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A 2025 report by Trellis Strategies, using data from their 2024 Student Financial Wellness Survey, revealed that more than half of all college students reported feeling either sometimes or always lonely.   

According to a 2023 advisory by U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy, a lack of social connection can hinder students both socially and academically, but having connections with others can help students improve their attendance, grades and overall health. 

At the University of Tennessee at Martin, multiple programs and organizations exist to help students get involved and connect them with various resources. 

Rachel Martin, director of student involvement and a UT Martin alumna, said the connections she made during her time as a student made all the difference in her college experience. 

“I tell people all the time, when you come to UTM, you’re going to get a great education,” said Martin, “but what really made the difference for me was the things that I did outside the classroom, or the experiences that started in the classroom but then went out of it. Whether that was from the organizations that I joined or the friends that I made or the groups that I was a part of, that’s what really made that difference.” 

Martin works with groups across campus to create a schedule with every event happening at the university. This cross-campus collaboration helps ensure there is always an event going on, increases the variety of activities offered and allows organizations to co-sponsor events to make them better for students. 

Martin also works with organizations to ensure that events are being promoted to students. All students receive an email at the beginning of each week with upcoming events, and they can also see events by accessing Runway through either their UT Martin portal or by downloading the Corq app. 

UT Martin is also home to various spaces on campus designed for the purpose of connection, including the CommUnity Center.

CommUnity Center Director and Assistant Director of Student Success Counseling Tammy Jo Stanford has seen firsthand how connection plays into student success. 

“I think that academic success comes from belonging,” said Stanford. “You know, if you don’t have your people, if you don’t have a group of folks that make you feel important and heard and seen, that success is harder to come by.” 

The CommUnity Center, located in Room 255 in the Paul Meek Library, is a space for students to connect and relax with friends. Along with weekly activities such as diamond painting and crocheting, the center hosts multiple events throughout the semester with the goal of bringing students together. It also serves as the meeting space for organizations like SPECTRUM and the Women’s Student Alliance.  

Bailey Parker, a junior finance major from Lexington, Tennessee, has been heavily involved on campus throughout her time at UT Martin, including her current tenure as Student Government Association (SGA) President. Parker believes that keeping students at UT Martin is connected to how involved they feel they can be. 

“The way to get students to stay here, retention, is by getting them involved… building a home away from where you grew up is important, and you do that by going to events, meeting new people, and feeling like you’re involved and included,” said Parker. “So in SGA, I like to be transparent so that students know what’s going on so that they can feel more involved in what’s going on here at UTM.” 

Parker also recognizes the importance of collaboration with other organizations on campus in order to maximize the number of students SGA can reach. 

“I feel like what SGA can do to reach [more] students where they are is by collaborating with other organizations,” said Parker. “
We have about 60 members, but if we can collaborate with organizations that have 100 members or 50 or however many, they have their own web of connections on campus that if we’re doing an event with them, they’re going to reach out to their web and say, ‘Hey, come out to this’, and hopefully it’s just like a domino effect.” 

On April 2, SGA announced the addition of a wellness page to students’ Canvas accounts to provide a central location for student resources, including Student Health and Counseling and Student Conduct and Care. 

For Martin, her biggest piece of advice for students is to take advantage of being in college and reach out to others. 

“I’ve been working in this area for about 15 years now professionally, and one of the biggest things I see is there is a lot more loneliness now… people are hurting. People are sad. 
People are stressed. The state of the world is very chaotic. But there’s so many ways to get connected,” said Martin. “There are so many ways to get outside your comfort zone, and this is the time to do it because everybody, even if you don’t think they are, everybody’s looking for friends. It’ll never be easier to make friends than it is when you’re in college.”

For students experiencing loneliness, both Martin and Stanford encourage students to ask for help and utilize campus resources. 

“I want to make sure that students know that they’re not here alone doing any of this, ever,” said Stanford. “
We’ve always got lots of help.”