Expanding Mental Health Access for First-Year Students
Healthcare
Background
Future Of Health is a dynamic collective of senior leaders from top health organizations worldwide. Harnessing the shared vision and collective expertise of its members, FOH aims to influence, transform, and shape the future of health.
Challenge
First-year university students often face a sharp transition marked by academic pressure, social isolation, financial stress, relocation, and uncertainty about identity and belonging. For many, this period creates significant emotional distress at the exact moment when they are expected to perform, adapt, and build independence. Although mental health support is critically needed, a large share of first-year students are unable to access timely care. Barriers include long waiting lists, limited campus counseling capacity, cost, stigma, lack of awareness, scheduling conflicts, transportation challenges, and difficulty navigating fragmented support systems. This challenge focuses on how to better support first-year students who need mental health care but are not able to reach traditional treatment. The target population includes students in universities, colleges, and other higher education settings, especially those from underserved, low-income, international, rural, or otherwise vulnerable backgrounds who may face additional access barriers. The problem is not only clinical; it also affects retention, academic success, social connection, and long-term wellbeing. Future Of Health is seeking solutions that rethink how mental health support can be delivered earlier, more accessibly, and more equitably. This may include new care models, digital tools, peer-based support, outreach strategies, partnerships, or system-level approaches that reduce friction and expand access before students reach crisis point. The opportunity is important because early intervention during the first year can shape lifelong health trajectories, improve educational outcomes, and help institutions create more responsive and inclusive environments for student wellbeing.
Required Expertise
Mental health care delivery, Higher education student services, Digital health product implementation, Behavioral health equity and outreach, Care coordination and case management, Data privacy and cybersecurity, Workflow automation and systems integration, Program evaluation and outcomes measurement
Challenge Objectives
• First-year students are able to access appropriate mental health support early, with shorter wait times, fewer drop-offs between referral and care, and clear pathways to help before distress escalates into crisis. • Support becomes meaningfully more equitable, with measurable increases in uptake and continuity of care among underserved, low-income, international, rural, and other vulnerable student groups who have historically faced the greatest barriers. • Students demonstrate improved wellbeing, stronger help-seeking behavior, and greater confidence navigating available resources, resulting in reduced stigma, earlier engagement, and more consistent use of preventive support. • Campus teams operate with better coordination across counseling, student affairs, academic advising, residence life, and community partners, so students experience a connected support journey rather than fragmented services. • Institutions see tangible improvements in retention, class participation, academic persistence, and sense of belonging among first-year students, showing that mental health access is contributing to both wellbeing and educational success. • Staff capacity is used more effectively, with lower pressure on high-acuity services, better triage to the right level of support, and improved ability to identify risk, respond sooner, and maintain quality of care at scale. • Universities gain a sustainable, embedded model for student mental health that fits existing workflows and decision-making, provides clear data on outcomes and gaps, and strengthens long-term resilience across the student support system.
Incentives
This is a paid challenge. Future Of Health is prepared to financially reward submissions that present credible, practical, and scalable solutions to expand timely mental health access for first-year students, particularly those facing structural barriers to care. Compensation will be aligned to the maturity, evidence base, and implementation readiness of the proposed solution. Selected finalists may be eligible for monetary awards for high-quality concepts, pilots, or deployable models that demonstrate strong potential for impact within a university or higher education setting. In addition to a cash prize for the top submission(s), Future Of Health may consider follow-on funding, pilot sponsorship, or paid partnership discussions for solutions that show clear feasibility, measurable outcomes, and strong alignment with the challenge objectives. Proposals should clearly outline the level of funding requested, what that funding will support, expected milestones, and the value delivered within a deployment window of up to 12 months. Budgets should be realistic and proportionate to scope, including any technology, implementation, training, integration, security, data protection, and evaluation costs. Greater consideration will be given to solutions that can reduce wait times, improve early engagement, increase equitable uptake among underserved student groups, and integrate effectively with existing campus systems and workflows. Payment terms, award size, and any pilot or procurement pathway will be determined during finalist review and based on solution strength, institutional fit, and demonstrated potential for sustainable impact.
