35 Years of Graduate Flourishing: Impact in 2025 and What’s Next

As Grad Resources marks 35 years of ministry, we reflect with gratitude on a legacy rooted in faithful presence and renewed with momentum for the future. Graduate school is a season of deep formation—but for many students, it is also marked by stress, isolation, and uncertainty. In 2025, Grad Resources remained committed to addressing the personal, emotional, and spiritual needs of graduate students, helping them not only persist, but truly flourish.

This post highlights key themes and outcomes from our 2025 Annual Report, offering a high-level narrative of impact while linking to the full report for deeper detail.

A Holistic Approach to Graduate Student Well-Being

Grad Resources exists to serve graduate students as whole people, guided by a framework we call the Big 6 Needs:

• Spiritual
  
• Relational
  
• Health (mental & physical)
  
• Academic
  
• Professional
  
• Financial
  

This holistic approach shapes every program, partnership, and strategic decision—ensuring graduate students receive care that extends far beyond academics alone.

Supporting Graduate Students in Moments of Crisis

Mental health challenges continue to be one of the most pressing issues facing graduate students nationwide.

Through our partnership with Boys Town, Grad Resources helps provide a free, national Graduate Student Crisis Line (1-877-GRAD-HLP). In 2025, this line supported 3,500+ calls, many from students experiencing acute distress.

Each call represents a graduate student who found connection, compassion, and immediate care often at a critical moment. Many of these students also found ongoing support through our partnership with BetterHelp, offering a free month of individual online counseling. 

Building Enduring Graduate Christian Community

Christian Grads Fellowship (CGF) chapters remain a cornerstone of our campus engagement strategy and a primary way we address the Spiritual and Relational needs of graduate students.

In 2025, 54 campuses engaged in ongoing CGF-related activity, including speakers, coaching, leadership development, active chapters, and conversations exploring new launches. Of these:

• 34 active chapters were originally established by Grad Resources and are now led by trusted ministry partners, supported through ongoing training, resources, and programming
  
• 5 active chapters are fully student-led, with continued support from Grad Resources
  

Together, these campuses represent a growing, decentralized network equipping graduate students for faithful presence in the academy and beyond. Across all contexts, the goal remains the same: sustainable communities that endure beyond any single cohort of students.

From Campus to City: A Story of Revival at Mizzou

In 2025, the CGF chapter at the University of Missouri experienced a powerful moment of convergence. Student leaders, Christian faculty, and local churches independently praying for revival, came together to launch COMO for Christ a faculty-led movement that drew thousands of participants from campus and the surrounding community.

What began as a single gathering has since grown into a registered nonprofit, offering a compelling picture of how graduate student flourishing can extend beyond campus boundaries and into broader community life.

Expanding Reach Through the Speakers Bureau

Grad Resources’ Speakers Bureau played a significant role in expanding engagement nationwide in 2025:

• 14 guest speakers
• 42 presentations
• 3,800+ individuals reached
• Events hosted both in person and remotely
  

Speakers addressed topics such as faith and science, graduate stress, and vocation—equipping students to navigate academic environments with clarity and confidence.

The Quiet Work That Multiplies Impact

Some of the most transformative work of Grad Resources happens behind the scenes through one-on-one coaching with student leaders, faculty partners, and ministry collaborators. To mark our 35th year of ministry, we also engaged our stakeholders through an intentional Listening Tour, to learn where we can grow, fill needs, and ensure we're providing relevant and current resources to those we serve.

In 2025:

• 100+ stakeholders were interviewed
• 127 coaching sessions were facilitated
  
• These investments contributed to 13,200+ personalized student emails across partner campuses
  

By investing deeply in leaders and partnerships, Grad Resources multiplies impact—extending care, resources, and community to thousands of graduate students.

Advancing Research Through Strategic Partnership

In 2025, Grad Resources became an official research partner in the Global Flourishing Study, a five-year, international research initiative led by Harvard University.

This partnership allows Grad Resources to contribute graduate student and family insights to global research examining flourishing across cultures, while refining our own approach to evidence-based, holistic care. The collaboration reinforces a shared conviction: graduate student well-being must be multidimensional, research-informed, and grounded in lived experience.

Faithful Leadership for a New Season

The year also marked a leadership transition, welcoming Eli Mercer as Executive Director and Hannah Walker as Operations Manager, alongside Founder and President Emeritus Nick Repak.

Together, the leadership team has strengthened systems, clarified strategy, and positioned Grad Resources for sustained growth—rooted in its 35-year legacy and oriented toward the future.

Read the Full 2025 Annual Report

This post offers a snapshot of our work in 2025. For detailed data, financials, stories, and partner acknowledgments, we invite you to read the full report:

👉 [Read the 2025 Annual Report]

Looking Ahead