Bridging the Digital Divide: Ensuring Equitable Access to Advising Resources

The COVID-19 pandemic laid bare the deep inequities in digital access across higher education.

While some students moved seamlessly into virtual learning and advising environments, others struggled with unreliable internet, limited access to devices, and a lack of digital literacy. As colleges continue to integrate more hybrid and online advising, addressing the digital divide has become a central issue in ensuring student success and equity.

Why This Matters

According to a report by the Institute for Higher Education Policy, more than 60% of students from low-income backgrounds face obstacles to adequate digital access. Without reliable technology and internet, these students risk missing out on key advising services, registration deadlines, and career planning support. For first-generation, rural, and underrepresented students, the digital divide compounds existing barriers to educational attainment.

As advising services evolve, ensuring all students can access support is both a moral imperative and a practical necessity.

Practical Strategies for Advisors

1. Assess and Address Digital Access Early

In your first meetings with students, ask questions about their access to the internet and campus systems. Use intake forms or early advising sessions to identify barriers and refer students to IT support, loaner laptop programs, or campus hotspots. Intake tools and success worksheets can help to facilitate these conversations.

2. Offer Multi-Modal Advising Options

Provide advising through multiple formats: in-person, video, phone, and even text-based messaging. This flexibility ensures students with limited data plans or unreliable devices can still access help. Be transparent about your communication channels and encourage students to choose what works best for them.

3. Collaborate with Campus Tech Support and Libraries

Partner with your institution’s IT department and library to ensure students know where and how to access digital support. Promote workshops on digital skills, password management, and campus platform navigation. Consider holding co-hosted tech-check events during orientation or registration periods. Invite IT to your next advising staff meeting to discuss unique ways your offices can collaborate more to support students.

4. Create Mobile-Friendly Resources

Many students rely solely on smartphones to access advising materials. Ensure your emails, websites, and planning tools are optimized for mobile devices. Avoid attachments or forms that are difficult to view or complete on a phone. Limit your emails to less than 100 words to limit scrolling on devices. Avoid sending large files that need to be downloaded, which requires them to use devices that have storage available.

5. Provide Digital Literacy Support

Some students may not be familiar with how to navigate degree audits, schedule appointments online, or use advising software. Offer one-on-one or small group sessions to build digital confidence. Use screen sharing and step-by-step guides to walk students through key processes, ensuring they can truly navigate our complex systems.

6. Advocate for Institutional Investment

Advisors can play a key role in advocating for equitable tech access. Push for ongoing funding for laptop loan programs, subsidized internet plans, and the integration of advising into mobile apps. Collect data and share student feedback with leadership to drive informed decisions about access.

Conclusion

Bridging the digital divide is not a one-time fix—it’s an ongoing commitment to equity in student support. By meeting students where they are, offering flexible and accessible advising formats, and championing systemic change, advisors can ensure that no student is left behind due to a lack of digital access. Equity in advising begins with access, and it grows through intentional, inclusive practices that empower all learners. (Additional reading: Supporting Advisees Who Are Undocumented)