Dive Brief:
- The results of an online survey that asked 1,500 second-semester freshmen about their college experiences found a clear racial disparity between black and white students when it came to seeking mental health support.
- The Chronicle of Higher Education reports fewer black students rated their college experience as “good” or “excellent” and were almost twice as likely to say they seriously considered transferring in their first semester, but approximately 75% of black respondents said they tended to keep their feelings on the college experience to themselves.
- Black students were more likely to turn to a religious figure for support than their white peers, offering one strategy for colleges hoping to connect them with support — develop deeper relationships with religious leaders.
Dive Insight:
The survey was conducted by the Jed Foundation and the Steve Fund, which was started in 2014 to honor a Black Harvard graduate who committed suicide. The two teamed up for the first time on the survey and plan to continue their collaboration with McLean Hospital in Massachusetts. The team will assess programs that have been developed by colleges and conduct additional surveys to develop a set of best practices. College leaders can expect those findings within the next few months. The foundations hope their assessment can prevent each college from having to reinvent the wheel and instead learn from each other when it comes to the most impactful strategies for serving black students.