Trends in higher education student success for 2025

Data is a key tool in listening, implementing goals, creating benchmarks and outlining best practices in higher education and beyond.

As student success practitioners and leaders prepare for the upcoming year, these 25 stats can help guide their understanding of today’s students and higher education at large in 2025.

1. Seventy-three percent of students rate the quality of their college education as good or excellent.
2. Seventy-four percent of high school students plan to attend college; 17 percent don’t know what they’ll do after high school.
3. Seventy-two percent of Americans with a college degree think a degree is worth pursuing, but 29 percent of them do not think their degree was worth the cost.

4. Eighty-two percent of Gen Z are likely to consider online courses in the future, but only 28 percent of Gen Z believe online education is socially acceptable.
5. Sixty-four percent of faculty say technology makes it hard for them to take a break from their students.
6. Fifty-seven percent of students have had to choose between college expenses and basic needs during their time enrolled.

7. Nearly half of adults are opposed to pro-Palestinian protests on college campuses.
8. One-quarter of college students worry about having insufficient work experience when looking for a job after graduation.
9. Fifty-six percent of Americans who have low levels of trust in higher education point to high costs and debt as the reason why.

10. Undergraduate enrollment increased 2.5 percent in spring 2024, mostly driven by community college enrollment.
11. Thirty-six percent of college students don’t use artificial intelligence for class because they don’t trust it.
12. More than half of parents (57 percent) say inflation has affected their families’ finances and has made paying for college more expensive. 

13. Two-thirds of college students report they feel lonely; three in 10 report severe psychological distress.
14. Forty percent of students who enter graduate programs do not complete their program within six years of entering.
15. Thirty-nine percent of alumni say their institution invested in their career, but more than half say their institution helped them to understand career opportunities.
16. One in four college students have napped in college because they felt tired or sleepy seven out of seven days.
17. Sixty-one percent of students say their professors empower them to learn, and a majority of students agree that faculty believe in students’ potential to succeed academically.  
18. Fifty percent of managers who supervise Gen Z say this generation’s excessive phone use in the workplace is the most challenging aspect of working with this age group.  
19. Seven out of 10 students feel overwhelmed by their financial responsibilities; one in four college students would give their personal finances a grade of C or worse.
20. Four in five students say stress is impacting their ability to focus, learn and perform well academically at least some of the time.
21. More than four in five of the 70 percent of college students who encountered mental or behavioral health challenges during the past year say they doubt their ability to graduate on time.
22. Forty-seven percent of first-generation students failed on their initial FAFSA submission attempt this year.
23. Fifty-two percent of colleges using AI have employed chat bots on campus.
24. Fifty-five percent of students believe their professors are at least partly responsible for being a mentor.  
25. Seven percent of HR professionals say an applicant’s school or alma mater is a very important factor when hiring emerging professionals.

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