In higher education marketing, conversations about “the future of search” seem to have occupied the minds of many. But what they fail to see is that the future is already here. AI has become part of students’ daily habits, shaping how they ask questions, compare options, and make college decisions. If search behavior drives enrollment outcomes, then AI should be treated as more than an “emerging trend to watch”. It is the environment your prospective students already use.
Our latest research series, The State of College Search 2025, makes this unmistakably clear. Based on responses from more than 1,500 recently enrolled undergraduate, graduate, and adult learners, the findings reveal the changing student search behavior through different stages of the college search process. Tasks that once relied solely on traditional search engines are now handled by AI search engines as well, which students view as a source of discovery and direction.
Building on this foundation, this article explores how students engage with AI search engines throughout the college search process. It highlights how often these tools are used, the types of inquiries students bring forward, and the factors that influence their trust in AI search engines as guides.
Key Takeaways
- 36% of students, across segments, report using AI search engines to ask questions or seek advice about colleges.
- With 73%, ChatGPT remains the most used AI search engine during the college search process.
- AI search engines are mostly influential during the first two stages of college discovery and drop slightly at the final stage of Decide and Apply.
- The leading reason for AI adoption is the need for speed and convenience, which is cited by 62% of prospective students.
- 36% of prospective students are less likely to consider a college if it didn’t appear in AI search results.
To What Extent Are Students Using AI Search Engines?
What once appeared to be a developing trend has already become part of the everyday search habits of today’s students. Students across all segments, undergraduate, graduate, and adult learners, now rely on AI search engines to make sense of or discover information, explore options, and move through the different college search stages. As a result, AI search engines often begin shaping the search journey well before students arrive on an institution’s website.
As such, our research findings confirm that AI search engines are no longer operating on the edges of the search process. More specifically, 36% of students, across segments, report using AI search engines to ask questions or seek advice about colleges.
Given this shift, it’s increasingly critical for higher ed marketers to develop intentional strategies that strengthen their institution’s visibility within AI-driven search environments. As students turn to AI search engines for early guidance, clarification, and decision-making, institutions that optimize their content, messaging, and digital presence for AI will be far better positioned to influence prospective students before they ever reach a college website.
This means prioritizing:
- Structured, high-quality information.
- Ensuring program details and value propositions are clear and machine-interpretable.
- Actively shaping the narratives that AI search engines learn from and relay.
However, keep in mind that your visibility in AI search engines is a reflection of your entire digital presence, not just your website. Social content, student reviews, third-party listings, and online forum conversations all contribute to the signals that AI search engines use to shape an answer. The more consistent, structured, and student-aligned your content is across every channel, the more likely your institution is to appear when a prospective student asks, “What is the best school for me?”
ChatGPT is the most widely used compared to other AI search engines
Even with multiple AI search engines available, most students gravitate toward one clear leader.
ChatGPT’s 73% usage shows that it has become the dominant AI search engine companion in students’ search behavior. This holds true across three student segments: undergraduates (75%), graduate students (75%), and adult learners (68%).
Other engines like Bing Chat or Gemini see some engagement, but they play a noticeably smaller role, more as additional tools than primary sources. Perplexity, on the other hand, barely registers, suggesting its reach has not yet crossed into mainstream college search behavior.
AI search engines guide students through the college search process at every stage
Rather than functioning as a single-step search engine, AI has become a companion that evolves with the student’s needs as they shift from broad discovery to detailed comparison and eventually to confirmation.
Its influence, however, is most noticeable during the first two stages of college discovery. During the first stage, Awareness and Discovery, prospective students explore what is available and what might fit their goals. AI is particularly effective here because it delivers fast, accessible explanations that help students grasp broad topics and identify possibilities they may not have considered. With an average of 21% students using it at this early stage, AI is helping prospective students shape initial impressions and set the direction for the rest of their exploration.
As students move into the Shortlist stage, their questions become more focused, and they begin to compare program outcomes and institutional characteristics. The transition from discovery to evaluation creates a deeper need for clarity and side-by-side insights. AI becomes even more valuable because it helps students interpret differences, weigh pros and cons, and refine their thinking in ways that would otherwise require significant time and effort. At this stage, we see 22% of students relying on AI for support and guidance toward decision-making moments.
By the time students reach the final stage, Decide and Apply, the usage of AI search engines drops slightly. During this stage, their focus shifts to official guidance requirements and deadlines to ensure accuracy and completeness, and institutional sources naturally become more central. Even with this shift, AI does not disappear from the process. 18% of students continue to use it as a checkpoint to verify details and reduce uncertainty. This persistent use demonstrates that AI remains a trusted companion even when formal steps take priority.
Taken together, these patterns show that AI search engines help students discover, explore, compare, and confirm information throughout the whole college search journey. Its strongest impact appears at the start, but its influence carries through every stage as students rely on it to build confidence and clarity on their path to college.
Students are forming early impressions during Awareness, comparing options during Shortlisting, and double-checking details during Decide and Apply. If AI search engines can’t clearly understand and surface your information at each of those stages, you’re invisible when it matters most. This is why conducting an AI visibility audit is no longer optional. You need to see how your program pages, outcomes, costs, admissions steps, and support resources are being interpreted or summarized on AI search engines, and fix gaps before students rely on those answers instead of your website. Aligning your content to each stage ensures AI presents the right information at the right moment, keeping your institution in the conversation from first discovery to final decision.
Why Do Students Use AI Search Engines?
Prospective students are increasingly using AI search engines in their college searches because they help bring order, clarity, and speed to a process that often feels overwhelming.
The leading reason for this adoption is the need for speed and convenience, which is cited by 62% of prospective students. This reflects a growing expectation that information about program requirements and opportunities should be available instantly without the need to navigate multiple websites or wait for responses from admissions offices.
Personalized responses motivate 45% of students, highlighting a need for guidance that aligns with their individual goals and concerns. Many students feel that traditional search tools provide uniform information that does not fully reflect their situation. On the other hand, AI offers a sense of one-to-one assistance that feels more relevant and supportive. As a result, AI is becoming an informal advisor that helps students refine their thinking before they connect directly with a school.
Trust in AI information stands at 42% and signals that students are gaining confidence in the quality, accuracy, and usefulness of what these tools produce.
Taken together, these reasons show that AI search engines, rather than a shortcut, are becoming a companion that offers clarity and personalization at a pace that matches their expectations and responsibilities.
AI visibility affects college decisions
Beyond perceptions of helpfulness, AI search engines are now influencing students’ actual decision-making. In fact, nearly 36% of prospective students say they’d be less likely to consider a college if it doesn’t show up in AI search results. That means that AI search engines aren’t just guiding the research process anymore. They’re becoming gatekeepers in the earliest stages of the enrollment journey. If a school isn’t visible, it risks not even making it onto a student’s radar.
For higher ed marketers, this should feel like both a warning and an opportunity. On one hand, being invisible in AI-driven search carries real consequences: more than one-third of students may unintentionally overlook an institution simply because it doesn’t appear when they ask an AI for recommendations. On the other hand, colleges that take AI visibility seriously—and make strategic investments to improve it—can put themselves in a strong competitive position. By ensuring their institution shows up at the moment students are forming first impressions and beginning to narrow their choices, marketers can play a meaningful role in influencing who ultimately gets considered.
What Questions Do Students Seek on AI Search Engines?
Students turn to AI with increasingly sophisticated expectations. And the questions they ask reveal what matters most in their college search and where higher ed marketers should put their efforts.
Many students begin by seeking clarity on college rankings. 45% of prospective students are eager to get a quick sense of how institutions compare at a broad level before investing time in deeper research. These ranking queries often serve as an entry point, helping them form an initial shortlist and understand where a school stands within the broader higher education landscape.
Program-specific information and admission requirements are even more sought after, at 49%. This demonstrates that students rely on AI to break down complex program structures, coursework details, and requirements in ways that are easier to digest than traditional catalogues. Students appreciate the ability to ask detailed follow-up questions, which gives them a more confident starting point before they approach official institutional sources.
What stands out most is that while we often expect AI to streamline data and make information more easily accessible, students are also adopting it for more personalized, introspective questions. 16% of students use AI search engines to help them decide which program to study, indicating a notable level of trust in AI as a guide for highly personal academic and career decisions. This suggests that students are looking for a companion to help them shape their direction as they navigate uncertainty and explore future paths.
AI is meeting prospective students’ expectations
For higher education marketers, high usage alone might not be enough to justify strategic investment. The more pressing question is whether this usage is actually effective. In other words, are students simply experimenting with AI out of curiosity, or do they genuinely find it helpful and influential in their decision-making? The answer to this question is critical, as it directly informs whether institutions should devote greater resources to AI visibility, optimization, and engagement strategies.
When it comes to how helpful AI search engines were during the college search process, most students walk away feeling satisfied. An average of 84% across three student segments rated these AI search engines as either somewhat helpful (40%) or very helpful (44%), with only a small fraction saying they didn’t deliver. Those who found it “very helpful” appreciated that it offered insights they couldn’t get elsewhere.
These findings suggest that AI is a meaningful and trusted resource for prospective students. For higher education marketers, this has important implications. If students increasingly rely on AI for guidance and decision-making, and a clear majority find it helpful, then investment in AI visibility is no longer optional.
Institutions that prioritize accurate, accessible, and optimized information within AI-driven search environments will be better positioned to reach students where they already are. More importantly, by showing up consistently and reliably in these spaces, colleges and universities can begin to build early trust with prospective applicants, strengthening their credibility long before a student ever visits a campus or speaks with an admissions counselor.
AI Challenges for Higher Ed Marketers
AI is opening new pathways for student discovery, but it also introduces a growing ethical and accuracy tension that higher ed marketers cannot ignore. As students rely more on AI search engines, institutions give up some control over how their brand information and program details are presented.
AI hallucinations remain a persistent risk, which means students may encounter information that is incomplete or incorrect. When this happens, the student does not blame the AI model. Instead, they blame the institution whose information appears inconsistent or confusing.
This shift requires institutions to rethink accuracy and brand protection. If AI is becoming a key interpreter of your content, you must ensure that the information it pulls from is clear, precise, and regularly updated. The more accurate and structured your content is, the less room there is for AI to misinterpret or distort it.
Actionable Recommendations for Higher Ed Marketers
Students are turning to AI search engines to guide some of the most important decisions of their lives. For higher ed marketers, this means that if your institution is not easily discoverable in these new conversational search environments, you risk losing visibility and influence at every stage of the college search journey.
AI is becoming the place where students start their research, compare options, and verify details, which means your digital presence must now be built with AI search engines in mind.
Here is what you can do and take immediate steps if you think you are falling behind in the new students’ search behaviour trends:
- Ensure your content is AI-readable. Use clear, conversational language that reflects how students naturally phrase their questions, since AI models draw on patterns in human communication. The more your content mirrors student language, the more likely it is to surface during their searches.
- Conduct an AI visibility audit. This means testing how AI search engines present your institution, your programs, and your value propositions compared to your competitors. You should know exactly what prospective students see when they ask about your majors, outcomes, scholarships, or admissions process. This audit will reveal where your content is strong and where gaps exist so you can respond strategically.
- Prioritize structure. AI performs best when it can quickly understand and extract information from your site, so create FAQ sections with bullet-point summaries and use schema markup to label key data. Make your program pages easy for AI to interpret by clearly identifying requirements, outcomes, costs, and timelines. Well-structured content makes it easier for AI to select your information for answer blocks that appear directly in conversational results.
- Keep your data current. AI models index and rely on freshness signals. Update program descriptions, admission deadlines, tuition details, and aid information on a consistent schedule. Out-of-date information weakens your credibility within AI and ultimately with prospective students.
Remember that AI search engines are becoming trusted advisors in highly emotional, high-stakes decision-making processes. If students are discovering and comparing institutions through AI, you need to pay close attention to how you show up in those answers.
