What Students Really Want from Your Website (and What You Might Be Getting Wrong)

When a student lands on your university’s website, what do they want to do? Not what you think they want to do—but what they actually came for. In this episode of The Application, host Allison Turcio sits down with Grant DeRoo, founder of ADV Market Research, and Jarrett Smith, Senior VP of Strategy at Echo Delta, to unpack findings from a groundbreaking study that surveyed over 1,000 prospective students about their top website priorities. Spoiler alert: cost dominates—but there’s much more beneath the surface.

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The Big Reveal: Cost Isn’t Just King—It’s the Entire Court

Across every demographic, student type, and stage in the enrollment journey, one truth was consistent: students care most about cost. Seven of the top eight website tasks related to admissions and aid were cost-focused—ranging from tuition and fees to payment plans and financial aid eligibility.

DeRoo and Smith emphasized that this finding isn’t exactly shocking—but it’s a wake-up call about presentation. Many institutions still bury cost information deep in navigation menus or disguise it behind “financial aid” pages. “Students know you have a sticker price,” Jarrett says. “When you make them play detective, it erodes trust.”

Quick Win: Create a clear, intuitive pathway to cost information. Replace academic jargon and caveats with customer-service clarity: direct totals, breakdowns by type, and estimated net costs that don’t require a calculator.

The Program Page Problem

The research also revealed how important academic program pages are for students—and how often they fall short. Prospective students are looking for three things:

1. Program-specific costs – Especially at large universities with varied pricing.
2. Program-specific aid – Even if rare, students want to know if such opportunities exist.
3. Modality – Is it online, in-person, or hybrid?

Beyond these, the biggest surprise was students’ interest in required courses and course descriptions. As Allison put it, “The course description part blows my mind a little bit.” Yet, these details provide essential signals about fit and rigor—helping students visualize themselves in the classroom.

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Where Higher Ed Pros Miss the Mark

When DeRoo and Smith compared student responses to what higher ed professionals thought students prioritized, they found a gap. Many staff assumed that students were primarily looking for application portals, deadlines, and visit options—things that actually ranked lower.

This disconnect highlights a common institutional bias toward traditional undergraduates and internal timelines rather than actual student needs. As DeRoo noted, “It’s not that deadlines aren’t important—they’re just not the first thing students are coming for.”

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Beyond the Website: What This Means for Strategy

The implications extend well beyond the .edu domain. For enrollment and marketing leaders, this research should spark deeper conversations about transparency, communication, and user experience.

• Reframe your net price calculator. Students don’t always recognize it as a tool to find estimated costs. Integrate cost estimates directly into program pages or admissions content instead of relying solely on the calculator.
• Treat cost clarity as customer service. Helping students quickly understand affordability builds confidence—and trust.
• Rethink scholarships. Could naming merit awards after academic programs increase appeal and perceived value? As DeRoo said, “It’s double validation—this is how much the program values me.”
• Publish satisfaction data. Students crave validation. Sharing program-level satisfaction or Net Promoter Scores (like Harvard Extension School now does) could set you apart.

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A Challenge for Enrollment Teams

Grant’s closing advice? “If you market to non-traditional or graduate students, put practical information front and center—cost, time to degree, and modality. Those are deal-breakers.”

And as Allison wrapped the episode, she posed a question every enrollment leader should ask:
“Is your website helping students do what they came to do? And if not, what’s the first task you’re going to fix?”

Key Takeaways:

• Cost clarity dominates student priorities—seven of the top eight website tasks are cost-related.
• Students value program-specific costs, modality, and curriculum details.
• Institutional assumptions often don’t align with student realities.
• Treat website UX like customer service—simple, transparent, human.
• Transparency around satisfaction and ROI builds trust and differentiation.