When Students Struggle, Community Is Called to Rise

by Rev. Cara Stultz Costello, UMHEF President & CEO

Across our campuses, students are becoming more open about naming their stress, their questions of belonging, and their hopes for a more grounded educational experience. That honesty is a gift. It gives us a clearer understanding of what students are carrying and what they need to flourish.

This moment invites our attention.

Students are navigating complex and often overlapping pressures – financial realities, an evolving complexity of social connections, and the long arc of disruption from the events of recent years. And yet, alongside these challenges, there is also personal resilience, a deep desire for connection, and a growing willingness to seek support.

At the United Methodist Higher Education Foundation (UMHEF), we recognize that financial support remains essential (and we are grateful to be part of that work) but we also see how support takes on greater meaning when it is experienced as connection.

We are all invited to strengthen the relational and spiritual fabric of student life.

In the Wesleyan tradition, grace is lived in community. It is formed in relationship and sustained through connection. John Wesley organized people into small groups so that faith could be practiced together, and so that each person would be known. That vision continues to speak into this moment.

We see it come to life in scholarship programs like UM Dollars for Scholars. A student working long hours to meet basic needs receives support that eases financial strain. Just as importantly, that moment carries an attendant message: someone sees you, and your future matters. Over time, these moments weave together into a network of care that strengthens both the individual and the community.

A partner in the mission of UM higher education, Jewelette Christopher (Vice President for Institutional Advancement at Wiley University), recently shared her perceptions, “At Wiley University, we often see brilliance constrained only by a financial gap of a few thousand dollars. Our students are scholars, debaters, athletes, activists, vocalists, and leaders, many of them the first in their families to attend college. When the body of Christ invests in their education and affirms their worth, we are not simply helping one student persist, we are shifting their family’s trajectory for generations to come.”

This is the kind of community Scripture points us toward. In Galatians 6:2, we are called to “bear one another’s burdens.” In practice, this becomes a shared commitment to walk alongside one another.

Supporting students in this season is not only about expanding resources, but about deepening relationships. It is about cultivating spaces where students are known and where they can grow with confidence and purpose. Academic success is part of that story; so too is a sense of belonging and connection.

If there is a defining opportunity before us, it is this: to continue building communities where students are seen, supported, and connected to something larger than themselves.

In that kind of community, hope grows – students do too.