Many institutions have pivoted more toward non-traditional demographics amidst the long-feared enrollment cliff. The extent of this transition has dubbed such students as the New Majority.
With this demographic shift comes a new swath of challenges: learners are disproportionately underprepared, time poor or facing individual barriers to learning. This has fueled nationwide retention struggles which, for institutions already facing budgetary pressures, poses an existential threat.
The solution isn’t just about recruiting a variety of students; it’s about better serving the ones we have. Doubling down on student success, with a view of higher education creating skills for gainful employment to increase retention and relevancy, is the clear path forward.
This is where artificial intelligence (AI), when thoughtfully applied, transitions from a feared disruptor to an indispensable ally in fostering student performance and retention.
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The conversation around AI in education has been dominated by fears of cheating. While academic integrity is paramount, the reality is that students are already overwhelmingly using these tools. A 2025 survey from the Higher Education Policy Institute found that a staggering 92% of undergraduates now use AI, but only 36% of students are being supported to develop AI skills.
The challenge, therefore, isn’t to prevent usage but to guide it. This requires a shift in mindset, moving from a paradigm of restriction to one of structured integration. The key is to leverage AI to eliminate unproductive friction, the logistical, time-consuming tasks that bog students down, while preserving the productive friction that’s essential for deep, cognitive learning.
Audio recordings of lectures can be transcribed with AI, removing the stress of capturing information in the moment and supporting effective review later. However, the vital, productive work of synthesizing, questioning, and connecting those notes to broader concepts must remain the student’s domain.
Actionable AI strategies for performance and retention
For institutions, this means rethinking not just technology, but pedagogy. In doing so, educators can begin to harness AI to support learners in the following ways:
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Transform assessment: Move beyond the traditional essay and embrace assessments that cultivate AI literacy. Instructors can require students to submit the prompts they used to generate an AI response, along with a critical evaluation of the output’s strengths and weaknesses. This reframes AI from a shortcut to a tool for critical inquiry, forcing students to engage with the material on a deeper level.
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Scaffold learning with AI input: For the New Majority, many of whom are adult learners, first-generation students, or individuals juggling work and family, time is the most precious commodity. AI can act as a 24/7 personalized support, offering instant explanations of complex topics, generating practice quizzes to identify knowledge gaps, and providing tailored feedback. This on-demand support helps build student confidence and preparedness, two critical factors in preventing attrition.
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Enhance accessibility for all: AI offers powerful tools to create a more inclusive learning environment. For ESL students, it can provide real-time translation and definitions. For neurodivergent learners or those with disabilities, text-to-speech, summarization, and content reformatting tools can make dense academic material more accessible. This proactive support removes significant individual barriers that might otherwise lead a student to drop out.
By making learning more manageable, personalized, and accessible, these strategies directly address the core reasons non-traditional students leave higher education. The result is not only improved academic performance but a stronger sense of belonging and institutional support, which are the cornerstones of retention.
Closing the equity gap for the New Majority
The promise of AI is tempered by the risk of a new digital divide. As the 2024 EDUCAUSE Horizon Report highlights, a focus on equity is essential. Many powerful AI tools are hidden behind paywalls, and access requires reliable high-speed internet and modern devices, luxuries not all students possess.
Institutions have an ethical and practical responsibility to bridge this gap. This includes:
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Providing equitable access: Negotiating institution-wide licenses, potentially using the Student Tech Fee, for premium AI tools ensures that all students, regardless of socioeconomic status, have access to the same resources.
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Investing in infrastructure: Supporting students with loaner laptops and ensuring robust Wi-Fi across campus and in university-affiliated housing is no longer a perk, but a necessity.
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Embedding AI literacy: Universities must actively teach students how to use these tools effectively and ethically. This guidance helps level the playing field, ensuring that success is not determined by a student’s prior exposure to technology.
From friction to flourishing
The question is no longer if AI will be part of the student experience, but how we will guide its use.
We have a choice: we can treat AI as a “diet pill,” a shortcut that builds dependency and atrophies critical skills, or we can treat it as a “gym,” a place for training, challenging, and building the intellectual muscle students need for a complex future.
By focusing on solutions that support the New Majority of learners, we do more than just weather a demographic storm. We build a more resilient, equitable, and effective educational model.
When universities, faculty, and technology partners collaborate to integrate AI thoughtfully, we can turn a moment of institutional anxiety into an era of student flourishing, ensuring that a higher education qualification becomes more meaningful and accessible than ever before.
