Audience: Undergraduate

In the ever-evolving digital landscape of higher education, website accessibility is no longer just a best practice—it’s a legal and ethical requirement. But with acronyms like WCAG, ADA, and EAA frequently appearing in compliance discussions, understanding the nuances of digital accessibility can feel overwhelming.

TikTok might have started as a space for viral dances and trends, but that’s not how prospective college students use it anymore. Today, TikTok is influencing real decisions, and that includes where students visit, apply, and enroll.

Reddit awarded Carnegie with a prestigious Reddit Sales Partner Badge. The Sales Partner Badge is awarded to marketing agencies with exceptional achievements and expertise in leveraging Reddit’s advertising solutions to drive impactful results for our higher education clients.

Higher education websites are always evolving—whether you’re adding a new program, updating enrollment deadlines, or tweaking a form field. But many institutions still rely on fragile front-end code that wasn’t built for frequent change. Even small updates can cause big problems, especially when changes happen directly inside the CMS (content management system).

The college search process is a complex and often overwhelming undertaking, but with the rise of AI, it is beginning to transform the way students explore their higher education options. Results from Carnegie’s 2025 May Deadline Survey show that more students than ever are using AI to inform their college search process. In this blog post, we’ll explore AI use by students for college search and application materials, AI rules in high schools, the prevalence of AI use in high schools, and perceptions on the increase in access to and use of AI tools.

In today’s digital landscape, prospective students aren’t just skimming your website or reading brochures; they’re scrolling through your social media, looking for proof of what your institution is really like. They want to see real stories, genuine experiences, and student voices, not just polished ads. That’s why the most effective higher ed marketing strategies strike a balance: organic content that builds trust paired with paid campaigns that expand reach.

In the third release of Carnegie’s Summer Research Series, we explore how students and parents are using AI in the college search process—from researching schools with tools like ChatGPT to evaluating institutional trust and transparency around AI use.

In the second release of Carnegie’s Summer Research Series, we unpack how prospective students and their families are researching, comparing, and ultimately selecting colleges and universities.

For the second entry in Carnegie’s Summer Research Series, we analyzed responses from our May 2025 survey of more than 3,400 prospective students and parents. This report explores how families approach the college decision-making process—from how they search for information to what influences their choices, including the role of social media, content trust, and perceptions of influencers.