How Covid-19 Impacted Students’ College Experience

During the COVID-19 epidemic, higher education experienced tremendous reforms. Students returned home to new or upgraded online learning platforms after the assault of COVID-19 in the spring 2024 semester. Some answers have already surfaced in the fall 2024 semester. Some colleges and universities returned to face-to-face instruction totally, while others focused solely on online learning.

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WeWork, in collaboration with strategy and research firm brightspot strategy, conducted an anonymous survey of over 400 students from around the United States in December 2024 to analyze their learning experiences over the fall 2024 semester holistically. Since the poll’s inception in 2018, the findings of the December 2024 survey revealed the lowest student opinion of their learning experience.

6 Key Findings

1. In the fall of 2024, compared to the spring of 2024, overall student satisfaction dropped by 27%. (beginning of COVID-19).
2. Full-time online students are half as pleased as full-time students (35 percent vs. 69 percent satisfied); hybrid format students, who take both face-to-face and online programs, are 67 percent satisfied. When compared to students who attend classes solely online, students who take classes in person are 15% more likely to evaluate classes “far above average” this semester.
3. The two most significant reasons students appreciate campus – “in-person classes” and “being able to hang out with friends” – are the aspects of the student experience that have slumped the most from Spring to Fall 2024.
4. Students estimate that their levels of academic knowledge, self-development and social interaction dropped an average of 14 to 21 percent between spring and fall 2024. Specifically, a 23% decrease in “feeling engaged in learning” and a 20% decrease in “working on long-term projects” are indicated.
5. On average, students prefer to allocate most of their tuition (59 percent) to extracurricular expenses (including access to technology and campus facilities) and a smaller portion (41 percent) to classes.
6. According to the Chronicle of Higher Education, roughly 44 percent of schools intended to launch largely or totally online in autumn 2024, 21% expected a hybrid approach, and 27% planned to operate mostly or entirely in-person. Virtual classes were a continuation of the Spring 2024 program, with most universities shutting their campuses and finishing the semester online.

Student satisfaction was highest when they were able to attend classes in person. Online learning has had a significant influence on student life and, as a result, the college experience in general. Social engagement and connection with like-minded students were more challenging in virtual courses. HUIs should find safe areas to engage and mingle, according to the students questioned. Students also anticipate that lecturers would make an effort to establish a social atmosphere in virtual classrooms.

The few students who had access to an alternate study location, such as a café or a co-working space off-campus that might function as a learning environment, evaluated their academic performance above average. These students were the most likely to tell a friend about their university. None of them had anything bad to say about their university. They gave campuses the highest rating of all the students polled for their capacity to make them feel like a part of the community.

Those who believed their institutions of higher education were the best support system for all students actively pushed the concept of their institutions as the best support system for all students. Students who study entirely online are asking for reduced tuition and greater university fees. They are demanding greater financial assistance as well as food establishments that are open 24 hours a day.

Many students are making changes to their plans for spring 2024 as they look to the future. Leaders in higher education must understand the value of a positive student experience that spans all elements of student life, both on- and off-campus. The study aims to shed information on how higher education institutions’ responses to COVID-19 influence student happiness.

Results

On-campus life and face-to-face classes help students feel more satisfied.

Students who study online are less likely to feel fulfilled and part of a community. Full-time online students are just half as satisfied as full-time students (35 percent vs. 69 percent satisfied).

Students who attend classes in person, on the other hand, are less influenced and are 15% more likely to evaluate their classes “far above average” this semester than purely online students. Students who blend in-person and online studying in the same proportion rank their college experience higher than students who study entirely online and are 33 percent more likely to suggest their university to a friend.

A student’s living conditions also affect satisfaction levels. One student described the difficulty of working from home this way, – “I almost couldn’t work. I don’t have normal Internet at home, the four of us used it. My mom also teaches classes, so it’s hard to find a place that has a good connection.”

Students’ entire experience is influenced by whether they reside on- or off-campus, as well as the degree to which their campus is open. In the forthcoming spring semester, one student advised his university to “attempt to discuss more their intentions so that my family [and I] may prepare something as well.”

The academic part and interpersonal relationships suffered the most.

Since Fall 2024, students have experienced the greatest decline in the academic aspect of all the measures assessed. The activities that suffered the most were those that required a high return on investment, closely related to concepts such as perseverance, satisfaction, and motivation.

One student expressed his dissatisfaction with the lack of connection, saying, “I have a paper due in a week and have yet to begin it because I am emotionally detached from the process. If I were present, things would be different.”

Since Spring 2024, students have been struggling to prepare for the future and say that opportunities to acquire life skills such as “preparing for a future career,” “good teamwork” and “expanding their comfort zone” have declined by about 14 percent.

This is exacerbated by the fact that self-confidence has plummeted by 15%. One student put it like way: “The most difficult thing, in my opinion, is deciding which job route to pursue. Because everything is now done online, I am limited in my capacity to gain hands-on experience and inquire about other people’s work to see what I could be interested in.”

Online learning has had an impact on how students engage with one another, making the natural interaction that occurs in the classroom and via shared interests more challenging. Students simply have a pressing need for secure communication on campus, and they are requesting that their schools establish spaces for this engagement or better manage virtual activities. Students give their instructors a specific responsibility in creating a social environment in virtual classrooms since communicating with peers in online classes is challenging enough.

Students work hard outside of the classroom by conducting community service and attempting leadership positions, both of which are vital components of growth and job development after graduation. Even students who lived on campus struggled to participate. As one student put it, “There were a number of entirely online programs available. However, because I lived in a dorm on campus, I often had to sit at my desk all day, with just a lunch break.”

Campuses were largely accessible, with 89 percent of those polled having access to some or all of it. However, rather than studying on campus, the majority of students polled preferred a separate room or workstation at home as their primary study location. Twenty percent of students utilized spaces that weren’t designated for it as their primary workstation, such as the kitchen table or sofa, and 12% used a communal facility on campus, such as the library.

What Educational Institutions Can Do

Institutions should acknowledge that even a small amount of personal interaction may make a major difference for students in the future. The degree to which the campus is open, as well as whether or not a student has access to another place, has a substantial influence on a student’s capacity to get a personal experience. Students will alter their study and residential arrangements in the spring of 2024 based on the availability of these crucial places, thus higher education institutions should prepare accordingly.

Students are looking for new methods to obtain fulfillment from personal experiences as spring approaches. If they don’t receive it in school, they’ll try to obtain it in their daily lives or somewhere else, such as a coffee shop or a co-working place.

Universities may contemplate offering students a third-party learning environment that is both off-campus and on-campus.

Some students who studied online or in a hybrid format and had restricted access to campus space succeeded in an off-campus setting that provided a supportive learning environment during the fall 2024 semester. Students who chose a third-party alternate venue assessed their academic achievement as much above average. They were most likely to suggest their university to a friend as a group. None of them had anything bad to say about their university. Students who worked at an off-campus location ranked colleges’ ability to make them feel like members of the community the highest of all students polled. When looking for ways to duplicate the campus experience for students, higher education institutions should keep this in mind.

Traditional higher education has been distinctive and effective for years because of the possibility to experience through actual campus experiences. Students will seek alternatives elsewhere if they are unable to engage in these identity-forming physical encounters. There is an obvious need for some area off campus where students may truly interact and connect when it comes to remote learning and the future of online education.