About the Author
Crystal Primeau McLeod, MA, LLP
Director, Center for Student Mental Health and Well-being
Conversations about college mental health often focus on students’ struggles and experiences of distress. Understanding how many students are experiencing depression, anxiety, suicidal thoughts, and other concerns is important for identifying their needs and determining where resources and support are most needed.
But mental health is more than the absence of mental illness.
Even without significant symptoms of depression or anxiety, a student may experience loneliness, disconnection, a lack of direction, or a sense of unfulfillment. Conversely, a student living with a mental health condition can also experience purpose, meaningful relationships, accomplishment, and hope.
This is where the idea of flourishing becomes important.
The 2024–25 Healthy Minds Study found that 36% of college students nationally met its measure of flourishing (U-M School of Public Health). At Michigan Tech, 37% of students in our Fall 2024 Healthy Minds survey met that same threshold (MTU HMS Report 2024-25). In both cases, roughly two-thirds of students did not meet the study’s measure of flourishing.
That number is notable because it tells us something important: reducing mental health symptoms and increasing well-being are related, but they are not the same thing.
National Healthy Minds data illustrate this distinction. While several traditional indicators of mental health have improved in recent years, the percentage of students flourishing declined slightly, from 38% in 2024 to 36% in 2025 (U-M School of Public Health).
In other words, fewer students reporting significant symptoms of depression and anxiety does not necessarily mean more students are experiencing purpose, optimism, connection, and well-being.
That distinction matters for Michigan Tech, too.
If only about one in three of our students meets the study’s measure of flourishing, what would it take for more students to experience the positive dimensions of well-being?
Flourishing asks us to consider a more comprehensive picture of the student experience:
- Do I have a sense of purpose?
- Do I feel connected to others and have people I can rely on?
- Do I feel hopeful about my future?
- Am I engaged in things important to me?
- Do I have opportunities for growth?
- Do I feel capable of getting through challenges?
- Do I experience moments of enjoyment and accomplishment?
These questions don’t replace the need to address mental illness. They expand the conversation.
Student mental health isn’t something we can simply “solve.” Instead, we can think about well-being as a continuum.
At one end are students experiencing significant distress who need timely, appropriate professional support. At another are students who are doing relatively well but may benefit from connection, prevention, education, or early intervention. And beyond that are students who are not simply managing college—they are thriving.
Our goal should include all of them.
That means supporting students when they are struggling while also creating opportunities to build relationships, find purpose, explore interests, develop confidence, and experience the many things that make college meaningful.
A different question moving forward
Historically, the question has been: How do we respond to the mental health needs of college students?
Although this question remains important, perhaps the next question should be: How do we create the conditions in which more college students can thrive?
Those questions aren’t contradictory; they are actually connected.
We need to be there when students are struggling, while also thinking about what helps students flourish before they reach a crisis point.
For Michigan Tech, that means continuing to provide accessible, high-quality mental health services while thinking more broadly about connection, belonging, purpose, physical health, meaningful engagement, and the student experience.
It also means continuing to listen to our students. Our data can tell us important things about how students are doing, but numbers alone don’t tell us everything about what students experience, what helps them succeed, or what gets in the way of their well-being.
The opportunity in front of us is not simply to reduce distress. It is to create an environment where more students have the relationships, purpose, support, opportunities, and experiences that allow them to flourish.
The question isn’t whether we have solved college mental health. We haven’t.
The better question is what we can learn from where we are—and how we can continue building a university experience in which students don’t simply get through college, but have opportunities to truly thrive.