The United States faces an unprecedented mental health crisis among youth and young adults. Even before the COVID-2019 pandemic, nearly 50 percent of college students reported at least one mental health concern. This report is a descriptive study of eight community colleges at the forefront of implementing multilevel approaches to support student mental health, as well as key facilitators for and barriers to their success.

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Supporting the Mental Health Needs of Community College Students

by Lisa Sontag-Padilla, Denise Williams, Holly Kosiewicz, Lindsay Daugherty, Heidi Kane, Sarah Gripshover, Trey Miller

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Research Questions

  1. How can community colleges support student mental health on a continuum from prevention to treatment?
  2. How are colleges addressing student mental health through the broader college environment?
  3. What are the facilitators for and barriers to supporting student mental health at community colleges?

The United States faces an unprecedented mental health crisis, with youth and young adults at the center. Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, nearly 50 percent of college students reported at least one mental health concern. The COVID-19 pandemic notably exacerbated these issues and underscored the urgent need to identify and implement ways to ameliorate the youth mental health crisis. In 2021, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine called on the field of higher education to address growing concerns about student mental health by identifying and elevating emerging and promising approaches that offer a more holistic way to support students' mental health. Serving as the main entry point for more than 40 percent of students seeking a postsecondary degree, community colleges represent a tremendous and untapped opportunity to better address mental health in the United States, particularly for students who have been traditionally underserved (e.g., students of color, first-generation students, and low-income students). However, community colleges have limited evidence and guidance to inform the implementation of multilevel, holistic approaches to support students with varying mental health needs.

To address this knowledge gap, this report shares a descriptive study of eight community colleges at the forefront of implementing multilevel approaches (a combination of prevention, early intervention, and treatment services) to support student mental health, as well as key facilitators for and barriers to their success.

Key Findings

  • Community colleges in this study are implementing multilevel mental health supports, though most lack a clear organizing framework.
  • Community colleges have expanded the reach of their mental health supports through integration in the broader college environment.
  • Strong leadership support and broad buy-in from staff to prioritize student mental health are important.
  • Community colleges struggle to meet students' mental health needs because of limited resources.
  • Financial support for student mental health should extend beyond postsecondary institutions.

Recommendations

  • Community colleges should consider adopting and formalizing a strategic plan or framework grounded in research evidence to improve coordination and collaboration across efforts, reduce redundancies, and guide decisionmaking on allocating resources.
  • Community colleges should continue to integrate mental health supports into the broader college environment (i.e., classrooms, academic advising, basic needs support, financial assistance). In addition, colleges may benefit from identifying and publicly promoting student mental health as a campus-wide priority.
  • Institutional leaders (e.g., presidents, deans, department chairs) may need to do more to elevate institutional priorities around mental health. For instance, institutional leaders from all segments of the college should consider communicating publicly the importance of creating a culture of well-being on their campus.
  • Community colleges should consider reallocating existing financial resources or seeking opportunities for additional financial resources to increase capacity to deliver sufficient student mental health supports and services.
  • Establishing consistent, long-term funding sources to support community colleges may be necessary for creating sustainable, comprehensive mental health supports for students. Government agencies and philanthropic entities should consider prioritizing the funding of mental health supports and services on community college campuses. Additionally, national, state, and local funders of higher education should consider incentivizing community colleges to provide support for students' mental health across the continuum of care (prevention through treatment).

Table of Contents

  • Chapter One

    Introduction

  • Chapter Two

    Evidence and Frameworks for Supporting Student Mental Health in Community College Settings

  • Chapter Three

    Methods

  • Chapter Four

    Results

  • Chapter Five

    Lessons Learned and Implications

  • Appendix A

    Pre-Interview Survey

  • Appendix B

    Semistructured Interview

Research conducted by

The research described in this report was supported by the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) (U.S. Department of Education) and by the Trellis Foundation. This research was conducted by RAND Education and Labor, RAND Health Care, and the Social and Behavioral Policy Program within RAND Social and Economic Well-Being.

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