A New Hampshire-based educational non-profit serving NH students and families

Learn about student financial wellness and its impact with Granite Edvance and Trellis Strategies

May 1, 2026 About Us
Shelves of food including canned and boxed goods and snacks.

By Matt Wallace

When we talk about student financial wellness, we’re not just talking about how much money is in their bank accounts. Like physical wellness, financial wellness is a complex matter, connected to academic success, mental health, even identity. And it’s one we must understand if we want to support students effectively.  

Last year, Granite Edvance partnered with the national nonprofit Trellis Strategies to raise awareness of Trellis’s annual Student Financial Wellness Survey within New Hampshire’s higher education community.  Through our connections with colleges, universities, and system leaders across the state, we made sure institutions knew about the survey and had the chance to take part.  

Matt Wallace, Vice President of Education and Career Pathways at Granite Edvance

Now, we’re sharing the findings from two years of survey data in hopes of helping turn these insights into action that will make a difference for students. School counselors, institutional staff and leaders, and other practitioners who help students access and succeed in college are invited to join us for a webinar on Friday, June 12, from 12-1 p.m. to explore key findings from the survey.  

Some of the findings strengthen what we already know about student financial wellness, while others may surprise us and expand our understanding. For example, key findings from the 2025 survey, representing 845,000 undergraduate students at 153 institutions across 23 states, include:  

  • Students are struggling with financial instability: 54% said they would have a hard time coming up with $500 in cash or credit for an unplanned expense.  
  • A large number of students face basic-needs insecurity: 42% said they’d experienced low or very low food security in the prior month, and 35% had faced housing insecurity in the past year.  
  • A large majority reported some kind of mental health challenge, ranging from loneliness to generalized anxiety.  

Our work with Trellis, a nonprofit research and consulting firm, connects directly to our mission of helping students succeed while contributing to a strong postsecondary system and workforce here in New Hampshire. By encouraging participation in the survey, we helped institutions see how a deeper understanding of student financial wellness could guide policies, programs, and strategies to improve student persistence and success. By sharing the survey data, we want to provide useful information on challenges like managing tuition, balancing work and study, handling debt, and accessing financial resources. We also hope to bring more people into this critical conversation so we can work together on meaningful solutions.  

Register for the webinar here.  

Matt Wallace is the Vice President of Education and Career Pathways at Granite Edvance.

Caption information: The food pantry at Great Bay Community College provides basic-needs support for students who may be facing financial challenges.

Read more about how we’re supporting college students facing financial hardships: Granite Edvance donates $100,000 to student aid programs within the University System of New Hampshire.

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