Five Things to Know About Cultivating Belonging on Your Campus, as Told by a Student

When universities talk about student success, the word “belonging” is mentioned often. It’s on campus banners, in mission statements, and in promotional brochures. But what does belonging look like from a student perspective? And more importantly, what happens when the promise of belonging doesn’t match a student’s day-to-day reality?

To answer these questions, IHEP sat down with Fayelynn Scheideman, a Ph.D. student and Graduate Teaching Assistant (GTA) at the University of Colorado Denver studying wildlife genomics and conservation biology. Fayelynn’s journey through higher education—from starting community college early as a to navigating her master’s and doctoral programs—offers powerful lessons for how institutions can move beyond using “belonging” as a buzzword to building supportive communities.

Here are five takeaways for institutional leaders, faculty, and administrators based on Fayelynn’s experiences and work with the GTA Student Experience Project.

Belonging is dynamic and transitions can be challenging

A student’s sense of belonging doesn’t move in a straight line from orientation to graduation. Instead, it’s context-dependent and varies throughout a student’s journey. A student can build confidence in one environment, only to feel out of place when they transition to the next.

“As an undergraduate, I built confidence and a sense of belonging,” Fayelynn shares. “But when I transitioned to grad school, I was the youngest in my cohort. I felt like the dumbest one in the room, barely trying to keep up. You don’t just achieve belonging once and keep it forever. Every transition—from community college, to a master’s, to a Ph.D., or returning after a break—forces a student to recalibrate.”

Belonging is not static. It is shaped by the environments students encounter throughout their academic journey and students’ sense of belonging can be especially fragile during periods of transition. Institutions can anticipate these moments and create conditions that foster connection, affirmation, and community.

A commitment to belonging must extend beyond top-down institutional messaging

Institutions often communicate a strong commitment to belonging, but students experience belonging through the people, policies, and environments. When their experiences don’t reflect the institution’s message, the disconnect can be difficult to ignore.

Fayelynn recalls a stark example from her own undergraduate journey. “I received a scholarship with inviting language from the university,” she shared. “But early on, I took an chemistry course where the instructor was incredibly discouraging, making students feel small for asking questions or struggling with the material. I actually considered dropping out. When the institution says ‘you belong,’ but a specific department or instructor acts like a gatekeeper, it feels jarring.”

Belonging is more than just messaging. Students are more likely to experience belonging when inclusive messages are reinforced through consistent practices, interactions, and experiences. This requires a shared commitment to belonging that extends beyond individual champions and is embedded in campus culture.

Administrative interactions shape belonging too

Belonging doesn’t just happen in the classroom. It happens at the registrar’s counter, the financial aid office, and other campus interactions. A student can feel validated with their professors but excluded by an inaccessible administrative system.

Fayelynn highlights the hidden impact of campus bureaucracy. “When financial aid offices are unresponsive, dodgy, or make you feel like a bother for asking questions, it throws you off,” she shared. “I have a friend who worked incredibly hard to bounce back academically, but navigating financial aid has been such a hassle that it makes them feel like they doesn’t belong, despite their best effort. Administrators are dealing with a deeply vulnerable, personal part of students’ lives—their finances. Simply treating students like people, using affirming language like ‘I’m glad you took the step to come here’ and showing empathy can alter a student’s trajectory.”

Students experience also belonging through interaction outside the classroom. Financial aid offices, advising centers, registrars, and other departments shape whether students feel valued, supported, and can navigate campus systems successfully.

Small moves by faculty yield big returns

Cultivating belonging doesn’t require sweeping institutional change. Often, minor yet intentional shifts in how faculty interact with students can have a big impact.

Fayelynn recalled a turning point in a challenging graduate course. “One of my professors did this small but incredible thing: he addressed our genomics class as ‘bioinformaticians.’ He signaled to us, ‘You are already here. You are already a part of this field.’ It gave us instant ownership.”

As a GTA, Fayelynn mirrors this by connecting course material to her students’ unique personal backgrounds and passions.

Faculty play a powerful role in shaping students’ sense of belonging. Small acts of recognition can shift student’s mindsets from passive observers to active members of the academic community.

Teaching assistants need targeted institutional support

On many campuses, Graduate Teaching Assistants (GTAs) and undergraduate instructors have the most direct and frequent contact with students. Yet they are often overlooked in efforts to cultivate belonging. Through her work adapting Student Experience Project at CU Denver and the University of New Mexico, Fayelynn better understood the isolation many student-educators experience.

“Universities often totally overlook GTAs,” she explains. “They are given resources to teach but little space to process their own experience. We found that giving GTAs a space to reflect on their own belonging changed how they showed up for their students. If you don’t support the TAs, they cannot effectively support the students.”

Fayelynn’s experience highlights a reality sometimes missed in institutional efforts. Belonging is also shaped by the experiences of the educators. When instructors feel connected, supported, and valued, they may be better positioned to foster those same conditions in their classrooms.

GTAs and other student instructors as essential partners in belonging efforts. By providing opportunities for professional development, reflection, mentorship, and community-building, institutions can help ensure those responsible for supporting students are supported too.

Wondering where to start? Just ask

For faculty and administrators looking to improve the student experience, Fayelynn offers a low-lift, high-impact starting point: just ask.

“Create a 10-minute, anonymous Google poll or hand out index cards at the end of class,” she suggests. “Ask your students how they are doing, what barriers they are facing, and if they feel like they belong. Collecting that real-time data allows you to make immediate tweaks. But even more importantly, the simple act of polling your students signals that you genuinely care. That alone is an intervention.”

Beyond polling, educators can access evidence-based, actionable toolkits through open-source networks like the Student Experience Project Resource Library, which offers immediate strategies for syllabus reviews, classroom activities, and systemic change. which offers immediate strategies for syllabus reviews, classroom activities, and systemic change.

This post builds on insights shared during IHEP’s recent convening, Charting the Path Forward: Advancing Student Experience and Belonging, which brought together higher education leaders, researchers, and students to discuss how to build authentic student experiences that can foster belonging and drive college completion for all students.