Meeting Student Expectations: Lessons From Higher Ed Leaders
It’s 2 a.m. A student lies awake, running through everything due this week: a final, a lab report, and a financial aid form they still don’t understand. The office that can answer their question won’t open for another seven hours.
So they wait. Or, more often, they give up.
In Gravyty’s latest research, we surveyed more than 1,000 currently enrolled U.S. college students. Half said they’ve stopped reaching out to their institution because the process was too hard.
We brought that finding to higher ed and EdTech leaders on our interview series The Higher Ed Exchange. Their answers pointed to the same root cause: student expectations for campus services now mirror the apps on their phones.
How Amazon shapes student expectations
You might not compare a campus help desk to Amazon or Spotify. But students do. Nearly 60% of the students we surveyed said apps like those shape their expectations for how they interact with their campus.
Andrew Graf, Chief Product Officer at TeamDynamix, hears the same thing from campus IT, HR, and facilities teams. “There’s this Amazon Prime mentality,” he said. “I order it, it’s gonna show up on my doorstep this afternoon. Well, that’s a challenge when your staff hasn’t grown.”
Kara Kothmann, Senior Account Manager, EdTech at Kickstand, said that finding was a light bulb moment.
“Five to seven days” doesn’t fly anymore
Many campus processes still run on batch timelines. Alexis Pope, Vice President for Student Affairs and Enrollment Management at Nashville State Community College, described how that plays out with admissions.
The work behind that answer is real. Staff have transcripts to review, state policies to check, and residency to confirm. But from the student’s side, a week of silence feels like a dead end.
And email doesn’t fix it. “Emails kind of die,” Alexis said. A student opens a message that’s three days old, and the information is already out of date.
When it’s too hard, students stop asking
Kara put it plainly: everyone has hit a point online where finding something isn’t worth the effort anymore. Most of us shrug and close the tab. A student doesn’t have that luxury.
The stakes go beyond logistics. Alexis said the challenge he thinks about most is students feeling lonely, like they don’t have what it takes to succeed. A process that’s hard to navigate can confirm that fear.
Meet students where they already are
If students expect app-like service, they also expect it in app-like places. Carrie Strodtman, Director of Digital Learning at Central Methodist University, saw this firsthand when her campus piloted a new tool with no app. Students had to open a browser and search for it, and many didn’t bother.
Marty Weninger, Teaching, Learning, and Technology Specialist at the University of Wisconsin-Stout Polytechnic, sees the same pattern with communication. “We’re using tools that are more acceptable to the students” he said.
How to meet rising student expectations
The leaders we spoke with shared practical ways to close the gap:
- Answer questions around the clock. Chatbots and knowledge bases that keep growing give students answers at 2 a.m., not just 9 a.m.
- Replace stale emails with live updates. Dashboards and real-time status views show students exactly where things stand.
- Personalize every message. Alexis described the problem with an 18-paragraph email full of “if this, then that.” Instead, tell a student exactly what they need to do next.
- Reach out first. “It’s not a one-way street,” Kara said. Institutions can use what they know about each student to reach out before a problem turns into a stop out.
- Include student voices. “Don’t make decisions for the students who are on campus without getting their input,” Kara said.
Frequently asked questions about student expectations
Today’s students expect campus services to work like the apps they use every day: fast, personal, and available around the clock. In Gravyty’s survey of more than 1,000 U.S. college students, nearly 60% said apps like Amazon and Spotify shape their expectations for how they interact with their campus.
Many students give up when getting help feels too hard. In Gravyty’s research, 50% of students said they’ve stopped reaching out to their institution because the process was too difficult. Long wait times, confusing steps, and office hours that don’t match when students need answers all add to the problem.
The Amazon effect describes how consumer apps raise what students expect from their college. When students can order something and get it the same day, waiting five to seven days for an admissions decision or financial aid answer feels like a dead end. Students now compare campus services to their best digital experiences.
Colleges can meet rising student expectations by offering 24/7 answers through chatbots and knowledge bases, replacing stale emails with live status updates, and personalizing every message. Reaching out to students first, and including student voices in technology decisions, also helps institutions close the gap.
When students can’t get answers, the consequences can be serious. A process that’s too hard to navigate can lead to a stop out, a dropout, or a transfer student choosing another school. It can also leave students feeling isolated, like they don’t belong or don’t have what it takes to succeed.
Gravyty’s report, Student Self-Service Expectations in Higher Ed: Benchmarks for the Modern Campus, surveyed more than 1,000 currently enrolled U.S. college students about how they want to get help on campus. Download the full report.
See the full research
Students still need help. When getting it feels hard, many of them quietly go without. Our research shows where expectations stand today and how institutions can meet them.
Download our free report, Student Self-Service Expectations in Higher Ed: Benchmarks for the Modern Campus.
