New Jersey’s statewide commitment to free, around-the-clock teletherapy for higher education students has proven highly effective in its first two years. The service is empowering thousands to access critical—oftentimes lifesaving—mental health support while saving them millions of dollars.
A new report from the New Jersey Office of the Secretary of Higher Education found that the state’s partnership with Uwill has assisted over 18,000 students and supported more than 78,000 therapy sessions since 2023. The service has also provided over 1,000 crisis connections and three active rescues.
Teletherapy services used to augment institutional services are catching fire across the country as campus mental health becomes a central theme in student success and retention. Colleges and universities are responding to a growing trend of current and former students expressing how mental health and stress led them to consider stopping out.
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Uwill, which has become a popular service among hundreds of institutions, allows students to tailor appointments by time, language and the licensed therapists’ ethnicity. Students at all 45 participating institutions are eligible for free, state-funded services until April 2026. New Jersey is the first state to offer such an expansive teletherapy initiative for its higher education system.
“New Jersey is rethinking student mental health—not as an add-on, but as a cornerstone of student success and our statewide college completion strategy,” said Brian K. Bridges, secretary of higher education for the state of New Jersey.
Here are some key benefits New Jersey recorded from its partnership with Uwill:
- High savings: Students have saved between $1.2 million and $2.3 million on therapy sessions, depending on their insurance coverage.
- Assisting young adults: More than three-quarters of the students using the service were between 17 and 24 years old.
- Students enjoyed tailoring their therapist: About a third of all students using Uwill were white. However, 85% requested support from counselors who identify as Black, Indigenous or other people of color.
- Focus areas expand across all areas of life: The top focuses during therapy sessions were self-esteem, loneliness and trauma.
- Flexible scheduling: More than a quarter of all sessions took place outside of normal business hours. Additionally, more than 12,000 therapy sessions took place during summer or winter break in 2024.
“This data demonstrates the powerful impact of our state’s investment in mental health and underscores our belief that higher education and upward mobility go hand in hand,” New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy said.
