Some families approach the college process like investors: calculating ROI, scrutinizing career services, and tracking graduate earnings. Others, mindful that today’s applicants were in middle school during COVID and shaped by a period of heightened attention to mental health, are prioritizing access to health and wellness support. They seek colleges that offer continuity and care, wanting reassurance that the support systems sustaining their students in high school won’t suddenly disappear.
Colleges are responding. In an amenities arms race, they are adding wellness centers, meditation rooms, fitness complexes, and dining options designed to care for the whole student. Leaders in wellness have already reshaped luxury, and now families expect the same ethos in education. As the wellness industry, now valued at over $6 trillion, goes mainstream, its values of balance, clarity, and restoration are now influencing how families construct the college list and reframe success as sustainable achievement.