OpenAI is adding College Planner to ChatGPT for Teens, a tool meant to help high school students manage college applications. According to the company, the feature brings together each school's deadlines, requirements and financial-aid steps in one place.
OpenAI says the initial version covers US students in grades 10 through 12 who plan to attend a four-year college. The company says it plans to expand College Planner to more countries and to two-year colleges, technical colleges and trade schools "over time," without giving a timeline.
Students build a list of schools in College Planner and track progress on a timeline that shows what is left to do at each one. The tool can also answer questions along the way, such as what a specific requirement means or how to get started, OpenAI says. The company frames the tool's role as handling the practical, logistical side of applying, while human advisers help students weigh their options and decide what to do next.
Financial aid and new partnerships
College Planner also helps with the financial side of applying, according to OpenAI: understanding financial-aid requirements, tracking each school's aid deadlines, and finding scholarships and fee waivers.
OpenAI says it will fund College Advising Corps, a nonprofit that places recent college graduates as advisers in under-resourced high schools. The company says its contribution will help the organization expand into new states and create an AI fellowship program, through which advisers test and share ways to use AI to help students navigate college applications.
OpenAI also says it will support Boston Children's Hospital's Digital Wellness Lab and its student advisory council for three years. For the 2026-27 school year, the lab will bring together about 22 students across two tracks: 12 students ages 14 to 18 working on digital-wellbeing projects, and 10 students ages 16 to 20 building AI chatbots. OpenAI says it expects to use feedback from those students to shape safety defaults, parental controls and notifications for its under-18 product.
How teens use ChatGPT, according to OpenAI
OpenAI says ChatGPT has 1.2 billion users, and that as ChatGPT for Teens reached more accounts, teens with access sent roughly 2.7 million more learning-related messages, on average, than those who did not yet have it. The company says the three most-used conversation starters among teens are asking ChatGPT to "ask questions to develop my ideas," "give feedback on my draft" and "help me check my evidence."
In one week, OpenAI says, nearly 1.2 million teens used Learning Visualizations, a tool built around math and science concepts, and more than 180,000 used Study Mode, which walks students through problems step by step. OpenAI says teens spend under 15 minutes a day on ChatGPT on average, and that fewer than 2% spend more than three consecutive hours on it.
Among teens who get a break reminder, OpenAI says, nearly half take a break or end the conversation within five minutes — below the five-hour daily average the company cites for teen social media use. Among teens with sessions longer than three consecutive hours, more than 80% had at least one learning-related prompt, according to the company.
ChatGPT for Teens includes built-in reminders that prompt teens to take a break, and OpenAI says the product is built around learning, building and creating rather than passive scrolling. The company frames its goal as helping teens learn and think critically, noting that ChatGPT's 1.2 billion users span many countries, communities and income levels with different access to support.
ChatGPT for Teens is the default experience automatically applied to accounts identified as belonging to someone under 18, OpenAI says. The company has not said when College Planner might reach students outside the US.
