This Mental Health Awareness Month, new national data points to an encouraging reality: Colleges across the United States are expanding mental health services at a record pace.
according to recent findingshundreds of institutions are strengthening counseling services, investing in wellness programs, and increasing student awareness of available support. And yet, for many students, the reality on campus is very different. There are still too many students. Counseling centers are still thin. And too many young people still fall through the cracks. This is the paradox that defines college mental health today: We do more, but we don’t always do the same.
However, students are seeing progress. A growing majority say they know where to go for help and believe their institutions prioritize mental health. This represents a significant cultural change. Not long ago, mental health was often thought of on campus—underfunded, stigmatized, and often invisible. Today, it is a central concern of the university leadershipparents and students.
This progress is important. Despite extensive services, many colleges remain in a reactive model that focuses primarily on treating students after they reach a crisis point. As a result, the system is under constant pressure. Counseling centers, despite being well resourced, cannot meet the growing demand alone. And students often struggle to navigate a landscape that feels fragmented or unclear, and they don’t know if they need therapyacademic support, financial aid or just a sense of connection. Even when students know where services are available, many may not feel comfortable reaching out to the campus counseling center and look elsewhere for help.
What we face is not just a question of empowerment; It’s a matter of design. Students do not experience their problems in categories. They experiment stress, solitudestress and uncertainty, all at once. When support systems are built around institutional silos rather than the realities of students, even good services can miss the mark.
Encouragingly, many municipalities have reconsidered this approach. Just this month, at the 2026 Presidents’ Summit, held with other institutions, college leaders from across the country gathered to learn what proactive and integrated models of student mental health look like in action. Rather than focusing on clinical care, institutions focus more on prevention. stability-building, peer support, wellness programming, and earlier forms of support that help students manage problems before they escalate. What we see above education A broader shift in understanding mental health on campus—not just as access to therapy, but as part of the overall student experience.
In recent research increasingly shows that the most effective campus models combine clinical services with community support, skill building, and multiple entry points for help. In other words, the question is no longer: Do students have access to care? It’s: Do students know where to start and feel supported when they get there?
By integrating mental health information into surveys and college profiles, we help make campus support systems more transparent so students and families can make mental health one of the most important decisions of their lives.
At the same time, work is progressing through a broader ecosystem of partnerships—from convening college leaders who shape campus mental health to research initiatives that aim to better map and understand support systems across the country. Other organizations are exploring support group models that bring clergy and mental health professionals together to support student well-being—all to better understand what campus mental health support looks like in practice and how to scale it up.
We can design systems that are non-reactive and embed mental health into the fabric of campus life, ensuring that every student can access support that is clear, timely and tailored to their needs. What matters is whether we are building systems that will actually work for the next generation of students, not just expanding those that haven’t.
