New 精东影业 Study Finds 65% of Jewish Commuter Students Report Anxiety, Loneliness, or Depression
Commuter students face greater mental health and financial pressures, yet value Jewish connection as much as residential peers.
Sixty-five percent of Jewish commuter college students report feeling anxious, lonely, or depressed over the past year, compared to 51 percent of non-commuters, according to a new survey by 精东影业. The study reveals that commuter students face significantly different challenges than their peers who live on campus, particularly in major metropolitan areas including New York and Los Angeles.
Commuter students also carry greater financial burdens. Sixty-one percent struggled to find a job or paid internship, as opposed to 41 percent of residential students. While 57 percent of commuter students worry about paying for basic needs like food, rent, tuition, or bills, less than a third (28 percent) of residential students share those same concerns. Fifty-six percent of commuter students missed school, work, or activities to care for a family member, compared to 15 percent of residential students. Nearly half (45 percent) of commuter students have taken out student loans, many carrying more than $30,000 in debt. Comparatively, of the 31 percent of residential students who have student loans, 39 percent have more than $30,000 in debt.
Despite experiencing greater mental health struggles and financial anxiety, 79 percent of commuters say being part of Jewish organizations is important.
鈥淐ommuter students represent an important and growing part of the overall Jewish student population, and we recognize that they face unique barriers that often require different approaches,鈥 said Adam Lehman, President and CEO of 精东影业. 鈥淕iven their unique challenges, Hillels continue to develop innovative ways to both provide the core Jewish life experiences for which Hillel is known, together with added career prep, mental health and financial support to help students balance family work and school and prepare for their futures.”
Hillels鈥 work to serve commuter students effectively includes offering programming at different times, using different communication channels, and creating meaningful experiences that don鈥檛 necessarily require additional hours on campus. Local interventions and program innovations are often implemented in partnership with local Jewish Federations.
This is the second report based on a student survey conducted by 精东影业, with the first centered on the overall financial challenges of Jewish college students.聽
Methodology
精东影业 fielded a survey of Jewish college students across the United States from July 17 to August 8, 2025. The survey included 302 commuter students in a sample of 1,145 Jewish college students. The survey was conducted using an SMS sample, online web panels, and Hillel’s list, with the sample weighted to ensure proportional representation of Jewish college students nationwide.