The spring 2020 term was unmistakably shaped by forces outside of the control of higher education leaders. The COVID-19 pandemic caused colleges and universities across the country—and the world—to quickly pivot in an emergency fashion to online teaching, learning, and research while grappling with a host of complex issues in serving students, supporting faculty and staff, and ensuring their financial viability. Thousands of institutions and millions of students were impacted in the United States alone.

In response to these challenges, Ithaka S+R researchers rapidly developed a student survey and deployed it in partnership with 21 colleges and universities across the US. The survey explored students’ curricular needs, safety and well-being, and intentions for returning in the fall. It also looked at the efficacy of institutional communications and support. The results reflect strengths and gaps in institutional services, pinpoint opportunity areas for improvements in the delivery of instruction, and, in many cases, amplify student needs that existed prior to the pandemic.

Key insights:

• Students generally understood institutional policies related to the pandemic, but they wanted additional communication and support from financial aid and academic advising departments.
• In many cases, the most significant challenges that students faced during the spring semester were those they faced long before the pandemic, including balancing school, work, and home responsibilities. Unexpectedly having to pivot to online learning and finding quiet space to complete work also proved especially difficult.
• Students found collaborative, technical, and specialised assignments to be the most difficult to complete. Assignments that were completed most frequently were ones with which they experienced the least difficulty.
• Concerns regarding physical and mental health—especially amongst historically underserved and marginalised student groups—were present for approximately half of students even while they reported high levels of awareness of how to be safe during the pandemic.
• Roughly one in three students reported some concern regarding their food or housing security. Those who reported the greatest concerns were, unfortunately, relatively less likely to know where to go to find emergency aid resources.