About one-third of parents helping their children navigate the college-admissions process are turning to artificial intelligence tools to gather and sift through information about colleges and universities, according to a new report.
The education consulting firm EAB found that AI tools helped most of those who used them to better understand specific colleges, while 34% reported that AI helped them discover schools they did not know about.
“Our survey findings suggest that AI has become a gatekeeper in the college-search process, not only for teens but for parents as well,” Pam Royall, EAB’s head of research and a co-author of the survey report, said in a statement. “AI is shaping how families perceive institutions before they ever attend an information session or speak with an admissions counselor.”
EAB surveyed more than 2,500 parents of high school students nationwide in April and May for the report. In addition to focusing on AI’s role in the college search, the survey asked parents about their top concerns related to their children’s college attendance. More cited their children’s post-college job prospects as a concern in EAB’s 2026 survey than in previous years—reflecting a broader emphasis on career readiness that has also led high schools to boost their career-and-technical education and dual-enrollment offerings.
While the survey showed AI tools gaining ground in the college search, parents were more reliant on traditional ways of learning about colleges for their children, with 73% reporting that colleges’ own websites were the top information source, followed by direct communications from colleges, internet search engines, in-person events, and friends and colleagues.
Parents found colleges’ in-person events most helpful, cited by 53% of respondents, followed by college websites (37%), direct communications from colleges (14%), high school personnel (13%), and then AI tools, which were tied at 11% of respondents along with search engines and college-discovery platforms such as Appily.
AI increasingly plays a role “in mediating research that parents do via search engines,” the EAB report says. “Internet searches often go no further that the AI-generated ‘zero-click’ summaries that typically top search results these days.”
College costs a top worry for parents
Among the survey’s other findings are that parents are highly engaged in their children’s college searches, with 74% reporting that they are either “extremely” or “very” involved. And the report says it goes beyond stating the obvious with a finding that college costs dominate parents’ concerns.
“It eclipses all other concerns,” the report says, and it is the top topic that parents want more information about from colleges.
The cost of tuition and fees was cited by 64% of parents as their top worry for their college-bound children, followed by school fit (50%), financial aid (41%), mental health and wellness (40%), and personal safety on campus (34%).
Meanwhile, parents are increasingly preoccupied about their children’s employability after college, with 29% of respondents reporting such a concern, up from 16% in a similar survey just two years ago.
“For years, conversations about college value centered on affordability and sticker price,” Royall said in the statement. “While price and affordability remain critically important, parents increasingly are considering whether a particular college can deliver the career planning, internships, and employment outcomes that justify the investment.”
