A new report from the American Campus Communities’ Hi, How Are You Project found a wide gap between students’ awareness of college mental health resources and their willingness to use them.

The survey, conducted in fall 2025 by the nonprofit in partnership with the College Student Mental Wellness Advocacy Coalition, was completed by more than 11,000 college students nationwide. Though 73 percent said they trust campus counseling services, relatively few turn to those resources for care.

That doesn’t mean they don’t seek mental health support; they just don’t do it on campus. About 55 percent of respondents reported having received professional mental health treatment, but only 18 percent said they accessed that care through their college.

Dr. Sonia Krishna, a clinical and medical adviser to the Hi, How Are You Project, a mental health awareness nonprofit, said a fear of judgment among peers keeps many students from seeking mental health care.

“Of course there’s so much more awareness nowadays, which is wonderful, but stigma still does persist,” Krishna said. “Being on campus can be hard because you see your friends or your teachers, and it may be a little bit harder to be vulnerable in that setting.”

That stigma showed up in the survey data: 44 percent of students said fear of judgment discourages them from seeking mental health information, particularly in peer settings.

Krishna also pointed to limits in accessibility, especially for students whose schedules only allow for care on weeknights or weekends.

“It can be hard, from a stigma standpoint, to feel comfortable going in person in front of people you know,” she said. “And even getting there can be difficult, especially if students aren’t feeling well.”

The gap: The report found that students don’t lack social connections; 77 percent said their residential community offers opportunities to engage socially. However, far fewer viewed those spaces as sources of mental health support; only 33 percent believe their residential community can support their mental wellbeing. And just 28 percent said they feel strongly connected to their residential community, while 39 percent reported little to no connection.

Krishna said campus housing communities should be more intentional about the kinds of events they host for students.

“These residential communities have done a great job of creating social events for gathering,” Krishna said, adding that in addition to large events, they should foster relationships through small groups or mentoring settings.

“You can build stronger relationships with a few people you resonate with than by being in a big crowd,” she said.

The model: The survey asked students to rate their current lives and expectations for the future on a scale from zero to 10. Based on those responses, researchers grouped them into three categories: thriving, maintaining and struggling.

Those categories help explain who is most likely to be able to access mental health support, and who is most likely to fall through the cracks.

Students deemed to be thriving were those who “are living their best lives and see the future as even brighter,” rating their current life at seven or higher and their future life at eight or higher.

Those labeled maintaining in the report “might be doing just fine in their own eyes, but perhaps they can envision a better life both now and in the future,” with current-life ratings of five or six and future-life ratings between five and seven.

Struggling students were described in the report as those who “are likely to be having a tough experience managing life, and they aren’t necessarily optimistic that this will change,” rating both their current and future lives at four or below.

The differences between the groups were stark, with direct implications for students’ ability to seek care.

Thriving students were far more likely to socialize with friends and family than their struggling peers—81 percent compared to 34 percent. They were also nearly twice as likely to say they could find time for mental health treatment, at 57 percent compared to 22 percent.

Struggling students, by contrast, reported facing multiple barriers, including limited time, lower confidence and weaker connections to resources.

The opportunity: Krishna said that despite growing awareness of mental health, students still often feel alone when they’re struggling.

“It’s hard to get a clear perspective of all the truths that are actually going on because it can just feel so heavy internally,” Krishna said. She added that one way to bridge the gap between off-campus and on-campus resources is to provide peer-to-peer training to help students recognize friends’ symptoms and offer support.

She also stressed that higher education leaders need to address students as whole people, which can improve how they perceive and use on-campus mental health resources.

“Wellness is a much broader concept,” Krishna said. “How we can help students thrive is much more holistic than just assessing mental health.”

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