Six months into his second term, President Donald Trump has forced changes at many of the nation’s wealthiest universities, some of which have shed hundreds of jobs amid federal funding issues and investigations.
While sector layoffs are so frequent that Inside Higher Ed has dedicated monthly coverage to rounding up such reductions, those actions are more common at small, cash-strapped colleges or state institutions reeling from budget cuts. But universities with multibillion-dollar endowments have been among those making the deepest cuts in the first half of 2025, often driven by freezes on federal funding that the Trump administration imposed with minimal notice.
Some universities have also cited the recently passed endowment tax increase as a factor in layoffs.
Altogether the layoffs show a sector bracing for a new reality where research funding can be suddenly yanked away with little to no explanation and international and graduate student enrollment, once considered a cash cow, is under threat—prompting institutions in even the highest financial stratosphere to cut costs as they navigate changing policies and a president sharply critical of the sector.
Here’s a look at how the nation’s wealthiest universities are adjusting staffing levels due to an uncertain federal policy environment, research funding issues and a flurry of legal actions from the Trump administration that have forced concessions from multiple well-resourced institutions.
Thousands Out at Johns Hopkins
The Trump administration’s cuts to the U.S. Agency for International Development hit Johns Hopkins University with $800 million in canceled funding, prompting the Baltimore-based institution to shut down numerous international programs and lay off 2,222 employees earlier this year.
The 2,222 job cuts are the deepest announced at any institution this year.
The layoffs, announced in March, span more than 40 countries. Of the jobs cut, 1,975 were located internationally, while another 247 were in the U.S., with the majority in Baltimore. JHU announced at the time that another 107 employees would be furloughed.
Duke University, which has an endowment recently valued at nearly $12 billion, made some of the deepest cuts of the year so far when officials announced in July that 599 employees had accepted buyouts. Another 250 faculty members are reportedly weighing buyout offers as well.
Following the first round of buyouts, university officials said layoffs will begin this month.
Duke officials announced the buyouts before the Trump administration froze $108 million in federal grants and contracts and opened investigations into alleged racial discrimination, accusing the university of emphasizing diversity over merit in hiring, admissions and other practices.
Deep Cuts at Northwestern
Earlier this year, the Trump administration abruptly froze $790 million in research funding for Northwestern University, reportedly with no explanation. That action occurred at about the same time that the federal government opened an investigation into alleged antisemitism on campus.
Northwestern, which has an endowment valued at more than $14 billion, responded by eliminating 425 jobs last month in an effort to shave 5 percent off of its staff budget. The move was preceded by a hiring freeze and other cost-cutting measures announced earlier this year.
President Michael Schill and other administrators wrote in a message to campus that the cuts were “in response to more than just the federal research funding freeze.” They also pointed to “rapidly rising healthcare expenses, litigation, labor contracts, employee benefits, compliance requirements and a suite of federal changes” that may harm international student enrollment.
The Ax Falls at Stanford
Stanford University plans to cut 363 jobs beginning this fall as part of an effort to shave $140 million off the general funds budget due to financial issues connected to federal policy changes.
Those cuts come after the university announced a hiring freeze in February.
Stanford has the fourth-largest endowment among U.S. universities, recently valued at $37.6 billion. But despite its deep pockets, the private research university is feeling the squeeze from the Trump administration, with officials writing in a state regulatory filing that the university anticipates “reductions in federal research funding” and an increase in endowment taxes.
Additionally, the U.S. Department of Justice launched an investigation into admissions practices at Stanford earlier this year, accusing the university of sidestepping a ban on affirmative action.
Nearly 180 Layoffs at Columbia
Few institutions have faced as much scrutiny from the federal government in recent years as Columbia University, which agreed to sweeping changes and yielded to demands from the Trump administration to overhaul admissions, disciplinary processes and academic programs. The university will also share admissions data and reduce the number of international students it accepts in an unprecedented agreement with the Trump administration that culminated in a $221 million settlement over allegations of antisemitism tied to pro-Palestinian campus protests.
Although the Trump administration will release some frozen research funds as a condition of the settlement, choking off federal dollars has already prompted cuts. Columbia announced in May that the university had laid off nearly 180 researchers amid its standoff with the federal government.
Columbia’s endowment was recently valued at $14.7 billion.
‘A Day of Loss’ at Boston U
Boston University announced plans last month to lay off 120 workers and eliminate another 120 vacant jobs.
Officials wrote in a letter to campus that “recent and ongoing federal actions and funding cuts are affecting our research enterprise as well as day-to-day operations” and creating “uncertainty” as BU grapples with inflation, declining graduate enrollment and other challenges.
“This is a day of loss for all of us,” officials wrote. “There is no way around this. We know our community may need time to adjust to these difficult changes. Yet, it is also a necessary step in ensuring our future.”
The University of Southern California cut 55 jobs last month, according to a state regulatory filing.
Officials announced in mid-July that layoffs were underway, though they did not specify the number of employees affected. USC also implemented a hiring freeze, halted merit-based pay raises, ended some vendor contracts and pulled back on discretionary spending and travel.
Interim president Beong-Soo Kim called the layoffs “painful” in a message to campus. He cited various financial concerns, including “significant shifts in federal support for our research, hospitals, and student financial aid” as well as potential declines in international enrollment.
“The ultimate impact of these changes is difficult to predict, but for a university of our scale, the potential annual revenue loss in federally sponsored research funding alone could be $300 million or more,” Kim wrote, adding these changes came on top of a pre-existing budget deficit.
USC’s endowment was recently valued at $8.1 billion.
Unspecified Cuts at Harvard
Harvard University, which is currently locked in a legal battle with the Trump administration over alleged antisemitism and other accusations, has also laid off employees this year. Harvard Magazine reports that multiple schools have reduced staff as a result of having federal research funds frozen.
However, Harvard has not released numbers and declined to provide an estimate to Inside Higher Ed. Union officials have said that layoffs could add up to hundreds of workers.
Harvard is the nation’s wealthiest university, with an endowment valued at nearly $52 billion.
Likely Layoffs at Brown
Following Columbia, Brown University struck a deal with the Trump administration last month, agreeing to certain changes in order to restore around $510 million in frozen research funding.
The federal government closed investigations into alleged antisemitism as part of the settlement. Brown also agreed to put $50 million over the course of a decade into workforce development in Rhode Island. Less than a week after the settlement, Brown officials announced that “some layoffs will be necessary” due to the “persisting financial impact of federal actions.”
Brown also enacted a hiring freeze in March, and nearly 350 jobs remain unfilled.
University officials wrote that they expected a $30 million hit to the 2026 fiscal year budget from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, Trump’s far-reaching legislation that affected the sector in various ways, including increases to endowment taxes and limiting or eliminating some loan programs.
More than 100 colleges and universities have already signed up for Google’s new AI for Education Accelerator.
Phiwath Jittamas/iStock/Getty Images Plus
Google’s parent company announced Wednesday that it’s planning to spend $1 billion over the next three years to help colleges teach and train students about artificial intelligence.
Google is joining other AI companies, including OpenAI and Anthropic, in investing in AI training in higher education. All three companies have rolled out new tools aimed at supporting “deeper learning” among students and made their AI platforms available to certain students for free.
As of Wednesday, Google is making its AI Pro plan available for free to any student who is 18 years or older and lives in the United States or in Brazil, Indonesia, Japan or South Korea. That plan includes Google’s more advanced chat bot Gemini 2.5 Pro.
The $1 billion will go to “AI literacy programs, research funding and cloud computing resources,” according to the announcement. The company also is offering free AI training to every college student as part of its new Google AI for Education Accelerator. More than 100 public colleges have signed on already, the company said.
“Today’s students are the first true generation of ‘AI natives,’” Google CEO Sundar Pichai wrote. “They’ll use these models in ways none of us can predict, whether it’s learning things in new ways or creating new types of jobs we haven’t imagined yet. It’s still early days and there will be important questions ahead. That’s why we’re working with institutions across higher education to ensure student success.”
Forty percent of parents prefer their child attend a four-year college after high school.
Despite public skepticism about the value of a college degree, the majority of parents still want their kids to pursue more education after high school, according to a report from Gallup and the Lumina Foundation published today.
During the first two weeks of June, researchers surveyed more than 2,000 adults—including 554 parents of children under 18—about what they thought their own children or the children in their lives should do after high school. Though there was some variation depending on political party affiliation and level of educational attainment, three-quarters of parents over all say they want their children to continue their education.
“Even in this moment of skepticism around higher ed, the pull of college is still powerful for families,” Courtney Brown, Lumina’s vice president of impact and planning, told Inside Higher Ed. “The distinction is between their critiques of the system and their personal aspirations. They see there are some cracks in the system—that it’s not always affordable—and they want to make sure that if they’re going to pay for college that their child is going to see a return on investment.”
Parents had a clear preference for the type of institution their child should attend, with 40 percent of respondents indicating that their first choice would be a four-year university.
That aligns with robust data on the ROI of different degree types showing that people with bachelor’s degrees have far higher lifetime earnings and are half as likely to be unemployed than their peers with only a high school diploma.
However, not every family is convinced that a four-year degree is the best option for their child.
Another 19 percent of the parents surveyed by Gallup and Lumina said they’d prefer a two-year college and 16 percent a job training or certification program. Just 24 percent said they’d prefer their child forgo higher education altogether after high school and instead take a gap year (13 percent) join the military (5 percent) or immediately join the workforce (6 percent).
Differences in party affiliation also shaped which type of institution parents believe their kids should attend after high school. More than half (53 percent) of Democratic parents said they’d prefer their child go to a four-year college, while just a quarter of Republicans said the same; 21 percent of Republican parents said they’d prefer their child enroll at a two-year college after high school, and 22 percent said they’d prefer a job training or certificate program.
“Across the board, everyone believes you need more education after high school. But what we’re seeing now is Republicans wanting a quicker payoff for their education, and often a certification or a two-year degree leads directly to a job where they’re using those skills,” Brown said. “But that can be shortsighted when a job ends and a [worker] needs to get upskilled or reskilled.”
A four-year college education was also the preferred choice for parents with and without a college degree, though there was a considerable gap. While 58 percent of college graduates said a four-year program was their top choice for their child, only 30 percent of non–college graduates said the same.
“Parents still see that a four-year degree is the dream. It’s the degree that opens the most opportunity to getting paid more,” Brown said. “People that have gone to college see that it has paid off, whereas people who haven’t had that opportunity may feel closed out from and are uncertain that it’s going to lead to the money and jobs they’re looking for.”
The survey also asked adults without a child under 18 the same questions about what they would want a child they know—such as a nephew, niece, grandchild or family friend—to pursue after high school.
Similar to the parents surveyed, 32 percent of nonparents said they’d like to see the young people in their lives pursue a four-year degree, while 23 percent favored a two-year program and another 23 percent favored job training or a certificate program.
The University of Utah is cutting 81 offerings in response to state budget reductions and a new law.
Aaron M. Sprecher/Getty Images
The University of Utah plans to eliminate 81 academic programs and minors—a step that administrators attribute to a new state law that called for “strategic reinvestment” after lawmakers slashed funding to public colleges and universities.
The Republican-controlled Utah Legislature passed House Bill 265 this spring. Lawmakers cut 10 percent of institutions’ state-funded instructional budgets, but the law said they could earn back the money by cutting programs and positions and instead funding “strategic reinvestment.” Institutions’ reinvestment plans must be based on enrollment, completion rates, job placement, wages, program-level costs and local and statewide workforce demands.
Other Utah universities detailed their planned cuts in the spring, but this is the first glimpse at how the state’s flagship will respond to the new law.
The planned cuts at the University of Utah include Ph.D.s in chemical physics, physiology, experimental pathology and in theater; master’s degrees in ballet, modern dance, marketing, audiology and applied mechanics; bachelor’s degrees in chemistry teaching, Russian teaching and German teaching; certificates in public administration, veterans’ studies and computational bioimaging; various minors; and more.
Richard Preiss, president of the university’s Academic Senate, said his body’s Executive Committee reviewed the list of programs. He said that, except for one that the committee persuaded the administration to remove from the list, none had graduated more than one student in the past eight years, according to the university’s data. But a university spokesperson said that “some had zero or one, but some had up to a dozen students. Our threshold to identify inactive or low-enrollment courses was 15.”
Preiss said that while theselection process was accelerated, faculty had enough time to give meaningful input.
“These were relatively easy cuts to make and they were relatively painless,” Preiss said. “I anticipate that more painful ones are on the horizon.”
Selina Likely, a child care director in Columbus, Ohio, understands the desperation that parents feel when they can’t find a good placement for their children with disabilities. When Likely’s daughter was a child, the little girl was abruptly kicked out of her daycare center for biting, leaving her mother with little recourse.
“I was so angry and mad at the time,” said Likely, whose daughter is now an adult. “How are you going to kick out a 1-year-old?”
Thanks to a new state initiative, Likely and other child care providers like her can now receive additional training on how to support children with disabilities, who are far more likely than other children to be expelled from child care programs. Some states have similar programs, with the ultimate goal of creating more child care slots where young children with disabilities and delays can thrive.
How Hechinger inspired a bill
Earlier this year, my colleague Sarah Carr published a piece revealing that in Illinois and other states many families of premature babies are leaving the hospital with no information or guidance on critical therapies they are entitled to. In June, the Illinois Legislature passed a bill that would require hospitals to distribute detailed information on early intervention — those required therapies for babies and toddlers with disabilities and developmental delays — to most families with severely premature infants. The new law was proposed by state Rep. Janet Yang Rohr after Sarah’s story was published.
The bill, which awaits action by the governor, would also require the state’s early childhood systems to prioritize, in a public awareness campaign, the early identification of infants who automatically qualify for the therapies because of their low birth weight.
This story about children with disabilities was produced by The Hechinger Report, a nonprofit, independent news organization focused on inequality and innovation in education. Sign up for the Hechinger newsletter.
The Hechinger Report provides in-depth, fact-based, unbiased reporting on education that is free to all readers. But that doesn’t mean it’s free to produce. Our work keeps educators and the public informed about pressing issues at schools and on campuses throughout the country. We tell the whole story, even when the details are inconvenient. Help us keep doing that.
Join us for this informal chat about websites for academics in 2025. Some questions we cover:
What are your options for making your website?
What makes for the best website examples for academics?
How can I have a website fast (like today even)?
What should people prioritize when telling their story on their website?
What makes for the best portfolio websites (and what can go on them)?
Your contest co-hosts are back with another live to support your academic website project. Whether you’re a professor, researcher, scientist, postdoc, graduate student, independent scholar, you deserve space online.
Your website is no longer just a digital brochure. It’s the heart of your institution’s marketing, recruitment, and student engagement efforts. For most prospective students, it’s the very first touchpoint, and their decision to inquire, apply, or move on often hinges on what they find there.
More than 90% of students visit a college or university website during their school search. That means your site must not only attract attention but deliver a seamless experience that inspires trust and action.
What does that look like? It’s a blend of smart navigation, compelling visuals, personalized content, and performance that works flawlessly across all devices. It’s also about serving many different audiences, students, parents, alumni, and staff, without sacrificing clarity or focus.
In this article, we break down the 7 best practicesfor higher education websites, with examples from institutions putting them into action. These proven strategies will help your school build a web presence that engages users and drives real results, from exploration to enrollment.
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1. Ensure a Mobile-Responsive, Mobile-First Design
Smartphones are the default browsing tool for most prospective students and their parents. If your institution’s website doesn’t offer a seamless mobile experience, you’re not just frustrating users; you’re losing them.
Why is mobile responsiveness crucial for higher education websites? Most students browse on mobile devices. A mobile-responsive site ensures readability, easy navigation, and fast loading, key for user experience and search rankings. Without it, your site could rank lower on Google and lose over half of the visitors who abandon slow or poorly displayed pages.
Mobile responsiveness means your content adjusts fluidly to any screen size, from smartphones to tablets. This isn’t a nice-to-have feature; it’s a necessity. Google now uses your site’s mobile version to determine how it ranks in search results (a process known as mobile-first indexing). If your site isn’t optimized for mobile, both your visibility and your credibility take a hit.
Use a responsive design that automatically adjusts layouts for smaller screens
Collapse navigation into a clean, mobile-friendly format
Display readable text without requiring zoom
Feature buttons and links that are easy to tap
Example:California Baptist University delivers a standout mobile experience. Its responsive design stacks content cleanly for smaller screens, while large, tappable calls-to-action make it easy for prospective students to explore programs or request information. The site balances function and aesthetics, showing that CBU understands what mobile users need and delivers it.
How can improving website speed benefit my higher education institution? Faster websites reduce bounce rates and keep users engaged longer. Prospects find what they need quickly, improving their impression of your institution. Speed also boosts SEO rankings and increases the chances of conversions like form submissions or brochure downloads.
A smooth mobile journey doesn’t just meet expectations, it sends a clear message: your institution is accessible, student-focused, and ready to meet users where they are.
2. Optimize Your Site’s Speed and Performance
Speed matters. Gen Z users expect instant access, and if your pages lag, they’ll bounce, sometimes before they’ve even seen your programs.
Beyond user frustration, slow sites impact your visibility. Google uses page speed as a ranking factor, so sluggish load times can tank your SEO and conversions.
To keep your site performing at its best, follow these key practices:
Compress images and media. Use modern formats like WebP and apply compression tools to reduce file sizes without sacrificing quality.
Minify code and enable caching. Clean up your HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, and use browser caching to speed up page loads for returning visitors.
Implement a Content Delivery Network (CDN). CDNs serve content from servers closest to the user, minimizing delays caused by physical distance.
Limit heavy third-party scripts. Only use plugins and scripts that are essential—too many can drag your site’s performance down.
Test regularly. Tools like Google PageSpeed Insights, GTmetrix, or Lighthouse help you spot bottlenecks like oversized images or slow server response.
Example:University of Arkansas at Little Rock (UA Little Rock): In March 2025, UA Little Rock rolled out a major website overhaul that improved both user experience and performance speed. A key move was transitioning to modern cloud hosting, which “ensures greater reliability, multiple backups, and improved site performance,” especially during peak or emergency periods. The web team also streamlined the site’s content (trimming 8,000+ pages down by 30%) and modernized the codebase, which reduces load times by eliminating bloat.
Why this matters for higher ed: Even a one-second improvement in page load time can make a measurable difference in how long users stay and what actions they take. A fast website tells students you’re efficient, professional, and respectful of their time, a small detail that leaves a big impression.
If your site is slow, it’s time to speed things up.
3. Implement Strong SEO to Boost Search Visibility
You can have the most beautifully designed website in the world, but if prospective students can’t find it, it won’t deliver results.
That’s where search engine optimization (SEO) becomes critical. Most college students rely on search engines to explore programs, compare schools, and research next steps. If your institution doesn’t appear in those search results, you risk missing out on a massive share of qualified leads.
Think about the intent behind queries like:
“Best MBA programs in Canada”
“Colleges in Toronto for computer science”
“Online diploma in healthcare administration”
If your pages don’t show up, students won’t even know to consider you.
Here’s how to strengthen your SEO strategy and stay visible throughout the student journey:
Keyword Optimization
Start with the language students use. Research long-tail keywords that reflect real queries (e.g., “online MBA in finance” or “career college digital marketing course”). Then, use those terms naturally in your:
Program page titles and H1 headers
Metadata and image alt text
Body content and subheadings
This improves your rankings and helps students quickly identify whether your offerings match their needs.
High-Quality, Student-Centric Content
Search engines prioritize helpful content. So do students. Build rich pages and blog posts that answer common questions about admissions, tuition, career outcomes, or student life. Content that educates, informs, and reassures will keep users engaged and build trust.
Gen Z doesn’t want to dig for answers. Make them easy to find, and you’ll win the click.
On-Page SEO Basics
Each page on your site should have:
A unique meta title and description featuring relevant keywords
Structured headings (H1, H2, H3…)
Descriptive image alt text for both accessibility and SEO
These basic elements are easy to overlook, but they make a real difference in how Google interprets and ranks your content.
Technical SEO and User Experience
Your site’s infrastructure plays a big role in search visibility. Prioritize:
Mobile-friendliness (as covered in Section 1)
Fast page load times
Secure browsing (HTTPS)
Logical, crawlable URLs
Fixes for broken links and outdated pages
Google rewards user-friendly experiences. So do your prospective students.
Local and International SEO
Have a physical campus? Make sure your Google Business Profile is claimed and accurate. Serving international audiences? Offer multilingual content or geo-targeted landing pages to attract global prospects.
Example: When ENSR partnered with Higher Education Marketing (HEM) in 2019, the school sought to improve its online visibility and attract more qualified leads. HEM implemented a comprehensive SEO strategy that included technical website improvements, bilingual content creation, and targeted Google Ads campaigns. These efforts significantly enhanced ENSR’s search rankings and increased high-quality inquiries from families seeking international education in Switzerland.
Why this matters: SEO isn’t a quick win; it’s a long-term strategy. But done right, it builds sustained visibility across every stage of the student journey.
A prospect might first find your blog post about how to choose a business school. Weeks later, they search for [Your University] campus life. Eventually, they return to your site to click Apply Now. SEO ensures you’re present at each step.
And since over 90% of students visit your website before applying, showing up in search isn’t just a marketing boost, it’s mission-critical.
What role does SEO play in the success of a higher education website?
SEO helps your site appear in search results when students research programs. Strong SEO brings qualified traffic, builds credibility, and ensures your programs are seen, without relying solely on paid ads.
SEO brings it all together. A fast, accessible, content-rich, and mobile-optimized site naturally ranks better. That means more visibility, more engagement, and more students taking the next step with you.
4. Make Your Content Accessible and Inclusive to All Users
Accessibility is now a fundamental expectation. Your website should serve everyone, including users with visual, auditory, motor, or cognitive disabilities.
In the U.S., more than 61 million adults live with a disability, and in Canada are more than 27 million. Globally, the number reaches into the hundreds of millions. If your website isn’t accessible, you may be shutting out prospective students, parents, or staff who are eager to connect but simply can’t.
Beyond ethics, it’s also the law. New ADA Title II regulations in the U.S. now require public colleges and universities to comply with WCAG 2.1 Level AA standards. Similarly, Canada’s AODA (Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act) sets a comparable benchmark for accessibility. Failure to comply with these standards can result in lawsuits, financial penalties, loss of federal funding, and significant reputational damage.
An inclusive website is no longer optional. It’s a legal, ethical, and strategic imperative.
Best practices for accessible higher education websites:
Follow WCAG 2.1 AA guidelines. This includes alt text for images, captions or transcripts for videos, strong color contrast, and keyboard-friendly navigation.
Use semantic HTML. Headings, lists, and ARIA landmarks help users navigate with screen readers and assistive tech. Avoid flashy layouts that confuse accessibility tools.
Write descriptive link text. Replace vague links like “click here” with actionable, informative phrasing: Download the admissions brochure, for example.
Test with real users. Use accessibility checkers and consult individuals who rely on screen readers or other assistive devices; automated tools often miss real-world issues.
Why this benefits everyone: Captions aren’t just for deaf users; they help second-language learners, mobile viewers, and anyone watching a video in a noisy space. High-contrast design improves readability in bright light or on low-quality screens. And clean navigation benefits all users, whether or not they rely on assistive technology.
Accessibility makes your site better for everyone and signals your commitment to equity and inclusion.
Example:Otis College of Art and Design proves that accessible websites don’t have to be boring. Their visually bold, design-forward site includes thoughtful accessibility features, like the ability to pause animated content and high-contrast elements that enhance readability. It’s proof that inclusive design and creativity can go hand in hand.
By prioritizing accessibility from the start, your institution not only meets regulatory standards, but it also opens the door to more prospects and strengthens its reputation as a place where everyone belongs.
5. Design Intuitive Navigation and User-Friendly Interfaces
Higher education websites often contain a massive amount of information, program details, admissions requirements, campus services, student life, alumni resources, and more. Without clear navigation, this wealth of content can quickly become overwhelming.
If prospective students can’t find basic information like how to apply, what programs you offer, or where to request info, they won’t stick around. They’ll simply move on to another institution that makes things easier.
Your goal? Make exploration effortless: Navigation should be clean, logical, and centered around user needs, not internal structures or department silos. Every menu, page layout, and search function should guide visitors toward their goals with clarity and speed.
Tips for intuitive higher ed site navigation:
Use simple, student-focused labels. Stick to clear menu items like “Programs,” “Admissions,” “About Us,” and “Contact.” Avoid institutional jargon. Limit top-level menu items to avoid overload, and organize deeper pages using dropdowns or mega menus.
Design for user journeys, not just departments. Group content around tasks or audience needs. Instead of listing academic departments, consider categories like Plan, Start, Succeed, or even Explore Programs and Find Support.
Create clear user paths for different audiences. Persona-based navigation (e.g., Prospective Students, Current Students, Parents, Alumni) lets visitors self-identify and jump directly to what matters to them. This reduces cognitive load and improves time-to-information.
Make CTAs impossible to miss. Buttons like Apply Now, Request Info, and Visit Campus should be visually distinct and consistently visible across key pages.
Maintain styling and structural consistency. Don’t make users relearn how to navigate with every new section. Ensure the styling, placement, and behavior of menus remain predictable and responsive for mobile users.
Example: Eastern Iowa Community Colleges: EICC structures its top-level navigation around the student journey with three clear categories: Plan, Start, and Succeed. This not only simplifies decision-making but also shows a deep understanding of student concerns. The site also includes an “I’m most concerned about…” section: addressing common hesitations head-on, with empathy and clarity.
A user-friendly website doesn’t just look polished; it feels helpful. Smart navigation says, “We understand your needs, and we’ve made it easy to find what you’re looking for.” Higher education website design can be the difference between a visitor who bounces and one who applies.
6. Provide Engaging Content and Clear Calls-To-Action
Content is what transforms a higher ed website from a digital brochure into a dynamic recruitment tool. Prospective students don’t just want information; they want answers, inspiration, and a glimpse of what their future might look like at your institution.
They’re searching for:
Program details
Admission requirements
Tuition costs
Campus life
Career outcomes
Student experiences
Your job is to deliver that content in a way that’s clear, engaging, and actionable.
Best Practices for Content That Drives Enrollment:
Showcase your academic programs clearly. Each program should have a dedicated page that covers curriculum highlights, faculty expertise, admissions requirements, and career prospects. Schools should prioritize program-level content because it’s the first place prospects look.
Use rich media to bring your campus to life. Photos, videos, virtual tours, and infographics add emotional and visual depth that text alone can’t match. Consider a homepage hero video, a student life highlight reel, or virtual walkthroughs of your campus and classrooms.
Incorporate authentic student voices. Today’s students want real stories. Feature testimonials, student spotlights, or day-in-the-life content that reflects your community’s diversity and vibrancy. Whether it’s a video diary from a nursing student or a blog from an international applicant, authenticity builds trust.
Keep your content fresh. Outdated information erodes credibility. Make it a priority to update admissions deadlines, program details, and tuition info regularly. Maintain a blog or news section to show your campus is active, but don’t let fresh content bury essential evergreen pages like Programs or How to Apply.
Guide users with clear, strategic CTAs. Every important page should ask: What’s the next step? Then answer it with a bold, well-placed button. Whether it’s “Apply Now,” “Download a Program Brochure,” or “Book a Virtual Tour,” your CTAs should stand out visually and match the context of the page.
Example: OCAD University (Canada) redesigned its admissions website with a bold visual identity, simplified navigation, and CTAs tailored to the user journey, like “Get Portfolio Help” or “Start Your Application.” The results? Within weeks of launch, the site saw a 21% increase in visits and a 15% increase in applicants. The combination of user-first content and clear actions paid off.
Content also reinforces every other best practice:
Accessible content means adding alt text and transcripts.
SEO-optimized content means using keywords that align with search intent.
Fast-loading content means using lightweight visuals and optimized media.
When your content delivers real value and your calls-to-action guide users clearly, you don’t just inform; you inspire. And that’s what drives conversions.
7. Integrate With a CRM for Lead Management and Personalization
A well-designed website gets visitors. A strategically integrated website gets conversions.
One of the most powerful ways to level up your higher ed site is by connecting it to a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system. CRMs are central hubs for capturing, organizing, and nurturing prospective students through the enrollment journey.
When your website and CRM are integrated, lead data flows automatically from inquiry forms, newsletter signups, and event registrations into a centralized system, no more manual data wrangling, missed follow-ups, or siloed information.
Why CRM Integration Matters:
Instant lead capture and time savings Every time a prospect fills out a form, to download a course brochure or RSVP to an open house, their information is logged automatically in your CRM. This eliminates the need for staff to transfer spreadsheets or copy-paste emails. The result? Less administrative busywork and fewer mistakes, giving your admissions team more time to focus on real engagement.
Faster, personalized follow-up CRM integration lets you respond in real time. Someone requests info? They get a tailored email within minutes. And your recruiters are instantly notified with the lead’s details, so they can follow up while your institution is still top of mind. Prompt follow-up, especially within 24 hours, greatly increases contact and conversion rates. A connected CRM makes that speed possible.
Personalized web experiences Advanced CRMs like HubSpot or Mautic allow you to show smart CTAs and dynamic content based on the visitor’s behavior. If someone has already attended a webinar, your site might offer “Schedule a One-on-One Consultation” instead of “Register for Info Session.” Personalization like this increases engagement and accelerates movement through the funnel.
One institution used smart CTAs to tailor messaging for return visitors. New users saw English test prep offers, while returning prospects saw “Start Your Application” prompts, resulting in higher click-through and application rates.
Full visibility into the student journey Every interaction, form fill, email open, and event attendance is tracked in the CRM. Your team gets a 360° view of each lead’s engagement, helping them tailor conversations and prioritize follow-ups. You can also track which web pages and campaigns are driving the most conversions, helping you optimize over time.
For example, CRM data may reveal that campus tour sign-ups convert at twice the rate of general inquiries. Insights like these help you double down on what works.
A seamless, consistent user experience From a student’s perspective, CRM integration reduces friction. They won’t have to fill in the same information twice. Communications feel timely and relevant. Even if a staff member changes, the CRM ensures continuity, so the conversation picks up where it left off.
Behind the scenes, your team gains confidence that every lead is being handled properly, with full history and context at their fingertips.
The tools and payoff
Higher education institutions are increasingly using education-focused CRMs like HubSpot or HEM’s Mautic CRM. These tools enable automation at every stage, from capturing leads to triggering nurture emails to customizing website CTAs.
Example: Griffith College, Ireland’s largest independent college, partnered with Higher Education Marketing (HEM) to implement HubSpot CRM for more efficient lead management and personalized student recruitment. Through a comprehensive strategy that included conversion funnel audits, CRM staff training, automated workflows, and segmented lead nurturing, HEM helped Griffith streamline communications and improve follow-up with prospective students. As a result, the college achieved a 20% year-over-year increase in registered learners for its Spring 2023 intake.
CRM integration does require some technical setup and cross-department coordination. But the payoff is immense: your website becomes a two-way communication platform, collecting insights, responding to actions, and guiding visitors toward enrollment with relevance and precision.
For institutions serious about scaling recruitment and deepening personalization, connecting your CRM to your website is no longer optional. It’s a modern best practice and a clear path to smarter, more successful digital engagement.
Build a Website That Drives Enrollment
Your website isn’t just a marketing asset; it’s your institution’s top recruiter. Every click, scroll, and form fill is a chance to move a prospective student closer to enrollment.
By applying these best practices for higher education websites, from mobile-first design and fast performance to SEO, accessibility, and CRM integration, you create more than just a polished digital presence. You build a site that informs, inspires, and converts.
In a crowded higher ed market, the schools that win are the ones that treat their website like the powerful recruitment engine it is. Make yours work harder, smarter, and more strategically, starting now.
Struggling with enrollment?
Our expert digital marketing services can help you attract and enroll more students!
Frequently Asked Questions
Question: Why is mobile responsiveness crucial for higher education websites? Answer: Most students browse on mobile devices. A mobile-responsive site ensures readability, easy navigation, and fast loading, key for user experience and search rankings. Without it, your site could rank lower on Google and lose over half of the visitors who abandon slow or poorly displayed pages.
Question: How can improving website speed benefit my higher education institution? Answer: Faster websites reduce bounce rates and keep users engaged longer. Prospects find what they need quickly, improving their impression of your institution. Speed also boosts SEO rankings and increases the chances of conversions like form submissions or brochure downloads.
Question: What role does SEO play in the success of a higher education website? Answer: SEO helps your site appear in search results when students research programs. Strong SEO brings qualified traffic, builds credibility, and ensures your programs are seen, without relying solely on paid ads.
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Dive Brief:
Stanford University laid off 363 staff memberslast week as part of a plan to reduce its budget by $140 million for the 2025-26 academic year.
In a July 31 message to campus, senior university leaders attributed the need for cuts to “a challenging fiscal environment shaped in large part by federal policy changes affecting higher education.”
The private California institution warned of forthcoming layoffs in June, when it extended a hiring freeze implemented in February and said it would focus capital spendingon critical projects or those with external sources of funding.
Dive Insight:
“Ongoing economic uncertainty” has created serious challenges for the higher education sector, according to Elizabeth Zacharias,Stanford’s vice president for human resources.
“At Stanford, anticipated changes in federal policy — such as reductions in federal research funding and an increase in the excise tax on investment income — are expected to have significant budgetary consequences,” Zacharias said in a July 31 filing with the California Employment Development Department.
Like many research institutions, Stanford has suffered under the tidal wave of efforts by the Trump administration to slash federal spending on research and development — despite some of those moves being blocked in court for the time being.
Changes to the endowment tax could also hit Stanford hard.
In fiscal 2024, the university had the fourth-largest endowment among U.S. colleges, valued at $37.6 billion, according to research from the National Association of College and University Business Officersand asset management firm Commonfund.
Before 2017, colleges did not pay taxes on their endowment earnings. That year, a GOP-controlled Congress enacted a 1.4% tax on private nonprofit colleges with at least $500,000 in endowment assets per student.
But President Donald Trump’s signature spending bill introduced a tiered tax based on endowment assets per student that will more than quintuple the tax for the wealthiest institutions from 1.4% to 8%.Stanford, with roughly $2.1 million in endowment assets per full-time-equivalent student, will likely pay the top rate.
These shifts, combined with rising operational costs and changes to funding sources and programs, pushed Stanford to implement layoffs, Zacharias said.
Stanford employs 18,000 staff and faculty, according to its website.
The affected employees — about 2% of its workforce — worked in departments from across the university, ranging from student support services to libraries to donor and alumni relations, according to legal filings.
In addition to 60 days oflegally mandated paid notice to impacted workers, eligible employees received severance packages and career transition services, a university spokesperson confirmed Wednesday.
Paul T. Corrigan teaches at The University of Tampa. He is currently writing a book on teaching literature. He has published on teaching and learning in TheAtlantic.com, The Chronicle of Higher Education, Inside Higher Ed, College Teaching, Pedagogy, Reader, The Teaching Professor, International Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, and other venues. He has a PhD from the University of South Florida and a MA from North Carolina State University. More at paultcorrigan.com. Follow on Twitter at @teachingcollege.
The U.S. Department of Justice sued the state of Oklahoma Tuesday over a state law that allows undocumented students to pay in-state tuition rates. Oklahoma is now the fourth state the DOJ has sued for having such a policy.
The state’s Republican attorney general, Gentner Drummond, swiftly sided with the federal government and filed a joint motion in support of quashing the law. He said in a statement that it’s “discriminatory and unlawful” to offer noncitizens lower in-state tuition rates “that are not made available to out-of-state Americans.”
“Today marks the end of a longstanding exploitation of Oklahoma taxpayers, who for many years have subsidized colleges and universities as they provide unlawful benefits to illegal immigrants in the form of in-state tuition,” Drummond said.
Now the state and the DOJ await a ruling from the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Oklahoma.
Oklahoma’s quick support for the legal challenge is reminiscent of what happened in Texas when the DOJ sued the state in June: Within hours of the lawsuit, Texas sided with the Justice Department and a judge ruled in favor of a permanent injunction, ending in-state tuition for noncitizens. The DOJ then filed similar lawsuits against Kentucky and Minnesota, though those legal fights are still ongoing.
The lawsuits follow an executive order issued by President Donald Trump in April calling for a crackdown on so-called sanctuary cities and state laws unlawfully “favoring aliens over any groups of American citizens,” citing in-state tuition benefits for noncitizens as an example.
