Campus Lifeline Act

What it does

• •Expands grant programs for mental health and substance use disorder services at colleges to include student-led peer interventions, peer education, and public awareness campaigns.
• •Requires higher education institutions receiving grants to develop plans for outreach to students in online, hybrid, and remote learning programs, including those in rural or underserved areas.
• •Modifies the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline program to encourage states and colleges to place the suicide prevention hotline number on school ID cards and conduct awareness campaigns targeting all students.
• •Mandates the Department of Health and Human Services provide technical assistance to both grant recipients and institutions that applied but did not receive funding.

Why it matters

• •Addresses youth suicide prevention through multiple channels: peer intervention, digital outreach, and increased visibility of the national hotline on commonly-used identification documents.
• •Ensures mental health services and awareness reach students traditionally underserved by campus health infrastructure, including those in online or remote education and rural communities.

Who is affected

• •Institutions of higher education receiving or applying for federal mental health grants.
• •College students, particularly those in online, hybrid, distance-learning, or remote education programs and students in rural or medically underserved areas.
• •State educational agencies and the Department of Education (consulted on Lifeline awareness efforts).

What happens next

The bill was introduced in the Senate on August 6, 2026, read twice, and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions for further consideration.