Are Colleges Teaching Students to Use Generative AI?

p strongMost students are still learning about generative AI outside formal college resources, and access to institutional instruction is uneven./strong/p p Primary Research Group's representative survey of 1,022 students at four-year colleges and research universities found that 30.14% had used academic resources supplied by their institution to learn about generative AI. Use reached 36.03% at institutions charging more than $20,000, compared with 27.34% at lower-cost institutions./p p Private-college students were also more likely to use institutional resources&mdash35.90% versus 28.43% at public colleges. International students were especially active users. Respondents commonly complained that they could not find guidance, and cited lack of awareness, unclear policies and institutional discouragement as barriers./p p Colleges need a visible entry point that combines rules with instruction. A short site or course module can explain permitted use, privacy, citation, verification and discipline-specific examples, then connect students with libraries, teaching centers and career services. Faculty still need freedom to set course expectations, but students should not have to reconstruct basic institutional guidance class by class./p p The equity issue is straightforward: when formal instruction is scarce, students with better networks, paid tools or technology-rich institutions gain an advantage. Structured AI education can narrow that gap while setting clearer standards for responsible work./p p  /p