Do Students Feel They Matter on Campus?

A majority of students say there is at least someone at their institution who knows them in a meaningful way. But a quarter aren’t sure if anyone really knows them or say that they feel “invisible,” according to a new Student Voice flash survey assessing students’ experiences of connection beyond more traditional notions of belonging.

“Every student can and should feel like they matter in college,” said Peter Felten, executive director of the Center for Engaged Learning at Elon University, who’s written extensively about the importance of relationships and mattering to student success. Unlike belonging, which can depend on feeling that one fits into a particular environment, he said, mattering is rooted in feeling valued and known and having something to contribute within a given context—something that’s theoretically attainable for all students, regardless of age or any other factor that could challenge one’s sense of fitting in.

Felten described the new survey results as mixed, expressing concern for students whose sense of mattering is tied to just one person, which he called “precarious.” Of the 9 percent of students who feel wholly unseen, Felten said that’s “a failure on our part—those of us who teach and work in higher education need to create conditions where all students feel they matter. That’s crucial for student well-being, learning and persistence.”

In another important set of findings, students indicate that they value opportunities to engage with questions of meaning and purpose—those at the center of higher education’s flourishing movement: Nearly two-thirds say their college has helped them at least somewhat to explore what kind of person they want to be, what gives their life meaning or how they want to contribute.

Felten said such deeper life interactions, as they’ve been referred to by student success scholars, also contribute significantly to student well-being in college. Moreover, he said, “colleges and universities tend to promise students that their education will be transformative: ‘Yes, we’ll prepare students for a career, but we’ll also prepare them for life.’” Yet to actually deliver on that promise, institutions must “create opportunities for students to critically explore what kind of person they want to be, what gives their life meaning and how they want to contribute to the world.”

Rachel Forsyth, a senior educational developer at Lund University in Sweden who has researched relationships, mattering and trust in higher education, including with Felten, said the findings underscore the importance of involving students directly in shaping their educational experiences—and generally maximizing “agency and autonomy” for students and student-facing faculty and staff.

Additional analysis and findings—including how students say technology is impacting their sense of social connection and what their institutions could do to best support their overall well-being—are below.

Seeking purpose: Asked to what degree their college has helped them explore questions beyond immediate career goals—such as what kind of person they want to be, what gives their life meaning or how they want to contribute to the world—most students say that it has helped them a great deal (32 percent) or somewhat (33 percent). Yet 10 percent of students say their college hasn’t helped them think about these questions at all and that they’ve had to pursue them on their own. Just 4 percent of students say these kinds of questions aren’t relevant to them. Students at private nonprofit institutions are significantly more likely than their public institution counterparts to report that they’ve been encouraged to explore such issues a great deal, at 44 percent versus 29 percent. This difference can’t be explained entirely by the fact that two-year colleges, with their more concentrated curricula, make up a significant share of public institutions represented.

In an earlier Student Voice survey this year, private nonprofit institution students were also more likely than their public four-year peers to rate their academic experience as “excellent,” something that could be linked to private nonprofits generally having lower student-faculty ratios.

Sense of mattering varies: In a question assessing students’ sense of mattering, not just belonging, at their college, 36 percent—the slight plurality—indicate that at least several people on campus know them in a way that signals they matter: They have peers who rely on them, or faculty members who know them as an individual and would notice if they were struggling, for example. An additional 33 percent say that maybe one or two people know them this way. Nearly one in 10 reports that no one knows them this way and that they feel invisible. Here, the four-year–versus–two-year difference is notable: Some 40 percent of four-year students report that at least several people on campus know them in a meaningful way, compared to 19 percent of two-year peers.

Some 14 percent of community college students also report that they feel invisible, versus 5 percent of four-year peers. Another recent Student Voice survey found that 64 percent of community college students have not participated in any extra- or co-curricular activities, which could impact their sense of mattering. Age also factors into this newest survey: One in five respondents over 25 feels they’re known meaningfully by at least several people, half the rate of respondents ages 19 to 24. Existing research has found that older students and online students sometimes trade logistical accessibility for relational engagement, in ways that can undermine their success.

Institutions get passing grades on supporting well-being: If students had to grade their college for how well it supports their overall well-being—not just academic success, but mental health, sense of purpose and social connection—the plurality, 49 percent, would give it a B. One in five (20 percent) would give it an A. Just 2 percent say it’s failing. And despite two-year students’ lower marks on mattering, they award their colleges an A here at a much higher rate (31 percent) than do their four-year peers (18 percent).

Divided on technology’s impact: Thinking about how they use their phone, social media and artificial intelligence, and whether this makes them more connected to others or more isolated, the plurality of students (32 percent) are neutral. About a quarter each feel somewhat more connected (28 percent) and somewhat more isolated (24 percent). The rest are split between much more connected and much more isolated. By gender, men and nonbinary students (n=57) are less likely than women to say that technology makes them feel at least somewhat more connected (32 percent and 34 percent versus 40 percent).

Limited campus ownership of student well-being: Thinking about their campus culture, 55 percent of students say it’s a place where it “partially” feels that everyone has a role in supporting student well-being, meaning that certain places and people feel invested. An additional 23 percent say that their institution feels like everyone shares a sense of responsibility for student well-being. Just 5 percent say student well-being feels like an afterthought. Again defying their previous responses on mattering, two-year students are more likely than their four-year peers to say that everyone on campus appears to assume a responsibility for student well-being (30 percent versus 21 percent).

More support for mental health, awareness of resources: What’s the single biggest thing their institution could do differently to better support student well-being? In write-in comments, the most common theme that emerges is more mental health counseling, representing about one in every five comments. Building more awareness of available resources is also popular, as is creating more opportunities for building community and social connection. Reducing academic stress and improving affordability are additional recurring themes—ones that recall earlier findings from this year’s and past Student Voice survey cycles and which highlight the interconnectedness of different student success domains.

Based on the new survey results, Felten said the challenge ahead is making deeper life interactions more common for all students and helping them understand “why these kinds of interactions matter.”

Forsyth underscored that efforts to support student well-being should focus not just on stand-alone interventions but also on creating trusting relationships within courses and academic programs. She also called technology something of a “red herring” in the current discourse on social disconnection, citing additional Student Voice survey data finding students inhabit a nuanced middle ground on AI.

“AI and social media may have their places in all parts of our lives, but what place should that be, and how do students make informed decisions?” she said, advocating open discussions about these topics and noting that online and commuter students may be especially reliant on technology for connection.

“Phones don’t directly make people lonely or depressed and anxious,” added Philip N. Cohen, a professor of sociology at the University of Maryland at College Park who’s expressed skepticism of arguments that smartphones are the root cause of larger social concerns. The more important question, he said, is what activities technology may be supplanting—and how colleges can create more opportunities for meaningful human connection: “If phones are displacing in-person social behavior like eating together or playing sports, think about how to promote those more prosocial activities.”

Levi Shanks, assistant vice president for academic and student affairs at the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities, which recently released a study on the effectiveness of coherent, nonsiloed approaches to supporting students, said of the survey data, “While there’s always room for improvement, these findings are encouraging and reflect meaningful progress.”

Public and land-grant universities have worked over the last decade to expand their focus “beyond academic achievement to include well-being, engagement, career development and opportunities for students to connect their education to a larger sense of purpose,” he said, describing these as “mutually reinforcing dimensions” of student success. APLU will soon release its own framework for student success based on these ideas.