Access and resource disparities in AI usage widen divides among postsecondary students¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · review r1 · q2
Currency · newest study 2025 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person · recheck by 2030: baselines and conditions change

Subclaims¶

q2 i? Many students lack access to GenAI tools or paid versions with stronger privacy, security, and accuracy, contributing to a widening divide rooted in existing inequalities and compounded by socioeconomic factors. → Zachariah 2025

Evidence¶

Zachariah 2025¶

Zachariah, I., Peters Hinton, V., Ruiz, P., Dallas, D., Liberman, B., & Karim, S. (2025). AI Literacy in Postsecondary Education. Digital Promise. https://doi.org/10.51388/20.500.12265/270

q2 · i? · review · r1

The brief's student-gaps section asserts an equity problem: "Many students are still not using GenAI" and lack access to paid versions with stronger protections. The claim is asserted from the literature scan; no effect sizes or sample data are printed.

"Many students are still not using GenAI, and many don’t have access to tools or to paid versions of the tools that have stronger privacy and security protections and have also been found to be more accurate"

Discussion¶

Learner Variables¶

• Access — predictor: learners who differ on it differ in outcomes

Related Claims¶

• During spring 2020 remote instruction, internet connectivity and hardware/software problems interfered with course participation for large shares of undergraduates — the general claim this finding bears on, with the studies behind it
• Institutions have expanded student access to generative AI tools faster than they have developed policies, guidance, and shared learning goals for their use — related
• Staff raised equity concerns that students who pay for upgraded GenAI tools gain an advantage over peers using free versions — a narrower finding that bears on this claim
• Equity disparities in GenAI Tutor use appear in how students engage, not in whether or how much they use the tool — a narrower finding that bears on this claim
• GenAI-mediated digital inequality in higher education extends beyond access to tool capability, skills, and pedagogical support — a broader claim this one bears on
• AI in adult education risks reinforcing existing inequalities via the digital divide, particularly for rural, low-income, and marginalized learners — related
• Equitable access emerged as a prominent governance theme, with one-third of panelists explicitly mentioning equity or inclusion — related