Every col­lege stu­dent deserves the chance to thrive and reach their full poten­tial, but LGBTQ+ schol­ars often face chal­lenges far beyond the class­room. Yet find­ings from the 2025–2026 Stu­dent Sur­vey show that many are car­ry­ing the added weight of anx­i­ety, unmet basic needs and dis­crim­i­na­tion.

By lis­ten­ing direct­ly to stu­dents, Nation­al Rain­bow Col­lege Fund (NRCF) is reshap­ing its work to bet­ter match what schol­ars say they need to thrive.

What The Student Survey Revealed

One of the clear­est mes­sages stu­dents shared was that men­tal health strug­gles are wide­spread and deeply felt.

Near­ly 8 in 10 stu­dents report­ed expe­ri­enc­ing anx­i­ety in the past year, and close to two-thirds expe­ri­enced depres­sion. Many expressed that find­ing afford­able, LGBTQ+-affirming men­tal health care remains out of reach.

“It’s hard to keep up with school when I’m strug­gling just to keep my men­tal health steady,” said one anony­mous sur­vey respon­dent. Stu­dents said that acces­si­ble, online men­tal health sup­port would make a mean­ing­ful dif­fer­ence, reflect­ing per­sis­tent strug­gles with anx­i­ety and depres­sion.

Basic Needs Are Still Going Unmet

Finan­cial and basic needs inse­cu­ri­ty con­tin­ue to be major bar­ri­ers to aca­d­e­m­ic suc­cess. Many stu­dents face finan­cial insta­bil­i­ty, hunger and bar­ri­ers like trans­porta­tion or hous­ing.

“Some days I’m choos­ing between gro­ceries and gas. It’s hard to do well in class when you’re wor­ried about the basics,” said anoth­er respon­dent.

One recip­i­ent explained her strug­gle with hunger. “I have to eat a lot of cheap fast food. I was feel­ing real­ly bad because of the processed food I was eat­ing. I didn’t want to eat like that…we didn’t have enough mon­ey to get good food. NRCF enables me to get fruits and veg­eta­bles in my diet,” shared Mireya in a recent blog post.

Discrimination is a Daily Reality

Dis­crim­i­na­tion per­sists even on cam­pus­es, with many stu­dents fac­ing bias from peers or unsup­port­ive home envi­ron­ments. An anony­mous stu­dent and NRCF recip­i­ent described the chal­lenges of emerg­ing iden­ti­ties: “I come from a very tra­di­tion­al Chi­nese fam­i­ly, so I nev­er thought about com­ing out to them…I’m not sure I ever will.”

Anoth­er schol­ar shared, “I’ve learned to keep parts of myself hid­den just to get through the day.” Their sto­ries make one thing clear: affirm­ing com­mu­ni­ty mat­ters. Com­mu­ni­ty plays a vital role, as described in Bailee’s sto­ry. “Peo­ple in the Cen­tral Val­ley need resources like NRCF. We may not be seen as often, but we are here. Some peo­ple leave for their safe­ty, and some peo­ple can’t leave.”

Student Advisory Council

To ensure stu­dent voic­es guide our under­stand­ing and actions going for­ward, NRCF is launch­ing a Stu­dent Advi­so­ry Council—a ded­i­cat­ed group of schol­ars who will gath­er peer feed­back, share expe­ri­ences with lead­er­ship and help shape pro­grams.

One stu­dent shared dur­ing the sur­vey, “What we need most is connection—mentorship and com­mu­ni­ty with peo­ple who under­stand us.” The Advi­so­ry Coun­cil is the first step in deep­en­ing that con­nec­tion.

Meet the five out­stand­ing lead­ers who joined the coun­cil:

• Abril Col­in – Cal­i­for­nia State Uni­ver­si­ty San Mar­cos
• Jorge Bernal – San Diego State Uni­ver­si­ty
• Saman­tha Rivera – Uni­ver­si­ty of Cal­i­for­nia, Los Ange­les
• Bey Koch – Glen­dale Com­mu­ni­ty Col­lege
• Saiv­ionn Williams – Cal­i­for­nia State Uni­ver­si­ty Chico

Making a Difference for the Next Generation

NRCF, pow­ered by San Diego Foun­da­tion, is com­mit­ted to reduc­ing edu­ca­tion­al dis­par­i­ties for stu­dents who face bar­ri­ers due to sex­u­al ori­en­ta­tion, gen­der iden­ti­ty or gen­der expres­sion.

By lis­ten­ing, learn­ing and act­ing, we’re ensur­ing that stu­dents not only have the finan­cial sup­port they need but the resources and com­mu­ni­ty to thrive.

Want to Make a Difference?

Here’s how you can sup­port stu­dents:

• Donate today
• Vol­un­teer with NRCF

Every action counts — thank you for being part of this move­ment for edu­ca­tion­al equi­ty and oppor­tu­ni­ty. No stu­dent should ever have to choose between their safe­ty and their edu­ca­tion­al dreams.