College Campus Design: Crafting Spaces for a Diverse Student Population

Higher education is evolving rapidly, and with it, the profile of the typical student. Traditionally, students were defined as young, full-time learners (at least 12 credit hours) who enrolled at a college campus immediately after high school. However, the demographic of students is becoming increasingly diverse. According to the Lumina Foundation, today’s students are not only younger individuals fresh out of high school but a growing group of learners who are older, financially independent, and often balancing school with work and family. The modern learner includes 34% of students over the age of 25, with nearly 22% facing food insecurity and 1 in 5 students who have children. These figures highlight a shift in the higher education landscape, where traditional services and campus spaces may no longer meet the needs of these students.

The new continuum of learners includes a mix of traditional students, non-traditional students, students pursuing certificates, low-income students, corporate learners, and more. As the pool of learners diversifies, institutions must reimagine how they serve students. A full-time 19-year-old student on campus all day has very different needs than a single-parent 32-year-old learner with a full-time job. 

From convenient parking to accessible student services, modern campus design must be dynamic and adaptive to the diverse needs of today’s learners. In this blog, I will explore three key areas where institutions can improve their offerings: rapid-paced convenience, accessible services, and dynamic learning spaces.

Rapid-Paced Convenience: Meeting Students Where They Are

Students are balancing numerous responsibilities and need campuses that offer quick, easy, and convenient access to essential services. From parking to textbook distribution, these aspects of campus life can either be a barrier to success or a catalyst for a smoother experience.

Parking and Transportation: Simplifying the Commute

The learning journey begins with arriving on campus. Effective campus planning accommodates pedestrian-friendly walkways, multiple transit options, and well-designed campus buildings. Thoughtfully designed campus layouts ensure that important resources are easily accessible, reducing unnecessary travel time for students and faculty.

Commuting can be a significant barrier for some students, especially those balancing full-time work. Expecting a full-time worker to park at the edge of a 2,000-space lot and walk across campus can cost them up to 40 minutes a day—time better spent studying or with family. Similarly, students who rely on public transportation often face long walks from remote transit stops, exposed to the elements like rain or snow, before they even step foot in a cold academic building.

To better accommodate these learners, campus planning should rethink how parking and transportation are integrated. This could mean placing adult learning classrooms closer to convenient parking or dedicating spaces specifically for commuter students to reduce time lost by navigating the campus layout. Campuses should also partner with municipal transit systems to add more transit stops in central locations, reducing walking time and exposure to weather. These efforts can enhance the experience for commuter students and allow them to focus more on learning and less on logistics.

Textbook Distribution: Streamlining Access to Materials

Preparing for class with appropriate course materials can be costly and time-consuming. To alleviate this, many institutions have begun using customized textbook distribution programs that offer convenient, bulk packages of course materials. The result? Reduced stress, increased preparedness, and more time for studying. According to Follett’s 2024 Student Satisfaction Report, 97% of students felt better prepared for class when participating in their Access program. Campus buildings should include textbook distribution centers that can be located in easily accessible campus spaces, reducing the need for students to trek to crowded, high-rent campus bookstores. This shift allows those bookstores to repurpose space for other valuable offerings, such as additional spirit wear or other student services.
 

Food Service: Adapting to Unique Needs

It’s no secret that food is a great unifier, bringing people together and serving as a cornerstone of campus community and social connection. However, the modern learner brings complexity to food services, especially with the growing range of dietary restrictions and diverse needs. Institutions should consider more dynamic and flexible food service programs to better serve these learners.

For example, evening learners would appreciate meal plans focusing on dinner or offering convenient to-go options for feeding a family. Pricing for these plans can focus on select meals instead of the traditional three-meal options. These meal plans could be designed to fit specific needs, such as offering pre-ordering options for rapid pickup close to class. Institutions can accomplish this as easily as rapid pickup lockers or through remote food service locations.

Additionally, existing infrastructure should address a variety of dietary needs, from gluten-free to vegan or nut-free. This may require updates to food handling and kitchen policies to accommodate these needs safely, such as segregated kitchens or wide-scale campus planning changes. Institutions could integrate food pantry services with their food vendor options for students facing food scarcity, providing cost-effective, healthy meals for those in need. 

By designing food services responsive to students’ diverse needs, institutions can create a more inclusive and supportive environment—ensuring that food, in all its forms, truly becomes a unifying factor.

Accessible Services: Meeting the Diverse Needs of Modern Students

The new continuum of learners needs to access traditional and modernized student services on campus. However, due to these students' diverse needs, services need to adapt to meet students where they are.

Streamlined Student Services: The Rise of the "One-Stop"

Existing services like financial aid, disability services, veteran services, tutoring success, and countless others have had decades of success assisting students on campus. However, these services are often spread out around campus, leaving students navigating multiple reception areas and countless appointments to get the assistance they need. 

More institutions are adopting “One-Stop” service centers to better serve these students, where students can access a range of services under one roof. This centralized model allows quicker, more efficient problem resolution and fosters collaboration between departments, benefiting students who need multi-faceted support. For institutions, this addresses the problem of constant renovations as programs grow or shrink. With shared office spaces and reduced overhead costs, a consistent and unified student services suite can adapt to the changing demand.  

Food Pantry and Career Closet: Reducing Stigma and Increasing Access

Campus food pantries and career closets are essential resources for students facing food insecurity or those who lack appropriate attire for job interviews. Despite their importance, these services are often underutilized due to a lack of awareness or stigma. 

To address this, institutions should make these services more visible by placing them in high-traffic areas and designing spaces that reflect a modern shopping experience—helping to normalize their use and ensure students know where to turn for help. Redesigning food pantries and career closets to feel welcoming and professional—complete with healthy meal options and quality interview attire—can further break down barriers and reduce stigma. Additionally, increased visibility can encourage more community donations, creating a sustainable cycle of support. These spaces should be thoughtfully designed to honor students' dignity while providing meaningful assistance in their time of need.

Dynamic Learning Spaces: Designing for a Diverse Student Body

The heart of any university campus or educational institution is the classroom, but with today’s diverse and dynamic learners, traditional lecture halls and study spaces need to evolve.

Certificates and Continuing Education

The increasing demand for certificate programs and continuing education reflects the broader trend of workforce reskilling. According to the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center, certificate programs saw a 28.5% increase in enrollment in recent years. With this shift comes the need for more flexible and interactive learning environments. 

For instance, students who have been away from formal education for years may struggle with traditional lecture-based teaching methods. To address this, classrooms should integrate active learning elements such as reconfigurable tables and group workstations. This type of learning is particularly effective in certificate and continuing education programs, where practical skills are just as critical as theoretical knowledge.

Additionally, hybrid learning environments are essential. Simply broadcasting a lecture online is insufficient. Institutions need to design online courses that foster engagement through active participation and gamified learning experiences, like those used by Duolingo, which boasts over 90% efficacy in language learning through its interactive platform.

Corporate learners such as continuing education, corporate training clients, and even professional MBA programs require environments that more closely reflect professional industry spaces instead of collegiate ones. Institutions should consider designing a suite of learning spaces that reflect the environment professionals are accustomed to.

Study Spaces: Flexible, Inclusive, and Collaborative

Institutions must provide a variety of study environments in addition to formal learning spaces to meet the needs of all learners. It is well-documented that studying on campus can lead to increased GPAs. Students today are increasingly diverse in their learning preferences, study habits, and work environments; neurodivergent students may prefer quiet, distraction-free zones, while parent-learners might need child-friendly spaces. Professional students may appreciate workstations with the latest technology, such as video conferencing tools.

To put it simply, there is no one-size-fits-all to learning spaces.

Institutions must provide a wide variety of spaces to accommodate individual study habits. Libraries and study centers can accommodate large quantities of students with enhanced resources on hand. However, this does not underscore the importance of a small group study room near the classroom where commuter students can meet to organize a group project or a dry-erase marker board in a corridor outside classrooms where a professor and adult learner can meet quickly after class. This is why working with architects who understand the subtle yet crucial needs of all students is essential—small, thoughtful changes in college campus design can make a world of difference in ensuring every student has access to the right environment for learning and study.

Designing for Modern Students

As higher education institutions continue to evolve, campus identity must reflect students’ growing and diverse needs. By empathizing with these students' needs for rapid-paced convenience, increasing accessibility to critical student services, and generating dynamic learning space, institutions can increase student success and tap into this market of learners.

Ultimately, the institutions that thrive in this new landscape will be the ones that embrace these changes, fostering an inclusive, supportive, and engaging environment for today’s—and tomorrow’s—learners.

Through thoughtful design and strategic planning, institutions can create learning environments that address the diverse needs of today’s learners. At BHDP, we bring deep industry expertise and a proven track record to help you navigate the complexities of these evolving educational landscapes. 

Ready to create dynamic, flexible spaces that support the future of learning? Fill out the form today, and let’s start designing environments that empower students.