Helping Students Find Their Place and Their Path

September 2026

Every fall, students arrive on campus carrying a question many of them never say aloud: Will I find my place here?

For universities, welcoming students is only the beginning. Student success must mean more than admitting talented students and helping them earn a degree. We must also create the conditions that allow them to flourish while they are here and to leave better prepared for whatever comes next.

That begins with helping students find their place. Over time, it also means helping them discover a path that feels like their own.

Belonging Is Part of Success

When I think about belonging, I think a lot about my grandmother. My relationship with education began in Guyana, where she was one of my earliest and strongest advocates. She believed I should be in school and made sure I had a place there, even when others thought I was too young.

Years later, when I arrived at college as the first person in my family to attend, I was excited to be there. But I was also figuring things out as I went. I did not always know what to ask, whom to turn to, or which opportunities might open a door for me.

I still think about those experiences today. Getting into college was an important first step. Learning how to navigate it and finding people I could turn to along the way mattered just as much.

This year, nearly one in three incoming Rutgers University–New Brunswick students will be the first in their families to attend college, according to enrollment data. But trying to find your footing is not limited to students who are the first in their families. Almost everyone experiences it at some point.

Belonging usually develops in small ways over time. It may begin with a professor who remembers your name, a classmate you come to trust, a student organization where you find a community, or a mentor who helps you see a possibility you had not considered. Sometimes it is simply realizing there is someone you can turn to when you are unsure of what to do next.

When students feel connected, they are more likely to ask questions, explore opportunities, take intellectual risks, and seek help when they need it. That is why I think about student success in terms of the whole student. Academic advising, mental health and wellness, affordability, career preparation, and basic needs are not separate from academic success. They help make academic success possible.

A university must be willing to notice where students are getting lost and make it easier for them to find the people and resources they need.

Experience Should Come Early

Finding a place is one part of the college experience. Students also need opportunities to discover where they might go from here. They should not have to wait until senior year to begin making connections between what they are learning and the lives they may want to build.

Meaningful experiences can take many forms. A student may build confidence and leadership skills through a campus organization, make new connections through community service, or discover through an internship that they are good at something they had not yet had the chance to try. A conversation with an alum may introduce them to a career they had never considered. Research can change how students understand a field, while working with people from other disciplines can help them see how their knowledge connects to others’ work.

Experiences like these give students a chance to learn differently. They begin to understand how they respond to feedback, work through setbacks, and work alongside others.

This is why career exploration and experiential learning should begin early. Students need time to discover what excites them, develop new skills, and change direction when necessary. They also need room to try something and decide it is not for them. That is part of learning, too.

The goal is not to ask an 18-year-old to have the rest of life figured out. It is to give students enough exposure to people, ideas, and experiences that their possibilities become clearer over time.

Preparing Students for a Changing World

Artificial intelligence is already reshaping how students learn, how faculty teach and conduct research, and how organizations approach problems. We have a responsibility to prepare students to use these tools thoughtfully and responsibly.

But that is only part of the work. AI also makes the human side of education more important. Students will need to think critically, ask good questions, remain curious, and understand perspectives beyond their own. They will encounter problems that do not belong to a single discipline and decisions that have no obvious answer. They will need to work with other people. They will also need to know how to listen.

Some of the most important things I have learned in my own career have come from listening to someone whose experience was very different from mine. Listening does not require us to let go of what we believe. It gives us a chance to understand why someone else may see the world differently. That is part of how we learn.

These abilities matter wherever students go next. College should help students think beyond what they want to accomplish. It should also give them opportunities to consider how they want to work with others, contribute to their communities, and engage with the world.

The Year Ahead

At the beginning of an academic year, none of us knows which experience will change a student’s direction.

It may be a class they almost did not take, a professor who sees something in them, an internship they never imagined pursuing, or a difficult semester that teaches them to ask for help. It may be a friend whose life looks very different from their own.

We cannot plan every step of a student’s journey for them, nor should we. What we can do is make sure they have people to turn to, experiences that help them grow, and the freedom to figure out where they want to go. Students who are unsure where to begin might start by talking with an academic adviser, exploring opportunities through Career Exploration and Success, or finding a way to get involved through The Arc. Sometimes one conversation or connection can make the next step clearer.

Graduation, career outcomes, and affordability are all important measures of success. But they cannot capture everything that happens during a college education. We should also consider what students have learned about themselves, how they have changed, and whether they feel ready to put what they know to use.

I want our students to leave Rutgers knowing more about themselves than they did when they arrived. I want them to understand what they are capable of, how to work with other people, and what they want to contribute.

Many students begin college wondering whether they will find their place. By the time they leave, I hope they have found people who believe in them, experiences that have changed them, and a path they are ready to make their own.

Francine Conway
Chancellor, Rutgers University–New Brunswick