This fall, as nearly 650,000 Texas students step onto local community college campuses, they will be filled with excitement and hope at taking the next big step in their lives to achieve their academic and professional goals. Of course, those feelings will often be mixed. The pressures of being a college student—with tuition payments, homework and exams, on top of balancing work and other major life responsibilities like taking care of children or other family members—can easily build up.
The cycle isn’t new. Studies consistently show that mental health and wellbeing play a substantial role in student success in higher education. A recent survey of Texas community college students administered by Trellis Strategies revealed that over one-third of students surveyed reported feelings of anxiety (38%) and depression (34%). This echoes findings from the 2023 Student Voice survey, in which 32% of two-year students surveyed said stress substantially and negatively contributed to their ability to focus, learn, and do well academically.
While community college leaders recognize the critical role that mental health plays on their campuses, it has historically been challenging to transition from understanding why students need mental health supports to how they should be implemented. Services vary across the state, and without a comprehensive guiding framework, mental health supports are often introduced in a piecemeal fashion without a sustainability plan in place. This results in a troubling pattern: students who need mental health support often don’t get the treatment they need, which hurts their academic progress.
The Meadows Mental Health Policy Institute intends to disrupt this pattern with the launch of the first-ever Minding College Minds Learning Community this fall, offered in partnership with the Texas Success Center at the Texas Association of Community Colleges. This groundbreaking initiative connects the Meadows Institute’s Minding College Minds Postsecondary Mental Health Framework, a blueprint for implementing a system that supports campuswide mental health, with the Texas Success Center’s foundational Talent Strong Texas Pathways strategy to support to completion of postsecondary credentials. By aligning these two statewide initiatives for the first time, Texas community colleges will have a consistent framework they can use to bolster campuswide mental health and wellbeing by developing an implementation-focused action plan for supporting student success.
“This partnership is crucial as it empowers colleges to effectively support students,” said Kimberly Lowry, the executive director of the Texas Success Center and vice president of the Texas Association of Community Colleges. “We hope this collaboration will equip Texas colleges with the resources and knowledge needed to create a supportive environment where students can thrive, ultimately improving student outcomes and fostering a culture of mental health awareness across the state.”
Thirteen community colleges serving 225,000 students were selected to participate in the inaugural learning community, and they were chosen for their commitment to supporting student, faculty, and staff mental health and wellbeing. The campuses encompass urban, rural, and suburban colleges, many of whom have been recognized as minority-serving institutions. As the inaugural cohort, these institutions will inform learnings that the Meadows Institute and Texas Success Center will elevate to the wider postsecondary community.
The members of the first-ever Minding College Minds Learning Community are:
Alamo Colleges
Central Texas College
Dallas College
Del Mar College
Grayson College
Kilgore College
Laredo College
North Central Texas College
Northeast Texas Community College
Paris Junior College
San Jacinto College
Trinity Valley Community College
Victoria College
Through this work, colleges nationwide will be able to see the critical link between mental health and academic achievement demonstrated in practice as the Meadows Institute works with colleges to implement elements of the comprehensive Minding College Minds Postsecondary Mental Health Framework. This initiative aims to eventually provide students at every community college in Texas with the mental health supports they need and deserve.
“The Minding College Minds Learning Community helps community colleges address important gaps in their mental health services for students. By providing a comprehensive framework, technical assistance, and curated opportunities for peer learning, member colleges will walk away prepared to build robust systems supporting campuswide mental health and wellbeing,” said Michelle Harper, the Executive Director of the Center for Child and Family Wellness at the Meadows Institute. “Our communities are strengthened when higher education institutions are equipped to foster environments where every student can thrive.”
This learning community and the larger body of statewide postsecondary work under the Minding College Minds Initiative is generously supported by Trellis Foundation, Greater Texas Foundation, Texas Pioneer Foundation, Ascendium, and ECMC Foundation.
