As AI pushes students to reconsider majors, universities struggle to adapt

A recent poll shows AI’s increasing role in how students decide on college majors, creating a rapidly developing situation for universities that are still struggling to determine how the technology will shape higher education. 

The Lumina Foundation-Gallup 2026 State of Higher Education survey found 47 percent of currently enrolled college students have thought about switching majors “a great deal” or a “fair amount” over AI concerns.  

Around 16 percent pointed to AI as the reason they changed their field of study. 

“We’re getting to a point where it’s almost unacceptable, right, that we’re having all of these conferences and all of these roundtable discussions, and we are failing to provide students with some just meaningful advice and helping them to feel like they’re prepared,” said Alex Kotran, CEO of the AI Education Project.  

“If students were adequately prepared, you wouldn’t see as many of them change their major, or you would see that happening in a way that schools are driving but they’re not doing that,” he added. 

The survey found men and those going for associate degrees were more likely to consider a field change due to AI, along with those in technology, vocational and humanities majors. Those least likely to have considered switching majors include students in fields such as health care and natural sciences.  

The fright of how AI will impact jobs students are looking for is not unfounded as messages of job declines due to the technology have only ramped up since its increased use in the past few years. 

In February, the AI chief for Microsoft told the Financial Times he believes AI will take over all white collar work in the next 18 months.  

Researchers at Tufts University predict over the next 2 to 5 years 6 percent of jobs will be at risk from AI, with the highest concerns in sectors such as information at 18 percent, finance and insurance at 16 percent and professional, scientific and technical services at 16 percent.  

Forty percent of the AI job losses will occur in Texas, California, New York, Florida and Illinois, the researchers predict.  

And young people are predicted to take the biggest hits from AI since experts say it could largely take over entry level work. 

“One recent piece of research suggests that in jobs that are considered highly exposed to AI, employment for 22- to 25-year-old workers suffered relative declines of about 16% between 2022 and 2025 compared with their older peers in those same jobs,” the Gallup poll noted.  

Some contend the hit entry level jobs could take from AI may cause a change in conversations between young people and potential employers. 

“Have conversations with folks who are more senior to you, 5, 10, 15 years, and sort of ask the question, ‘What is it that humans can do and need to be here for, and how do I sort of fill that role?’” said Stephen Aguilar, director of the University of Southern California’s Center for Generative AI & Society. 

“There are some baseline tasks that can be offloaded, but we can’t just, you know, undercut all of the entry level positions, because then there won’t be people who develop the experience to really understand what happens when AI fails,” he added. 

While students are recognizing how AI is changing the job market, universities are struggling to keep up with the rapid changes and challenges AI presents.  

“Every occupation that and every field of inquiry that a student is preparing for is going to be shaped and altered by AI. So, I think it’s quite important for not just students, but professors and educational institutions to keep an eye on what AI is doing to the knowledge industry,” said Roosevelt Montas, the John and Margaret Bard Professor in Liberal Education and Civic Life at Bard College. 

The poll found 57 percent of students who AI weekly for coursework and 1 in 5 use it daily while 42 percent said their universities are discouraging AI use and 11 percent banned the technology altogether. 

Thirty-two percent of those with bachelor’s degrees say universities do not give enough instructions around AI while 56 percent said it is the right amount.  

“Schools are simultaneously telling students AI is going to reshape your career, but they’re also saying, don’t use any AI, and that’s incoherent,” Kotran said. 

When AI first blew up among students between 2022 and 2023, many K-12 schools and college classrooms tried completely banning the technology. While many have backed off complete bans, educators have struggled to determine the role of AI in learning. 

The biggest shift for universities may be the type of education they need to give students to prepare them for an AI workforce.  

“What’s happening with the environment and universities and at USC [University of Southern California], specifically, we’re doing what we can to make sure that students who come to us leave not just sort of specialists, but become more generalist in the sense of they get the education that lets them interact with whatever AI they’re going to experience,” said Aguilar. 

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