National College
Health Assessment
Your guide to creating a healthier campus
and strengthening student success.
About the NCHA
The ACHA-National College Health Assessment (NCHA) is a nationally recognized research survey that can assist you in collecting precise data on a wide range of health and wellness issues that impact your student population and affect their academic performance.
Latest News & Updates
Stay up to date on the latest NCHA news and reports.
To Participate
To promote student well-being, you need a comprehensive picture of your students’ overall health and wellness. Learn more about how the program works and how it can benefit your campus.
Featured Resources
We offer resources and tools to help you launch a successful survey on your campus.
Tools for Implementation
Visit our collection of guides and templates for use in planning and implementing the survey.
NCHA Users Group
This group is for anyone who is preparing to launch the NCHA, looking for ideas on how to disseminate NCHA data, or using NCHA data for research.
Promotional Toolkit
This customizable toolkit helps campuses engage and inform students about the importance of participating in the NCHA.
Our Findings
Get a sneak peek at the the type of data that's made available in our NCHA survey reports.
Level of Stress Experienced
Of students surveyed, 76.4% report experiencing overall moderate or high levels of stress within the last 30 days.
Data from the Spring 2024 Reference Group Data Report
Data Highlights
The NCHA collects data on a broad range of college health topics. See select data highlights from our recent survey.
Nutrition Fact
In the last 30 days, 28.1% of students report having eaten less than they felt they should because there wasn’t enough money for food.
Health Care Fact
71.6% of students report having visited a medical provider for a check-up or any other reason in the last 12 months.
Safety Fact
40.4% of students report feeling “somewhat safe” on campus at night.
Drug Use Fact
31% of students reported ever using tobacco or other nicotine delivery products.
Sexual Behavior Fact
Of students that have had vaginal intercourse within the last 12 months, 80.7% used a method to prevent pregnancy.
Mental Health Fact
35.2% of students report having received psychological or mental health services in the last 12 months.
From Our Participants
"The NCHA helps guide our health promotion and wellness efforts when making decisions about programs and services we need to offer. We also use the survey to look at trends over the years to see what has changed, for better or for worse."
Jim Almeda, MS, CHES, NBC-HWC
Illinois State University
"We have been doing the NCHA for over 20 years at BGSU. This helps us monitor health and wellness trends over time. It is important to address the health needs of the entire campus and administering both the NCHA and NFSHA helps us get a snapshot of our whole campus community. These surveys are very important assessment tools on our campus."
Faith DeNardo, PhD
Bowling Green State University
"We use the NCHA as part of a needs assessment data for student wellness needs. We were able to identify that students who identified as trans or gender non-conforming were struggling in more aspects of well-being. Using this data, we were better able to program to this target audience within our community."
McKenzie Sorrells, MS
Boise State University
"My institution has administered the National College Health Assessment since 2018. The NCHA is a powerful tool for understanding our students’ health behaviors and needs.
The data provides a framework for our federally mandated programs and our co-curricular focuses. We're able to track our students’ needs longitudinally, highlighting progress and areas of future investment.
And, because NCHA provides reference group data, we can show our students’ needs in context of student needs across the country. I’m glad to have such a reliable dataset to share with stakeholders and to allow data-informed decision-making on my campus."
Andrew Arvay, MS
University of North Texas Health Science Center
