Designing for Decisions: Top Website Tasks for Prospective Students
What do students really want to find when they visit your website?
It’s a simple question, but one that’s often answered by assumptions and guesswork. To move beyond hunches, we partnered with our friends at Echo Delta to conduct original research using a Top Tasks methodology—an approach designed to identify the most important things users are trying to accomplish when visiting a site.
We surveyed 1,031 prospective students across a wide range of demographics: age, degree level, life stage, nationality, race, income, and more. Our goal was to understand what these students are looking for when they visit two essential sections of a university website:
Admissions & Financial Aid
Academic Programs
In this post, we share key takeaways from the research and invite you to explore the full findings in our new report and join us for a live webinar on August 5 at 1:00 PM ET in which we will discuss the findings and how institutions can put these insights into action (register here).
Over the past few weeks, I’ve had the opportunity to present this research at two industry conferences. In those sessions, higher ed marketers, enrollment leaders, and academic program directors raised thoughtful questions and shared their own experiences. The themes below reflect not only what the data revealed, but also the topics that resonated most with higher ed professionals.
Cost dominates student priorities. When students land on the Admissions & Financial Aid section of a website, they aren’t just browsing—they’re looking for answers. And overwhelmingly, the questions they’re trying to answer are about cost. Seven of the top eight tasks students ranked most important were related to cost and the availability of financial aid. Students are seeking clarity about the financial commitment early in their college search. This reinforces something many in higher ed already suspect, but it also raises a challenge: too often, cost-related information is scattered, overly technical, or buried several clicks deep. If students can’t quickly understand what it will cost—and how they might afford it—they may move on before they ever get to your value proposition.
Sidebar: Net Price Calculators are like calorie counts on chain restaurant menus. They’re well-intentioned and government-mandated, but mostly go ignored. Institutions need a better way to convey the net cost of attendance.
Payment plans emerged as a surprisingly high priority. One of the most eye-opening findings? The second most important task on Admissions & Financial Aid pages was finding information about payment plans. While payment plans are usually offered through the business office, they’re not often positioned as a means of financial aid options. And yet, many students clearly view them as a practical, accessible way to manage cost. This presents an opportunity: consider how and where you present payment plan options—ideally alongside more traditional financial aid content—to ensure students see the full picture of affordability.
Application details matter later, not first. It may be surprising that tasks like “find application deadlines,” “schedule a visit,” or “log in to the application portal” were not top priorities. But this doesn’t mean they’re unimportant. Rather, these are later-stage actions that become important only after a student has gathered foundational information about cost, program offerings, and institutional fit. In practice, this means overemphasizing deadlines and calls-to-action too early in the website experience can backfire. Students need basic information first.
Practical program details are essential, especially for non-traditional and graduate students. When students visit academic program pages, their questions go beyond content and curriculum. They want to know how the program fits into their lives. Is it online, hybrid, or in-person? How long will it take to complete? When are classes held? These questions are especially important for working adults, parents, and graduate students who need flexibility and predictability to balance education with other responsibilities.
Students seek confidence through outcomes. Academic program pages are also a place where students look for evidence of return on investment—but the kind of evidence they want is highly specific. They want to know: What career paths have graduates taken? What’s the employment rate for graduates of this program? Are alumni finding success—and do their stories reflect my goals? General labor market data and national salary averages have limited value in this context. Students are asking: What happens to students like me who graduate from this program at this institution? To build confidence and differentiate your programs, present clear, specific, and human-centered outcomes data wherever possible.
Student satisfaction is a missing proof point. Another theme that emerged was the importance of student satisfaction—and how often it’s overlooked. Prospective students want to know whether current or former students had a good experience. Would they recommend the program? Did they feel supported? Did the program meet their expectations? This mirrors consumer behavior in nearly every other sector: we read reviews, browse testimonials, and seek out signals from people who’ve been in our shoes. In higher ed, however, this kind of peer insight is often missing from program pages and recruitment materials. If you haven’t already, consider gathering and showcasing student satisfaction data.
Debt is expected, but still requires reassurance. While prospective students—particularly traditional undergraduates—often accept that some level of debt is likely, that doesn’t mean they’re unconcerned. Many are entering the process with a clear-eyed understanding of the financial realities but still want reassurance that the investment will be worth it. Institutions that proactively share information about student debt, borrowing trends, and graduates’ ability to repay that debt can help students and families feel more confident moving forward.
Higher ed professionals often misjudge student priorities. In a related component of the study, we asked higher ed professionals to predict what students prioritize on these website sections. On average, they were right only about half the time. This isn’t a criticism—it’s a reminder of how important it is to ground digital strategy and messaging in real student behavior and data, rather than assumptions. Especially when institutions are designing high-impact tools like admissions and program pages, small misalignments can have significant consequences.
These insights extend beyond your website. Although this study focused specifically on website behavior, the findings apply across the entire student experience. The questions students bring to your website are the same ones they bring to: recruitment events, college fairs, email campaigns, and one-on-one conversations with counselors, faculty members, and program directors. Understanding the tasks students are trying to accomplish can help you design more effective interactions and materials across every touchpoint.
Once again, there’s more to uncover in the full report, and please join us for the webinar on August 5 at 1pm ET. And if you have any reactions or questions to the findings, let me know! I’d love to talk with you about these results and what they mean for your site.