Empowering First-Gen College Students: Enhancing Website User Experience

In this eye-opening episode, Allison welcomes UX strategist Kelly Kautz, who unveils the impact of college websites on first-gen students. Discover groundbreaking insights from her primary research, learn about common website design issues that create barriers, and gain evidence-based strategies to improve user experience. As higher education marketers, it's time to take action and create an inclusive digital environment to guide first-gen students through their college journey. Join us and empower your marketing strategies for a brighter future!

Check out Paskill's first-gen landing page here: https://paskill.agency/firstgen/

Key Takeaways

• First-generation students often don’t identify with the label: Many don’t recognize or connect with the term "first-gen," impacting their awareness of available resources.
• Language matters: Using complex or insider terminology (e.g., “TRIO Services”) creates barriers; clear and student-centered language is essential.
• Overwhelming navigation leads to disengagement: Poor website usability can frustrate students to the point of giving up—not just on a specific college but on higher education entirely.
• Websites are key touchpoints: First-gen students primarily rely on college websites and Google for research, making intuitive design and accessibility critical.
• Empathy is crucial: Align teams with a shared goal of fostering belonging and accessibility through tools like empathy mapping and user testing.
• Start small: Begin with a website audit or convene a meeting to align stakeholders around user-focused goals.

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Why Focus on First-Generation Students?

Kelly Kautz shares that her inspiration stemmed from curiosity. As a UX strategist working with higher ed websites, she noticed a lack of specific insights into first-gen students’ digital behaviors and needs. While institutions value first-gen students, they often lack concrete data about their challenges, especially during the research and application phases. This gap motivated Kelly to conduct her own research, which revealed a disconnect between how colleges serve these students online and their actual needs.

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What Did the Research Reveal?

One of the most surprising findings was that 20% of first-gen participants didn’t identify as first-generation students, and many who did didn’t see it as a significant part of their identity. This lack of awareness extends to resources designed for them. For example, few participants understood what “TRIO Services” meant, despite the term being common in higher ed. Kelly emphasizes that misaligned terminology and poor usability lead to frustration, with some students abandoning the college search altogether.

The research also highlighted that first-gen students are savvy consumers who prefer to start with college websites but validate information using other sources like Google, rankings, and social media. However, jargon-filled content and cluttered navigation create obstacles, undermining their confidence and engagement.

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How Can Colleges Improve?

Kelly stresses the importance of aligning stakeholders around user needs and adopting a user-first mentality. She outlines the following actionable steps:

1. Start with a Website Audit: Examine site content, usability, and analytics to identify problem areas and opportunities.
2. Focus on Priority Pages: Degree program details, financial aid information, and application requirements are critical for first-gen students.
3. Conduct User Testing: Test usability with prospective students to uncover pain points. Start small, aiming for five testers, and focus on key tasks like finding program details or application steps.
4. Simplify Language: Replace institutional jargon with clear, intuitive terms that align with how students think and search.
5. Foster Belonging: Ensure the design and content make students feel welcomed, understood, and supported.

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Overcoming Resistance

To drive change, Kelly advises using data to demonstrate the impact of poor usability. User testing can be a powerful tool to highlight challenges and gain buy-in from stakeholders. Empathy mapping workshops are another way to align teams around shared goals for the website, helping them understand the emotional and functional needs of first-gen students.

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A Small First Step

For those unsure where to start, Kelly suggests simply convening a meeting with key stakeholders to discuss the possibility of a website audit. Aligning around shared goals and identifying gaps is the first step toward building a user-friendly experience for first-gen students.

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This Episode is Sponsored by Pathify

Meet Pathify —  an innovative higher ed engagement hub that puts students at the center of their college journey. Pathify sits at the center of your school’s digital ecosystem, becoming the single, user experience interface tying together all systems, content, and communications. Their engagement hub elevates the information that matters most and pushes systems like the SIS behind the scenes where they belong, making it simpler for students to discover and engage with the opportunities your institution provides at every step of their higher ed journey, from prospect to alumni. What’s even better, Pathify has a mobile experience that provides 100% parity with the responsive web app, so your campus app is always in sync. Pathify is a platform that EVERY stakeholder on campus  — from marketing, to admissions, to student affairs, to IT, etc., — can get equally excited about. Learn more about how Pathify is uniting strategic units across campus and bettering the entire student experience by visiting Pathify.com

About the Enrollify Podcast Network: 

The Application is a part of the Enrollify Podcast Network.  If you like this podcast, chances are you’ll like other Enrollify shows too!  

Our podcast network is growing by the month and we’ve got a plethora of marketing, admissions, and higher ed technology shows that are jam packed with stories, ideas, and frameworks all designed to empower you to be a better higher ed professional. Our shows feature a selection of the industry’s best as your hosts. Learn from Jeremy Tiers, Zach Busekrus, Jaime Hunt, Allison Turcio, Jamie Gleason and many more. 

Learn more about The Enrollify Podcast Network at podcasts.enrollify.org. Our shows help higher ed marketers and admissions professionals find their next big idea — come and find yours!