For many students, attending college is a dramatic but necessary change. To gain a better understanding of experiences that are unique to autistic college students, we conducted a mixed-method study with 20 students (10 autistic and 10 neurotypical). We collected physiological, contextual, experience, and environmental data from their natural environment using Fitbit and smartphones. We found that stress patterns, emotional states, and physical states are similar for both groups. Our autistic participants prioritized academic success over everything else, often intentionally confining their movements among academic, resident, and work locations to engage themselves with academic work as much as possible. They had a small number of friends, always preferring quality over quantity and sometimes regarding friends as close as family members. To maintain a better social life, they extensively used social media. They slept more than neurotypical participants per day; however, they experienced lower sleep quality.

College students with autism have an estimated retention rate of 38.8% in the USA, which is attributed to challenges resulting from mental and behavioral problems, lack of adequate support from colleges, and a lack of awareness of their unique needs. We propose visualizations guided by the self-determination theory to help understand the experiences and needs of college students with autism and to empower them to manage their behavior. The visualizations are created based on physiological and contextual data collected from 20 college students (10 with autism, 10 neurotypical) using Fitbit and smartphone, and are incorporated in a dashboard to offer seamless access. We evaluated the effectiveness of these visualizations by conducting a lab study (N=18) and learned that such visualizations can highlight experiences of students with autism, can enhance awareness about individuals’ behaviors and habits, and can help to identify areas that can potentially improve the college experience.