Higher education is facing two crises that often feel separate but are deeply interconnected: academic performance and student mental health.
On one hand, incoming cohorts are arriving less academically prepared than ever before. Nearly 40% of students at four-year institutions take at least one remedial course, and faculty consistently report post-pandemic students are underprepared.
On the other, campuses are witnessing record levels of student loneliness, anxiety, and depression. Counseling centers are overwhelmed. Students themselves are more likely to search online or turn to AI tools than to seek human help.
These aren’t two separate issues—they’re two sides of the same coin. Academic struggles fuel mental health challenges, and vice versa. Addressing one without the other leaves students caught in a cycle of frustration, stress, and disconnection.
The question for higher ed leaders is this: How do we create scalable systems of support that address both, without overextending already limited resources?
The Overlooked Strategy: Peer Tutoring
Peer tutoring is often viewed as a supplemental academic service—a way to help students pass challenging courses or improve grades. But that framing undersells its true potential.
When structured intentionally, peer tutoring is also a mental health intervention. It combats isolation, builds confidence, and fosters belonging. In short, it delivers the very human connections that today’s students need most.
The data underscores this dual impact:
- 91% of students report higher grades after receiving peer tutoring.
- 81% report feeling more connected to their campus community.
Improved outcomes aren’t just about better study habits. They’re about students who feel seen, supported, and capable of thriving.
Belonging as the Bridge Between Academics and Well-Being
Belonging is increasingly recognized as one of the strongest predictors of persistence in higher education. Yet belonging doesn’t come from policies or marketing slogans. It comes from relationships.
Peer tutoring creates low-stakes, repeat interactions where students build trust with someone who’s “been there before.” This changes how they see themselves, their coursework, and their place on campus.
A student who once felt too intimidated to ask for help in class now has a peer saying: “I struggled too. Here’s how I got through it.” That moment builds more than academic skills. It builds resilience.
A Scalable First Line of Care
Counseling centers will always be essential. But they can’t be the only solution, nor can they scale fast enough to meet demand.
Peer tutoring complements these efforts by offering a first line of care—a proactive, relational form of support that helps students before they reach crisis points. For example, 53% of students who engaged in tutoring on Knack reported it was their first experience with academic support.
That’s not just an academic milestone. It’s a sign of trust, belonging, and reduced stigma in help-seeking behavior.
The Leadership Imperative
The future of student success will not be defined solely by academic metrics or mental health resources. It will be defined by how well institutions integrate the two.
Peer tutoring should no longer be seen as a “nice-to-have” or an auxiliary service. It is a strategic lever for addressing some of higher education’s most pressing challenges: declining persistence, rising mental health needs, and increasing demands for equity.
The leaders who embrace this broader view of support will not only improve retention and academic outcomes. They will create healthier, more connected campuses—places where students don’t just survive college, but thrive in it.
Final Thought
If the goal of higher education is to prepare students for meaningful lives, then we can’t separate academic success from well-being. Peer tutoring sits at the intersection of both.
It’s time to stop asking whether tutoring is “academic support” or “student success programming.” It’s both—and when treated as such, it becomes one of the most scalable, impactful strategies a campus can deploy.
Because at the end of the day, the most effective form of student support might not be found in a counseling office or a syllabus. It might be sitting across the table, saying: “You’re not alone. Let’s figure this out together.”
Learn how your institution can scale peer tutoring as both academic and mental health support at joinknack.com.
