Study Conducted Alongside Center for Generational Kinetics Reveals Unexpected Ways Today’s Youth Are Driving Payment and Technology Expectations

Headline of release dated May 18, 2023, should read: Transact Campus Announces National Study of Current College and High School Students Examining Financial Habits and Technology Use (instead of Transact Campus Announces National Study of Current College and High Students Examining Financial Habits and Technology Use).

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The updated release reads:

TRANSACT CAMPUS ANNOUNCES NATIONAL STUDY OF CURRENT COLLEGE AND HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS EXAMINING FINANCIAL HABITS AND TECHNOLOGY USE

Study Conducted Alongside Center for Generational Kinetics Reveals Unexpected Ways Today’s Youth Are Driving Payment and Technology Expectations

Transact Campus “Transact,” the award-winning leader in innovative mobile credential and payment solutions for a connected campus, today announced national research on how emerging generations are driving payment and technology expectations on campuses. The research study, conducted in partnership with The Center for Generational Kinetics (CGK), included more than 1,300 participants ages 16 to 30, creating an accurate, national snapshot of Gen Z and young Millennials at the intersection of emerging technology expectations and higher education.

Some of the areas explored in this study include:

• Campus recruitment and retention
• Student experience
• Payment preferences, frustrations, and expectations

The national research study is unique because it provides a generational cross-section and combines students with a variety of college experiences across the U.S. The combination of perspectives, backgrounds, and weighting to current college enrollment and upper high school ages, delivers the missing insights that campus administrators want but can’t find in a single or even multiple campus data review.

The data reveals that there are key trends, behaviors, expectations, and interactions that these emerging generations consider to be campus essentials, which can vary significantly depending on the interaction, experience, and technology at hand. The study also revealed there are specific strategies and initiatives that campus administrators can immediately implement to enhance outcomes across their institution by leveraging the impact of technology through a Gen Z lens.

A snapshot of the findings includes:

• 72% of students say ease of payment should be one of the ways colleges are rated on student experience.
• Over two-thirds of students say that having mobile-centric payment solutions would create fewer stressful purchase interactions on-campus.
• 70% of traditional college-aged Gen Z students (18 to 22) and 72% of the full study sample size think the availability of Digital IDs is an important factor when deciding on which college they want to attend.

“At Transact, we believe a better campus experience is created through a better technology experience—from campus recruiting and retention to payments and security,” said Nancy Langer, CEO, Transact. “It’s especially important for universities to understand what matters to students when it comes to day-to-day activities. Implementing what students want demonstrates innovation and commitment and we are thrilled that our study is showing what campus administrators can do to improve the student interactions across campus.”

“Emerging generations are rapidly reshaping interactions and transactions on campuses,” Jason Dorsey, President, CGK. “This is particularly true with Gen Z, the fastest growing and most influential generation of current higher education students. They want mobile, real-time options. This creates challenges for institutions that can’t meet their needs. All universities need to listen to new and potential students and provide them with the options that are important to them.”

For more information on the study or to view the full findings, visit: www.transactcampus.com/research

Methodology

The research study included a total of 1,376 U.S. participants ages 16-30, including 1,099 U.S. participants ages 18 to 30 who are currently attending any type of college (four-year college, two-year college, in-person, or online) weighted to the current U.S. college enrollment demographics for age, region, gender, and ethnicity. In addition, the study included an oversample of 277 Gen Z participants (ages 16-18) who are currently enrolled in high school, weighted to the 2020 U.S. Census for region, gender, and ethnicity. The research study was conducted online from October 31, 2022, to November 11, 2022.

About The Center for Generational Kinetics

The Center for Generational Kinetics, LLC (CGK) is the leading research and speaking firm focused on generational change, key emerging trends, and behavioral insights. We have led more than 100 custom research studies for clients around the world. CGK’s team has worked with over 700 organizations, from the most innovative technology brands to financial services, retailers, hospitality, and higher education. The firm’s latest bestselling book is Zconomy: How Gen Z Will Change the Future of Business. Learn more about CGK’s pioneering research, including their team’s 200+ TV appearances, at GenHQ.com.

About Transact

Transact is the leader in innovative payment and mobile credential solutions for a connected campus. Its highly configurable, mobile-centric campus technology ecosystem simplifies the student experience across the full spectrum of student life. Transact’s offerings include integrated solutions for tuition and other student expense payments, multi-purpose campus IDs, and campus commerce. With a long-standing reputation in the education community, Transact proudly serves over 12 million students across more than 1,800 client institutions. Its fintech solutions facilitate $49 billion in payments annually and have enabled more than 160 million contactless mobile wallet transactions and $293 million in mobile orders in less than three years. For more information, visit www.transactcampus.com.

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