It is vital that graduate students are healthy and well. The Graduate School launched the Graduate Student Wellness Initiative in Fall 2020. Wellness champions are in place to work with departments across the university to support students with their academic and career goals, wellness, mentoring, and access to basic needs.

Feel free to watch the wellbeing introduction video created by the Graduate Student Wellness Club. Gradcat Wellness Faculty Champion Program

Wellness Champion Program
A $500 fellowship is available for graduate student wellness champions who will advocate and organize wellbeing events in their departments. This fellowship is to support the student for organizational work during the academic year. For more information, please read the position description (PDF). Applications are currently open for the 2024-2025 academic year: Graduate Wellness Champion Application. 

Gradcat Wellness Faculty Champion Program
Many MSU faculty have built healthy environments for their graduate students. The faculty champion program is designed to acknowledge and enhance the strong work faculty are doing in this area by providing extra funds to improve graduate wellness within their research environment. Faculty can request up to $1000 to support their initiatives in at least one of the following areas, supportive, collaborative, creative, and empowered. For more information and how to apply, please see the Gradcat Wellness Faculty Champion Program page

Support for Basic Needs

Basic needs such as food, shelter, and childcare are necessary for graduate student wellbeing.

Graduate Finances

Solid Finances webinar series: This series is designed to provide adults with an unbiased resources for enhancing their personal finance skills.

GradSense: Council of Graduate Schools' financial and career planning.

Health Care Options

The Graduate School provides this list of healthcare options to help you decide which is the right choice for you. View the Healthcare Options webpage.

Bounty of the Bridgers Food Pantry

The Bounty of the Bridgers Campus Food Pantry is a student-driven initiative to combat food waste and food insecurity on the MSU campus for students, faculty, and staff. Supplemental and emergency food assistance is offered to to any student, faculty, or staff in need!

Gallatin Valley Food Bank

The Gallatin Valley Food Bank provides food support for local families.

Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)

SNAP provides a monthly supplement for purchasing nutritious food. SNAP recipients use EBT cards, like debit cards, to purchase food in authorized stores.

Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC)

WIC offers healthy food, breastfeeding support, nutrition tips, and connection to community resources for parents and caregivers.

Food Scholarship

The Graduate School supports the Bounty of the Bridger's Food Scholarship, designed to provide money towards on-campus dining. For more information please visit Food Security Scholarships. 

Family & Graduate Housing

Family & Graduate Housing provides affordable housing options conducive to academic and social success.

Affordable Housing

The Off-Campus Housing Marketplace is a free to use tool and is designed to help students find housing off-campus.

Off-Campus Life has many resources.

HRDC Bozeman

HRDC can help with a wide range of needs such as housing assistance, unemployment, utility costs, and childcare.

Campus Civil Rights

Campus Civil Rights respond to concerns regarding all types of discrimination, harassment, retaliation, stalking, dating violence, domestic violence, and sexual assault. 

Family and Childcare Resources

Graduate assistants who need to have flexible working hours should contact their supervisor

Physical & Mental Wellbeing

Encourage positive behavior: eat, sleep, recreational interests

Campus Recreation 

Campus Recreation provides many ways to find your play! From club sports to climbing; group fitness to aquatics; intramural sports to outdoor recreation; gear rentals and repair; their programs and facilities are designed to help you meet your wellness goals.

Student Health Services

Student Health Services provides health services to students, regardless of insurance, if they have paid the student health fee. They can provide primary health care (including walk-in acute care, x-ray, clinical laboratory, and pharmacy services) and dental services as well as specialized services to students, including services related to nutrition, sexual health, drug/alcohol concerns.

Health Advancement

Health Advancement promotes generalized well-being by educating on topics such as sexual health, nutrition, physical activity, stress management, as well as the use of alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs.

Counseling & Psychological Services

Counseling & Psychological Services (CPS) provides free and confidential counseling services to students who may be struggling with a range of concerns, from those who are in distress and struggling to those who wish to gain support and prevent concerns from developing into more serious problems.

Qualifying for CPS Services

If you are a graduate student taking 7 or more credits:

  • You automatically pay the health fee
  • You have access to Student Wellness programming including mental health counseling at CPS (individual, couples, and group counseling) and Medical Services

If you are a graduate student taking LESS than 7 credits

  • You do not automatically pay the health fee
  • You can CHOOSE to pay the health fee to have access to CPS and Medical Services

*Please note: CPS remains available to all graduate students, regardless of number of credits, for intake appointments, crisis intervention, emergency services, and/or assistance accessing off-campus mental health resources, regardless of eligiblity status.

Online Mental Health Screening Tool

Take an anonymous mental health screening today and receive suggestions on next possible steps.

WellTrack App

Register for WellTrack App interactive self-help therapy.

Human Development Clinic

The Human Development Clinic is staffed by faculty and graduate students of the counseling program within the Department of Health and Human Development at Montana State University. Low cost to no cost counseling available. The clinic offers the following services:

  • Individual counseling
  • Couple, child, and family counseling
  • Career counseling
  • Parenting Through Divorce workshops
  • Consultation and referrals

1501 S. 3rd Ave.
Bozeman, MT 59715
406.994.4113

National Suicide Prevention Lifeline

To reach the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, call 24/7 at 1-800-273-8255.

Community & Mentoring

Information on academic, career, and psychosocial support. Encourage, build, and train - mentoring networks within departments. Include faculty, staff and students.

Community Groups

Cultural communities on campus

Graduate student organizations at MSU

Office of Student Engagement (OSE) provides student engagement activities, programs, services, and events.

Mentoring Training: Optimizing the Practice of Mentoring 102: For Research Mentors of Undergraduate Students: is a series of online, self-paced modules designed to help graduate students become effective research mentors of undergraduates.

Students who identify as one of the ethnic identities that is not well represented at our university can experience extra challenges; including feelings of being one of just a few students at a predominantly white university, feelings of being somewhat different, etc.  In addition to the challenges of starting as a graduate student.

The Graduate School offers incoming, underrepresented students a peer connection/mentor that they can talk with before they arrive and as the semester starts. If you are interested in obtaining such a mentor or serving as a mentor, please contact craig.ogilvie@montana.edu.

The relationship you have with your advisor (graduate committee chair) is an important part of graduate education. Please visit our Mentorship page for resources to help you develop this relationship. 

The Graduate School and the Center for Faculty Excellence has partnered with the Center for the Improvement of Mentored Experiences in Research (CIMER) to help improve and support research mentoring relationships at MSU. Please see The Mindfulness Based Graduate Mentorship Program.

Career Fulfillment

Grad Cat 360 Career DevelopmentGradCat 360's Career Development & Exploration section has Events, Resources, and Partners to help you push your career and professional development further and find fulfillment in what you do.