While both physical and digital touchpoints shape a student’s college experience, “digital friction” increasingly impacts connection, confidence and academic progress.
New findings from the 2025 Student Digital Experience Survey highlight how students interpret the online side of campus life—and how a thoughtful, unified infrastructure meaningfully improves belonging and success.
More than 1,000 college and university students across the U.S. offered a detailed view of how they navigate institutional systems, the areas they need support and the extent to which disconnected systems create friction and frustration in their daily lives.
Their responses point to a clear opportunity: When digital environments are cohesive and intuitive, students report stronger satisfaction, reduced stress and a deeper sense of connection to their institution.
Rising importance of digital ease
Students today interface with Amazon, Netflix and DoorDash—platforms that anticipate their needs and minimize friction. The expectation these platforms create carries into their academic lives.
More than 40% of survey respondents report frequent frustration with campus systems, often due to unclear navigation or the need to jump between multiple platforms.
The impacts are measurable. Access to routine information, such as class schedules or financial aid deadlines, should be instantaneous—but 60% of students report spending five or more minutes on these essential searches. Even more concerning, more than a quarter say the search takes 10 minutes or longer.
These wasted minutes accumulate into a significant tax on student time and focus. A majority say their digital environment creates stress, and many report that this stress affects their ability to learn or stay on track academically.
When digital pathways are cluttered and unpredictable, students spend mental energy navigating systems instead of devoting it to learning, succeeding and building community.
Digital experience and belonging
A strong sense of belonging remains one of the most influential drivers of student persistence and satisfaction, and digital design contributes to this significantly. Nearly two-thirds of students want easier ways to communicate with peers or find clubs and groups, signaling how central digital discovery has become for connection—yet how fragmented institutional systems undermine their ability to forge these vital connections.
Many students still rely on traditional methods, such as flyers or word of mouth to learn about opportunities because institutional platforms don’t always offer intuitive paths to community. This forces them to treat the digital campus as a series of disjointed transactions rather than a dynamic, cohesive hub for student life, events and peer networking.
When these pathways are easy to navigate, the student experience fundamentally shifts: They perceive the institution as more supportive, better aligned with their daily needs and genuinely invested in fostering their success and sense of belonging.
Academic and reputational stakes
Digital friction affects more than convenience. It influences academic outcomes and perceptions of institutional quality.
Forty-seven percent of students say they have missed a major deadline—assignments, payments, registration—because they simply didn’t realize it was due. As students progress through increasingly complex academic and financial processes, clarity becomes even more vital.
Students also tie the digital experience to broader perceptions of institutional value. Nearly half report that their institution’s digital environment shapes their overall satisfaction.
And almost one-third say they would reconsider enrolling if digital experience were the only factor—a strong statement about how central clarity and predictability have become in shaping student confidence.
The survey also shows that students share their digital experiences widely. More than half say they are likely to tell prospective students about the systems they use, whether positive or negative.
A digital ecosystem now influences word of mouth, an increasingly important component of the enrollment pipeline.
Fragmented systems create uneven experiences across different student groups. First-year learners are more likely to experience frequent frustration as they navigate an unfamiliar environment, and first-generation students are less likely to report positive impacts from their institution’s digital experience.
Students at larger public institutions—where systems can be more complex—are also less likely to rate usability as excellent. Clarity and consistency support equity by reducing the cognitive load associated with navigating institutional processes.
Defeating digital friction
One of the strongest signals from the survey is students’ overwhelming preference for unified digital access. Seventy-five percent prefer to access services through a single, centralized platform rather than through multiple tools.
Even more striking: a commanding 95% say they would use such a platform if their institution offered one.
This level of alignment across a diverse student population reflects a shared desire for consistency, ease of use and predictable pathways—qualities that support success and reduce stress.
Institutions are already investing deeply in modernizing systems, expanding digital support and improving communication. The next phase of this work will bring these investments together in ways that are intuitive to students, including:
Create predictable pathways. When navigation and communication are familiar across systems, students can focus on tasks rather than troubleshooting.
Support discovery and connection. Clear and consistent digital spaces for groups, events and peer interaction foster belonging and community—strong predictors of student persistence and academic success.
Surface essential information proactively. Centralized reminders and personalized dashboards help students avoid missed deadlines and maintain academic momentum.
The digital environment is now the architecture of the student experience. By embracing cohesive design, institutions can create a supportive ecosystem, boosting student satisfaction, unlocking academic momentum and fortifying the collective sense of belonging that is the hallmark of a truly thriving campus.
