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Adult online learners are motivated and goal-oriented, but they are graduating without the professional relationships and peer connections needed to translate their degrees into career advancement, according to a news report from WGU Labs released this month.
The report, “Degrees Without Doors: Why Peer and Professional Networks Still Elude Online Learners,” is based on a September 2025 survey of 545 students at Western Governors University, the nation’s largest nonprofit online university. Researchers found that while students overwhelmingly know what they want professionally, they lack the human connections to get there, a gap that falls hardest on students from low-income, first-generation, and racially minoritized backgrounds.
Ninety-five percent of students surveyed said they had clear academic goals, and 87 percent reported knowing what career they wanted to pursue after graduation. Yet nearly one in five — 18.9 percent — said they knew zero people working in their desired field. More than half reported knowing three or fewer people in that field.
The problem deepens when it comes to influential contacts. Nearly a third of students — 31 percent — reported knowing no one in a senior or influential role in their chosen field, and 72 percent knew three or fewer such people. Meanwhile, 47 percent said they had not spoken with anyone in their field about advancing their career in the past month.
“Students may leave WGU with the credential they came for and the clarity about what they want to do next, but without the professional relationships that help them actually get there,” the report states.
The networking deficit is significantly worse for students from underserved backgrounds. Among students with annual household incomes below $45,000, nearly a quarter — 24.5 percent — knew no one working in their desired field, compared to 15.3 percent of higher-income peers. The disparity was even sharper regarding access to influential contacts: while 24.8 percent of higher-income students reported knowing no one in senior roles, over 40 percent of lower-income students reported the same.
First-generation students followed a similar pattern. Nearly 24 percent reported knowing no one in their field of interest, compared to 14 percent of students whose parents had completed college degrees.
Students identifying as Black, Hispanic, Indigenous, or two or more races — a group the report categorizes as BHI2+ — reported that 23 percent knew no one in their desired field, compared to 16.3 percent of non-BHI2+ students. They were also less likely to know people they could trust to help them pursue their goals, with 69 percent reporting such connections versus 75 percent of their peers.
The report frames this disparity as a civil rights and equity issue, not merely a career services gap. “In an economy where most jobs are filled through connections,” the authors write, the absence of professional networks “represents a serious threat to equity and upward mobility.”
The peer connection findings are equally troubling. While 77 percent of students said they felt a sense of belonging at WGU, only 28 percent reported feeling connected to other students. Despite 71 percent saying they wanted deeper relationships with fellow students, 64 percent had made zero peer connections outside of coursework.
Researchers also identified what they call a “help-seeking paradox”: 76 percent of students said they ask for help when they need it, yet 81 percent said they prefer to handle things on their own. Students were comfortable reaching out to professors and family members but far less comfortable contacting WGU alumni — only 36 percent said they felt comfortable doing so — or attending networking events, which just 52 percent felt at ease with.
Institutional tools designed to bridge this gap are largely going unused. Only 30 percent of students reported being introduced to someone in their field through WGU. The most helpful connection tools cited were program mentor messages, identified by 58 percent of students, followed by the student portal and course discussion boards.
“Technology alone isn’t solving the problem,” the report concludes. “Tools to facilitate connections are largely underused or unknown. What students need isn’t more tech, but better scaffolding: intentional, structured, human-supported pathways that help them build the relationships that matter.”
Among its recommendations, the report calls on institutions to embed networking skills as academic learning outcomes, create structured peer cohorts and mentorship programs, and redesign digital tools to actively broker introductions rather than simply providing platforms students are expected to use on their own.
The survey was drawn from WGU’s Student Insights Council, a standing panel designed to represent the university’s student body of approximately 194,000 students.
