Back-to-School 2024 à la Maslow

Driving Toward a Degree 2024 and Listening to Learners 2024 highlight key areas where students’ needs aren’t being fully met by juxtaposing student survey responses to those of institutional stakeholders (faculty, advisors, administrators).  

This article connects some of the themes from these studies to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, emphasizing that students must have their basic needs met before they can focus on reaching their full potential in higher education. 

• Basic Needs: Addressing safety and affordable access to education 

• Psychological Needs: Cultivating belonging and awareness of student support services 

• Self-fulfillment Needs: Unlocking a learner’s full potential with technology and supporting agency in learning 

Basic Needs: Affordability and Sense of Safety 

Access to higher education means it must be affordable to learners and learners need to feel physically and psychologically safe in order to succeed.  

During the COVID-19 pandemic, emergency funds helped address some of students’ basic needs like housing and food. These funds were important as students faced many challenges when in-person learning was suspended. However, overall affordability remains a big problem, and safety is a major concern due to campus protests about global conflicts. 

Affordability’s impact on access 

Access to higher education begins with affordability. Over 50% of institutions report that the cost of advising technology is a significant barrier to institutional and student adoption, highlighting the importance of ensuring access to the necessary technological resources implemented across a student’s postsecondary journey.  

Recognizing this, institutional stakeholders are increasingly focused on the direct costs to students when making technology purchase decisions. These fees often go beyond traditional IT infrastructure to support student success tools that are integrated with academic advising or other student support systems.  

This approach not only supports students’ academic success but also lays the necessary groundwork for higher-level growth and achievement when it is deployed against systems that most students will leverage during their post-secondary journey.  

While not all institutions include advising technology costs in their technology fees, we see examples such as the technology fee at UC-Santa Barbara which does include advising appointment scheduling technology and LMS as a part of direct costs to students.  

Another increasingly common example of support service costs being passed to students can be found at institutions such as Morehouse College1 and IU-Bloomington2. Both institutions charge new students a fee for orientation and other first-year experiences, which help students plan for a smooth transition into college life.
 

Safety’s impact on re-enrollment 

A sense of safety (both physical and emotional) is fundamental for students to thrive. Students who feel secure are more likely to remain enrolled and succeed. Institutions must cultivate a supportive and inclusive environment where students feel valued and safe, creating the foundation for academic and personal growth.  

Safety is a heightened concern for many, especially when there is so much unrest in the world leading to protests and confrontations between student groups and the police.

Psychological Needs 

Maslow on Psychological Needs 

Psychological needs, including social relationships, esteem, and belonging, are key in Maslow’s hierarchy. Last year, our Listening to Learners report highlighted that awareness of student support services, such as academic advising or mental health, increased students’ sense of belonging. We found that the more support services a student knew about, the more they felt they belonged at school.  

This year, we extend this finding, showing that students who are more aware of these services are also more likely to re-enroll next term. 

Sense of belonging enabled by awareness of student support services 

Student support services like academic advising, financial aid, and mental health play a crucial role in helping students succeed in college. However, many students aren’t aware these resources exist, which can prevent them from getting the help they need. By raising awareness, institutions can better support students, build a stronger community, and boost confidence in their studies.

Furthermore, our research shows that the more student support services students are aware of, the greater their likelihood is of remaining enrolled. When students are aware of and utilize support services, they feel more connected to their institution and more confident in their ability to succeed, fostering a sense of belonging and self-worth.  

Action: Increasing awareness 

By increasing awareness and access to these resources, institutions not only support students’ academic persistence but also nurture their psychological well-being, contributing to their overall success and satisfaction.

Self-fulfillment Needs 

Maslow on self-fulfillment needs 

Maslow theorized that self-fulfillment needs a focus on self-actualization, where individuals strive to reach their full potential and pursue personal growth.  

Empowering students means allowing them to choose the tools that best help them understand concepts, complete coursework, and seek the support they need. 

Self-actualization and generative AI 

Most students report regular use of generative AI tools, while nearly half of frontline support staff (faculty and academic advisors/counselors) have never used them. This disparity suggests that students may not be receiving adequate guidance on how to effectively integrate these technologies into their postsecondary education.  

Generative AI tools can empower students by offering personalized support and enabling them to explore topics more deeply at their own pace. However, if institutional staff and instructors are not familiar with these tools, they are less able to support students in maximizing the benefits of AI for learning. 

Bridging this gap is essential to ensure that both students and staff can fully leverage the potential of generative AI to enhance educational outcomes.  

Action: Embedding generative AI into resources 

Institutions are in various stages of providing staff training resources to understand the use cases of Generative AI in and outside the classroom. As they become more familiar with the various applications of Generative AI in education, instructors and student support providers should see the potential of these tools to support stronger student outcomes.  

Solution providers have all developed approaches to embedding Generative AI into their products and services, and these technology partners can be seen as allies for institutional stakeholders seeking to be more educated on the promises and perils of Generative AI in higher education. 

Summary: What Should You Do? 

Employing Maslow helps to focus our attention on the most critical components of students’ success. In times when navigating the complex landscape of higher education is more critical than ever, institutional leaders and solution providers can prioritize student success initiatives using Maslow’s hierarchy.  

To truly unlock student potential, institutions should prioritize making student support services visible, accessible, and integrated into the student journey. Solution or service providers, on the other hand, should continue to collaborate with institutions to ensure affordability and offer the training needed to bridge knowledge gaps in more effective use of generative AI and other emerging solutions. 

The work shared here is just the tip of the iceberg as far as how student perspectives differ from institutional design and intent. If you’re working through some of these issues and want a sounding board for your experiences, please reach out. We are always happy to share more information, and your questions help us set the research agenda for the next iteration of our studies.

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