The Needs of College Students

Written by Art Herron

Every person in your church brings a variety of emotional, physical, psychological, and spiritual needs. Your college students also have a variety of needs that are specific to this season in their lives. Here is a list of life needs for students that can help guide your collegiate ministry.

Leveraging Your Influence: Impacting College Students For Christ

• Students are seeking a place to belong.
• Many come from dysfunctional families. They seek a stable environment and people to love them.
• Students today experience and/or are aware of abuse. They are looking for people who do not take advantage of them physically or sexually.
• Collegians live with repressed emotions. They are seeking a support group that understands their emotions and accepts them for who they are and who they want to become.
• They are seeking a sexual identity. Students see more severe consequences of morality. With sexually transmitted diseases on the rise, students are seeking ways to remain sexually pure.
• Students today demonstrate a lack of commitment - yet they are willing to join most anything that will address the needs in their lives. They have no brand loyalty, including the church.
• Students today want personal contact. They want to know the people they go to class/church with. They want to know if these people can be friends.
• Students experience more stress and have a need to learn how to relax and enjoy more of life. Is there more to life than a college dorm on Saturday night?
• They seek traditional lives in nontraditional ways. They may postpone marriage and children until they establish their careers. Being well-off financially is more important than developing a meaningful faith.
• Students have a hunger for spiritual truth. They need to internalize their faith. Yet many are giving less energy to developing their own spiritual lives.
• Collegians are highly skeptical but generally respond to people who are authentic with them.
• Students have limited time, therefore they make choices more carefully about what they do and don't do. If a program begins to weaken, your program may not be meeting his needs.
• Students endeavor to discover their strengths and weaknesses, to see who they are and how they relate to and affect their world. They have a need to discover their own identity - who they are.
• Students need to understand the importance of Christian fellowship.
• Students are creating a new family every day.