Questions around the use and regulation of Generative AI (GenAI) in educational contexts are widespread among both students and educators; an important step toward addressing these questions is to gain a full and nuanced understanding of the perspectives at play. To that end, this study surveyed 742 biology students across nine higher education institutions in Norway to understand their experiences with and perspectives on integrating GenAI tools into their education. Findings indicate that students support a balanced approach to integrating these tools, viewing platforms such as ChatGPT positively, primarily as supplementary learning aids. However, they raised concerns about ethics, accuracy, and bias and emphasized the need for institutional guidelines and training to support responsible use and enhance learning. This study aims to broaden perspectives from students globally and provide evidence that supports strategies to meet students' needs; in parallel, we advocate for designing effective educator-student partnerships as a means of exploring the best ways to use GenAI tools in higher education.