across student success, access and equity, and adoption of digital tools. Listening to Learners 2026 draws on survey responses from 1,800+ undergraduates across five thematic areas. The findings unpack the competing demands shaping students’ college experience, and identifies where institutions have the highest-leverage opportunities to respond.

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