Student Voice 2024: The Top 10 Findings  

Listening to students is a key practice in the ever-growing student success movement. With that in mind, we’re sharing the top findings from Inside Higher Ed’s Student Voice survey series in 2024. With help from Generation Lab, we surveyed more than 5,000 students from two- and four-year institutions for our main survey on academic life, health and wellness, involvement in campus life beyond the classroom, and preparing for life after college. We also polled groups of 1,000-plus students and one group of about 200 learners with some college but no degree to provide additional insights on key topics.

All our 2024 Student Voice coverage is available here. And without further ado, here are the top 10 student insights of the year:

1. Students want alternatives to high-stakes exams, along with more relevant coursework and to get to know their professors better.

Encouraging faculty members to limit high-stakes exams, or those counting for 40 percent or more of a course grade, is the No. 1 academic-based action students say their institution could take to boost their academic success. Forty-six percent of students over all choose this from a list of options. By institution type, this appears to be more of a priority for students at large institutions (48 percent of that subgroup) than small institutions (39 percent), and for four-year students (49 percent) relative to two-year students (37 percent). Students 25 and older are less likely than their younger peers to want this, meanwhile (36 percent versus 48 percent, respectively). Many students (40 percent) also want their professors to help them better connect what they’re learning in class to issues outside the classroom and/or to their career plans. Another popular choice: encouraging professors to get to know students better (35 percent).

2. Students of all income levels link their academic success to affordability.

Asked which student experience–focused institutional actions would best help promote their academic success, more than half of students (55 percent) say making tuition more affordable, so they can better balance academics, finances and work. This is consistent across family income levels, suggesting that students from a range of backgrounds struggle to afford college in ways that impact their academics. Students at public and private nonprofit institutions are about as likely to say this, but relatively more four-year (59 percent) than two-year (44 percent) students do. Another popular choice—with additional financial implications—is creating more opportunities for paid on-campus work, including internships or leadership opportunities in the student’s field of interest (49 percent). Fewer students 25 and older (35 percent) want this than do those 18 to 24 (52 percent), however. Other popular responses: promoting opportunities for social connection and building a sense of belonging (32 percent) and introducing more mental health initiatives (30 percent).

3. Students report stress is interfering with their academic performance.

Nearly all students report that stress is impacting their ability to focus, learn and perform well academically, either a great deal (43 percent) or some (42 percent). Across all respondents, fewer than half (42 percent) rate their mental health as excellent or good. Twenty-eight percent rate their mental health as fair or poor. Asked about their top stressors, students rank balancing academics with personal, family or financial responsibilities as most stressful (48 percent) from a list of options. This is most true for adult learners (60 percent), students at two-year institutions (54 percent) and first-generation students (53 percent). As for what’s driving what’s been called the collegiate mental health crisis, students are most likely to say that balancing academics with all their other responsibilities (42 percent). Regarding their stress management abilities, 41 percent of students over all say they’re good or excellent.

4. Students believe that offering alternatives to high-stakes exams, adding mental health days and allowing flexibility with course deadlines could all promote their overall well-being.

Asked which institutional actions would most benefit their overall well-being, the top response is (again) rethinking high-stakes exams (48 percent). The second most popular response is adding mental health days to the academic calendar (37 percent), followed by encouraging faculty members to build in flexibility with course deadlines (35 percent).

5. Most students don’t see a strong connection between their involvement in campus life and their future success, despite evidence suggesting otherwise.

In the main Student Voice survey, just 29 percent of students say involvement in campus life is highly important to their success while in college, and 27 percent say it’s highly important to their success postgraduation. But in a special flash survey of 206 stopped-out learners, six in 10 stop-outs report not participating in any activities, research or paid or volunteer work while in college, compared to 35 percent of current students. Additionally, just 15 percent of stop-outs had been very involved in at least one activity on campus, compared to 40 percent of current students, underscoring the link—elsewhere documented—between involvement in campus life and student success.

6. Students say that more convenient timing and location of events, along with more awareness of activities and events, would boost their participation in campus life beyond the classroom.

Asked to identify factors that would likely increase their involvement in activities and attendance at events, current students’ top responses relate to convenience of timing and location (40 percent) and awareness of happenings (32 percent). About one in four students cites not seeing connections between activities and career goals, issues with time management, not feeling a sense of belonging, or distance from campus as barriers to extracurricular involvement. Off-campus employment also emerges as a hurdle, with 19 percent of respondents with off-campus jobs saying it hinders participation versus 6 percent of those with on-campus jobs. And for those working 30 or more hours a week off campus, the figure jumps to 32 percent.

7. Students are lukewarm on career centers and want more help finding internships and job leads, plus professional mentorship from professors.

A third of students (33 percent) indicate they have no experience with their college career center. Among students who’ve used their career center, half describe it as welcoming. But they’re less likely to describe it as effective, for example. As for which aspects of career development services students think their institution should prioritize or focus on more, the No. 1 choice, by far, is helping students find internships and job possibilities (48 percent). Students’ No. 2 priority is help preparing for internship and career success, such as support in developing people skills and awareness of workplace expectations (38 percent). And regarding the faculty role in undergraduate career exploration and development, the top thing students say faculty members are responsible for is being a mentor (55 percent choose this).

8. Students tend to be stressed out thinking about life about life after college, but are at the same time confident in their future success.

Thinking about life after college, nearly half of students are somewhat stressed (47 percent), and an additional two in 10 are extremely stressed (22 percent), to the extent that impacts daily life. Another quarter are a little stressed. Very few (7 percent) are not at all stressed. This is consistent across institution type and student demographics. Neither class year (meaning proximity to graduation) nor usage of the campus career center appears to inoculate students from this stress. And there is a clear mental health connection: Students who identify as having a mental health issue or mental illness are much more likely than those with physical or learning disabilities or the group over all to say they’re extremely stressed (30 percent). At the same time, a strong majority of students (78 percent) say they’re at least somewhat confident that their education and experiences in college are preparing them for success, however they define it. Just 5 percent are not at all confident.

9. Students say the education they’re getting is valuable, if not necessarily affordable.

Asked how much they’re learning in college and how they think it will benefit their future, relative to the cost of attendance, nearly all students say their education thus far is highly (39 percent) or somewhat (45 percent) valuable. Just about one in 12 (8 percent) says it’s not really valuable, while the rest are neutral (7 percent) or see no value (1 percent). This is relatively consistent across student demographics such as race, gender, age, family income and political affiliation, as well as institution types, including two-year versus four-year. Yet when asked more directly about value with respect to affordability, just 7 percent agree that higher education institutions in general offer good value for what they charge for an undergraduate degree. Regarding their own institution, 26 percent say it offers good value for what it charges for that degree.

10. Students support institutional efforts to increase civil dialogue.

As for what institutions can do to promote civil dialogue, students are most likely to support the creation of designated spaces/forums on campus for students to share their opinions (43 percent). The second most popular choice is establishing voluntary campus initiatives to have difficult dialogues/constructive conversations (32 percent) followed by mandatory faculty training on facilitating difficult dialogues/constructive conversations in the classroom (30 percent). Just 6 percent of students feel that their institution shouldn’t adopt any civic dialogue–related solutions.

What thorny student success challenges are you planning to tackle in 2025? Tell us here.