Listening to Learners 2026: Balancing Aspirations, Academics, and AI
October 5, 2026 PapersListening to Learners 2026: You Say Study Skills, They Say Workload: Where Students and Institutions See Different Problems…
Listening to Learners 2026: You Say Study Skills, They Say Workload: Where Students and Institutions See Different Problems
Tyton Partners, with support from anchor partner the Gates Foundation and supporting partner Stellic, has released Listening to Learners 2026: Balancing Aspirations, Academics, and AI. This latest report in Tyton Partners’ annual series examines how undergraduates balance the pursuit of belonging, academic success, and career readiness, and how their perspectives differ from those of the institutions serving them.
The research draws on responses from more than 1,800 undergraduates, fielded in May 2026, and compares student views with those of faculty, advisors, and administrators across five areas: retention, support services, career readiness, AI use, and AI-augmented student supports. It captures a consistent pattern: students and institutions often see the same challenges differently, and institutions are investing in solutions to problems students do not rank first.
Listening to Learners 2026 offers a close look at what keeps students enrolled, why available supports go unused, and how students are already using AI to manage workload and plan their futures. It underscores the need for institutions and solution providers to make support services feel relevant, draw a clear line from major to career, and set consistent guidance for the AI use that is already happening.
Key insights from the report include:
- Institutions are diagnosing a different problem than students: Students name workload anxiety and heavy course loads as their top classroom challenges, while faculty, advisors, and administrators point to ineffective study skills and underprepared students. Mental wellness has been students’ top out-of-classroom challenge for three consecutive years. Students who feel they belong and believe their degree has value are more than twice as likely to report being extremely likely to re-enroll.
- Supports exist, but relevance and access limit use: Degree planning tools are available at 85% of institutions, yet only 19% of students are aware of them and 7% use them, even though students with access are 12 percentage points more likely to self-report re-enrollment. Among students who do not use supports, just 9% cite lack of awareness; 51% are unsure the support is relevant or needed, while institutional stakeholders see awareness as the main barrier (45%).
- Students want a clear line from major to career: A clear path from major to career is students’ top career-preparation ask, yet only 31% feel they can make that connection, and about one in four participate in internships.
- Students are ahead on the next wave of AI: Administrators are now the most active daily AI users (43%), ahead of students (32%), advisors (28%), and faculty (25%). But 54% of students use agentic AI daily or weekly, compared with 32% of administrators, 29% of faculty, and 20% of advisors.