Top Issues in Student Affairs 2025

2025 NASPA Top Issues in Student Affairs

September 30, 2025

The 2025 NASPA Top Issues in Student Affairs provides a snapshot of what senior leaders in student affairs view as most important to their institutions in 2025. In this second annual collection of perspectives from vice presidents for student affairs, survey respondents ranked issues by level of importance within five key areas:

  • Administration & Governance

  • Assessment & Evaluation

  • Health, Safety, & Well-being

  • Student Success

  • Technology & Digital Innovation

The issues included in this year’s survey were refined with the assistance of the inaugural NASPA Top Issues in Student Affairs Advisory Committee, which includes leaders in student affairs representing a diverse range of institutions and who bring a deep understanding of issues affecting their student populations. We are excited to share these trends in student affairs and hope they affirm and support the ongoing work of the profession.

About

This year’s survey was conducted during a time of significant change and uncertainty in higher education. Political, legislative, and financial pressures are weighing heavily on institutions, staff, faculty, and students. As institutions across the country adapt, student affairs professionals are navigating changes to their divisions, departments, and, in some cases, their roles on campus, all while welcoming students for a new academic year.

To create and operationalize student-centered strategies, vice presidents for student affairs (VPSAs) and their teams must understand both the opportunities and challenges facing their students and divisions. The 2025 NASPA Top Issues in Student Affairs survey results provide a snapshot of what VPSAs consider most important in 2025. The table below ranks these issues by the percentage of survey respondents who indicated the specific issue is very important to their institution.


Student success remains a central focus for VPSAs this year; however, comparison of 2025 and 2024 rankings show an increasing prioritization of institutional concerns related to sustainability and policy- and data-driven decision making. While last year’s five most highly ranked issues were all within the area of Health, Safety, and Well-being, this year’s top issues reflect a wider range of concerns across multiple key areas. 

In addition to having senior student affairs leaders rank the level of importance of each issue, the survey included open-ended questions to understand how priority issues are being addressed. Throughout the year, NASPA will conduct deeper analysis into how institutions are addressing issues within each key area, highlighting practitioner perspectives on strategies used and where additional support is needed. 

CONTACT: Please share any questions or feedback about the survey to [email protected]. 

For a complete list of the 50 issues, including their overall rankings and a breakdown of respondents’ institutional types and sizes, click the link below. Please note that the complete issue ranking list only includes respondents who completed the full survey (N=144).

View The Complete Issue Ranking List

Top Issues Across Each Key Area

The interactive charts below display how issues were ranked within each of the five key areas by respondents who completed each section*. Respondents ranked each issue on a scale of 1-10. Click each Key Area to view to what degree each of the specific issues related to it were ranked as very important (8-10), somewhat important (4-7), or not important (1-3). Hover over each chart’s grouping to view the distribution of data by level of importance. 

*Please note that sample sizes vary across each Key Area, as they reflect the number of respondents who completed each section. The complete issue ranking list only includes data from respondents who completed the full survey. 

 

Administration & Governance
Assessment & Evaluation
Health, Safety, & Well-being
Student Success
Technology & Digital Innovation

Four out of five respondents (80%) indicated that navigating political and legislative pressures affecting institutional policies and practices is a very important issue to their institutions in 2025. Adherence to new and established laws, regulations, standards, and policies is top of mind for senior student affairs leaders, as more than two-thirds of respondents (68%) indicated compliance with state, federal, and accreditation standards is very important in the area of Administration & Governance.

More than two-thirds of respondents (69%) indicated that using dashboards and other data communication tools to help senior administrators translate data into actionable insights for decision making is a very important issue to their institution. Comparison of 2024 and 2025 overall top issue rankings also suggest that issues within Assessment & Evaluation have increased in priority this year, given the increase in number of issues from this area rising to the top ten. Identifying ways to enhance data communication is increasingly essential to the planning and story-telling functions of student affairs.

Ensuring that students have reliable access to food, housing, and transportation while in school is a critical issue within the area of Health, Safety, & Well-being. Nearly 70% of respondents indicate that addressing basic needs insecurity for students is a very important issue for their institution in 2025. The urgency of the issue and need to provide emergency aid for such expenses is underscored in NASPA’s data brief on emergency aid, which finds that 22% of students from public two-year institutions reported that they could probably not come up or certainly could not come up with $500 in the next month. Moreover, increasing institution-wide collaboration to foster a holistic approach to student health, safety, and well-being is an enduring priority as this was identified as a top issue in the 2024 and 2025 survey. 

While relationship-building and partnerships are another evergreen tenet of student affairs work, it stands out in this year’s survey findings as a core priority to further explore. Increasing institution-wide collaboration to deliver coordinated student success support and building relationships with employers and alumni to create pipelines for mentoring, internships, and jobs were ranked as the top two most important issues in the key area of Student Success.  

Nearly 80% of respondents identified protecting the institution against cyber attacks as a very important issue to their institution in 2025, followed by 68% that ranked developing clear guidance for appropriate and ethical use of AI tools for students and staff as very important. Cyber-attacks and data breaches pose serious financial and reputational consequences for institutions and immediate concerns for student privacy, making protection against this directly relevant to student affairs. Often serving as connectors within the campus community, student affairs professionals can play an important role in partnering with faculty and IT to translate and integrate policies and protocols around technology security and AI in spaces that resonate with students and staff. 

Technology & Digital Innovation

Descriptive alt text Technology continues to reshape the landscape of higher education and the work of student affairs professionals. In 2025, the rise of generative AI, evolving cybersecurity threats, and the expanding role of digital tools in student support surfaced as some of the most urgent and complex challenges facing vice presidents for student affairs (VPSAs). While IT departments often lead on infrastructure and security, student affairs professionals are uniquely positioned to integrate technology policy, training, and ethical guidance into the student experience.

This follow-up brief builds on the Technology & Digital Innovation section of the 2025 Top Issues in Student Affairs report, providing a closer look at how student affairs leaders are navigating this space. It includes insights from VPSAs across institution types, spotlight examples from the field, and actionable strategies to advance institutional goals around digital fluency, student data protection, AI integration, and cross-campus collaboration.

View the Full Follow-up Brief

NASPA 2025 Top Issues in Student Affairs Advisory Committee

Members of NASPA’s Top Issues in Student Affairs Advisory Committee help ensure that NASPA’s survey remains a relevant, insightful, and actionable resource for student affairs professionals (including administrators and faculty) and higher education leaders. Advisory committee members provide expertise and feedback around which core issues should be consistent each year, what emerging issues should be added, and implications for practice. 

The composition of the committee is intended to reflect diversity across institutional type, size, and region. Committee members bring expertise in student affairs and have a deep understanding of issues affecting their student populations. While the majority of members represent senior leader perspectives, given the intended survey audience, several were also intentionally selected for their close connection to at least one of the five key areas that issues are sorted under within the survey: 1) Administration & Governance, 2) Assessment & Evaluation, 3) Health, Safety, & Well-being, 4) Student Success, and 5) Technology & Digital Innovation. 

  • Katya Armistead | Assistant Vice Chancellor and Dean of Student Life | UC Santa Barbara 
  • Shaun Boren | Director, Student Life Assessment & Research | University of Florida 
  • Kimberly Blea | Vice President of Student Affairs | New Mexico Highlands University 
  • Leonard Brown Jr. | Vice President of Student Affairs | Norfolk State University 
  • Patricia Cardenas-Adame | Vice President of Student Affairs | Estrella Mountain Community College
  • Eva Chatterjee-Sutton | Vice President of Student Life & Dean of Students | Washington & Jefferson College 
  • Stan DeMerritt | Vice President of Student Affairs | South Plains College
  • Danielle DeSawal | Clinical Professor & HESA Master's Coordinator | Indiana University-Bloomington
  • Jon Dooley | Vice President of Student Affairs | Elon University
  • Antonio Duran | Associate Professor at the Mary Lou Fulton College for Teaching and Learning Innovation | Arizona State University
  • Marcelo Juica | Faculty, Graduate & Professional Studies | Lasell University
  • Danielle DeSawal | Clinical Professor & HESA Master's Coordinator | Indiana University-Bloomington 
  • Constance King-Gottschall | Vice President of Student Services | Nueta Hidatsa Sahnish College 
  • Patrick Tanner | Vice President of Student Affairs | Spokane Community College 
  • Sherrá Watkins | Associate Vice President for Health and Wellness | University of Utah 

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