Meeting Students Where They Are: What WellSort Data Reveals About Student Wellbeing Needs

Fall 2025 WellSort campus data insights are in, and college students from across the country are sending a clear, consistent message: their biggest wellbeing needs are not extras or nice-to-haves, but everyday foundational needs - sleep, movement, nutritious food, financial stability, and meaningful connection.

Below, we summarize the data, share a few comparisons from our 2024 data, and offer some simple recommendations for meeting the wellbeing priorities students reported as most important last semester.

Core top priorities: movement, sleep, nutrition, money

Across WellSort campus partners, fall 2025 student priorities closely mirrored 2024 results, with over 60% of respondents from over 4,000 students wanting more of these four essentials:​

• Time to exercise or be physically active (66%)

• Quality sleep (64%)

• Healthy and nutritious foods (63%)

• Ability to support themselves financially (62%)

National ACHA-NCHA data align with this pattern (American College Health Association. National College Health Assessment: Spring 2023):

• Nationally, results show only about 40% of students meet physical activity guidelines and feel rested on most days, while sleep difficulties and finances consistently rank among the top factors hurting academic performance.

• Food insecurity and housing costs are showing up more often in NCHA campus reports, reinforcing that students see physical and financial wellbeing and stability as interconnected essentials.

These gaps between what students know they need to thrive and what they’re experiencing sit at the heart of campus wellbeing work.

Practical ways to support the foundations

• Expand low-barrier movement options: short-format classes, “movement snack” programs between classes, and free or low-cost recreation activities designed for beginners and students with limited time.

• Make sleep a shared responsibility: integrate sleep education into first-year seminars, RA training, and academic advising; review residence hall “quiet hour” expectations and late-night programming schedules so they align with restorative rest. At the policy

level, review whether late‑night student union and library hours unintentionally normalize staying up, and share guidance with faculty on assignment deadlines - for example, shifting 8 a.m. due times (which encourage all‑nighters) to 4 p.m. instead.

• Promote affordable, healthy options in dining halls and cafes, normalize “grab-and-go but still balanced” choices, and partner with campus food pantries or meal voucher programs.

  
  

• Expand financial wellbeing programming: promote financial literacy programs around budgeting, especially if your financial aid offices do not already do this, co-host workshops with financial aid and career services, promote emergency funds, and frame budgeting, work-study, and career planning as parts of a holistic wellbeing plan.

  
  

• Build support for time‑management and boundary‑setting skills: offer workshops or brief coaching sessions that help students plan their days, set limits around coursework, paid work, and social time, and break tasks into smaller steps so movement and sleep feel doable - not like “extra” items on an already full plate.

Less focus on travel, more on everyday needs

One notable shift in WellSort’s year-over-year data is a substantial decline in the percent of students reporting “opportunities for travel & adventure” as a top priority, which dropped from 63% in 2024 to 55% in 2025.

Although still a priority for many, some students may be recalibrating travel desires in the face of rising costs, economic and job uncertainty, and competing financial priorities like food, rent, and tuition - consistent with broader reports linking cost-of-living pressures to student stress and constrained opportunities outside the classroom (Inside Higher Ed, December 9, 2025; Student Financial Wellness Survey: Fall 2024 Semester Results). Some international students may also be hesitant about travel due to restrictive policies and the current climate.

But instead of interpreting this decline as a loss of interest in travel and adventure, it may be more accurate to read it as a necessary re-prioritization toward what feels realistic in current times.

Practical and affordable ways to bring healthy adventure closer

• Feature and promote student organizations and clubs that offer adventure, exploration, and student connection.

  
  

• Localize “adventure”: promote affordable weekend experiences - nearby hikes, city walks, museum visits, cultural festivals - that feel like adventure without the high costs.

• Embed exploration into academics: support faculty-led local field trips, community-engaged learning, and short, low-cost intensive courses that expand students’ worlds without significant expenses.

  
  

• Offer tiered opportunities: ensure that for every high-cost travel option (like study abroad or summer trips) there are lower-cost, nearby alternatives that still foster growth, curiosity, and cultural learning.

Connection and loneliness

In our 2025 WellSort data, the following priorities clustered around the 50–55% mark. While a couple of these may not look urgent at first glance, they all represent important contributors to social, emotional, and environmental wellbeing - and roughly half of students feel they are not getting enough support or opportunity in these areas.​

• quality time with friends, family, and partners (53%)

• courage to step out of my comfort zone (53%)

• time for fun and relaxation (52%)

• opportunities to spend time outdoors or in nature (51%)

We know that these needs matter. Recent Active Minds data show that nearly two-thirds (65%) of college students meet criteria for loneliness, including 28% who often feel isolated, and that students who feel lonely are over 4 times more likely to experience severe psychological distress (Active Minds & TimelyCare. Loneliness, Resilience, and Mental Health: A Call for Campus Action. Washington, DC: Active Minds; 2024).

When we layer this evidence onto WellSort data, we’re reminded that students want social connection, fun, outdoor time, and supported risk-taking - potential antidotes to isolation and distress that protect mental health, resilience, and academic success. But around 50% of students who completed the card sort do not feel they’re getting enough opportunities or support to do so.

Practical ways to strengthen connection and belonging

• Design repeated, low-pressure social opportunities: instead of one-time events, offer recurring, predictable gatherings (weekly walks, craft nights, peer-led discussion groups) where relationships can build over time.

  
  

• Normalize “starting small” with risk-taking: frame programs as opportunities to try something new in a supported environment, such as beginner-friendly clubs, improv nights, or “come as you are” outdoor trips.

• Use nature as a social setting: pair outdoor time with connection - walking groups, outdoor office hours, or small experiences in nearby parks - to support both mental health, interpersonal skill building, and social belonging.

  
  

• Make participation financially accessible: remove or reduce fees where possible, provide equipment loans for outdoor gear, and offer plenty of food at events.

Career direction and the future self

WellSort campuses saw an increase in students wanting “help exploring career paths and/or higher education,” moving it into students' top ten wellbeing priorities this year. Within the context of national surveys showing widespread post-graduation job anxiety - for example, over half (51%) of college seniors feel pessimistic about starting their careers due to a competitive job market and lack of job security, and 25% of young adults struggle to find work in their intended fields – it’s not surprising that students are eager for support in building their careers (Inside Higher Ed. "Data: Trends in Hiring, 2025 Graduate Readiness for the Workforce." Inside Higher Ed, May 22, 2025).

The overlap between career concerns and wellbeing is becoming more visible, particularly for first-generation students, students from lower-income backgrounds, and those balancing work and school (Inside Higher Ed. "Delivering Career Wellness Education for Student Thriving." March 27, 2025). When college students lack a clear sense of career direction or feel they are constantly one crisis away from derailing their plan, stress and overwhelm can intensify.

Practical ways to connect career development and wellbeing

• Integrate reflection tools: use card sorts, guided exercises, or coaching conversations to help students articulate what matters to them, and notice how their daily habits support or undermine their long-term goals.

  
  

• Create shared programming between career services and student wellbeing offices: workshops that explore values, wellbeing, and career choices, help students use design thinking to explore career possibilities, or that help students map how their mental health and boundaries fit with different fields.

• Highlight multiple pathways: feature alumni stories that normalize non-linear paths and career pivots, and that remind students they don’t have to have their entire career figured out right now.

  
  

What this all means for higher ed wellbeing leaders

When we zoom out, the message is surprisingly steady: across WellSort campuses and in national datasets, students are indicating that they want and need support to care for their bodies, manage their finances, build real relationships, and move toward a future that feels possible. They’re not demanding entirely new categories of support as much as they are signaling that the basics are hard to fit in and/or access.

For campus wellbeing leaders, this can actually be empowering. It suggests that high-impact work may look less like inventing “the next big thing” and more like:

• Coordinating across departments so that student wellbeing, recreation, dining, residence life, counseling, financial aid, and career services see themselves as partners in a shared wellbeing ecosystem.

  
  

• Designing programs with students' time, money, and energy in mind, so that the students who are most stretched are not the ones least able to participate.

  
  

• Treating connection and belonging as central outcomes of any wellbeing program, educational campaign, or initiative.

Students already know the basics they need. The opportunity for higher education is to reshape environments, expectations, and support so that doing those basics - moving, sleeping, eating well, maintaining financial stability, and connecting with others - becomes more manageable and routine within the realities of college life.

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