Table of Contents
Overview
Mental health services are vital to student success, especially during high-stress, after-hours moments when students are most vulnerable. This guide shares proven messaging strategies and structural models to help higher ed leaders make a compelling case for sustained investment in student mental health. Based on a recent TimelyCare webinar, it distills insights from campus and policy leaders into an actionable framework.
The night before attrition
It’s 11:42 p.m. on a Sunday. A first-year biology major is staring down an impossible problem set, organic structures that keep blurring into one another. Her roommate is asleep. Her instructor’s office hours aren’t until Thursday. The counseling center is closed. Her learning management system (LMS) tab is the only light in the room.
Then she sees it: a small button in the LMS that says “Talk to someone now.” Within minutes, she’s speaking to a mental health clinician. They ground-breathe together. They sketch a plan: email the professor, schedule tutoring, book a daytime follow-up with the campus counseling center. She doesn’t withdraw. She shows up on Monday.
You may not actually witness moments like this, but they’re where retention actually happens. These moments live in the margins of the day, after hours, right where stress peaks. That’s why mental health support can’t be a line item you revisit after budget season. It must be be part of your core student success architecture.
Your Playbook to Win Support for an Investment in Mental Health Resources
This message came through loud and clear in our recent TimelyCare webinar with former California Senate Majority Leader Dean Florez and Matthew Millea, Chief of Staff at SUNY ESF. Here’s the distilled playbook leaders used and the language that wins support for mental health resources.
1. Shift the message: outcomes over needs
When advocating with presidents, CFOs, trustees, or policymakers, lead with what changes if funded, not why you’re under-resourced.
Translate dollars into outcomes:
- Wait times drop from weeks to days.
- 24/7 access covers nights and weekends when most crises surface.
- More students persist from term to term.
- Faculty and advisors see fewer “all on them” moments.
Phrase it like this:
“This investment reduces silent attrition by giving students immediate access to care and warm handoffs to on-campus counseling. It’s a completion driver, not a sunk cost.”
2. Build a hybrid model that meets real student demand
SUNY ESF paired an excellent counseling center with round-the-clock virtual care and clean handoffs in both directions. The result wasn’t just higher visit numbers; it was calm: students knew help was there when and how they needed it (nights, weekends, from the library or a residence hall).
Design principles:
- Put help inside the LMS and portals so the “I need support” moment becomes care, fast.
- Treat virtual care as a supplement, not a substitute, for your on-campus team.
- Establish warm transfer protocols so higher-acuity students move swiftly to on-campus services.
3. Name the problem you can’t see: silent attrition
Many students don’t file a form or ask for a leave; they simply stop logging in and drop out. You’ll never capture every cause in a spreadsheet, but you can shrink the leak with proactive, always-on support. Boards and cabinets respond when you name this plainly and show how your model intercepts it.
4. Bring the metrics that move rooms
You don’t need a perfect dollar ROI to get to “yes.” You do need a compact dashboard tied to student success:
- Capacity stress: counseling utilization (flag >100% as burnout risk)
- Access: median time to first contact; percent of all visits after hours or weekends
- Engagement and continuity: unique students served, repeat use, warm handoffs completed
- Student success signal: directional persistence differences for users vs. non-users
- Equity reach: uptake among first-gen, transfer, commuter, online, and graduate students
Pair this with your CFO’s retention math to underscore budget relevance.
5. Make “how we’ll pay and procure” effortless
Leaders green-light what’s easy to launch and sustain:
- Procurement shortcuts: piggyback on system-wide or peer contracts. Use cooperative purchasing vehicles where available
- Funding stack: combine system or state appropriations, targeted grants, and a transparent student health fee co-championed by the student government, with termly reporting on access and outcomes
6. Align to what’s already mandated
Map your proposal to the pillars in your strategic plan (student success, persistence, belonging) and to system or state priorities (completion goals, affordability, workforce readiness). Funding follows plans with momentum. Show how mental health accelerates what leaders have already promised.
7. A 10-slide cabinet deck you can use tomorrow
Use this outline to make the case for expanding access to mental health support for your students.
- The stakes: capacity, wait times, after-hours demand, silent attrition
- Student voice: quotes or polling, student government stance
- Access gap: when students seek help vs. when care is available
- Solution: counseling + 24/7 virtual + LMS embedding + warm handoffs
- Equity: who you’ll reach that you’re missing today
- Targets: access, utilization, persistence (directional year one)
- Budget and procurement path: the fast track
- Risk mitigation: clinician burnout, crisis coverage, compliance
- Accreditation fit: how this supports your standards and climate goals
Decision and timing: why now (enrollment cycle, legislative window, board calendar)
If mental health drives success, it must be funded
If student success is your north star, mental health is the compass. Support that is immediate, integrated, and measurable doesn’t just feel right; it keeps students moving toward graduation.
Talk with TimelyCare about funding options
TimelyCare partners with campuses to expand access in minutes and therapy in days, easing pressure on counseling centers while improving reach and continuity of care. If you’re ready to map a funding path, state dollars, grants, fees, or shared procurement, let’s do it together.
Book a No-Cost Mental Health Funding Consultation
Complete the form to connect with a TimelyCare higher education expert to learn about funding opportunities for your college or university.
Key Takeaways
- Retention hinges on moments of care during off-hours
- Funding arguments should prioritize outcomes, not resource gaps
- In-person and telehealth hybrid care models calm demand and expand reach
- Dashboards with student success metrics influence decision-makers
- Align proposals to existing institutional mandates for faster buy-in
FAQs
Most mental health crises occur after hours or on weekends. Around-the-clock access ensures students aren’t left without support when they need it most.
Silent attrition happens when students stop engaging, often without formally withdrawing. Mental health support helps catch students before they disappear from the system.
Virtual services supplement, not replace, in-person care. Together, they expand capacity and continuity, offering timely help across modalities.
Utilization rates, time to first contact, and student persistence indicators resonate with leadership and tie directly to student success outcomes.
Combine grants, appropriations, student health fees, and cooperative contracts. Make the procurement process clear and sustainable.
