Abstract
<title>Abstract</title> <p>With anxiety, sadness, and loneliness sharply increasing over the past ten years, the worldwide mental health epidemic among college students has reached catastrophic proportions. This paper presents a qualitative investigation of Social Emotional Learning (SEL) and student well-being experiences in West Bengal's higher education institutions. In order to comprehend how students encounter SEL-related processes in their everyday university lives, the study employs constructivist grounded theory to analyze in-depth interviews with 42 students from three West Bengal institutions (Adamas University, NSHM Knowledge Campus Durgapur, and St. Xavier's College, Burdwan). Four main topics emerge from the analysis: (1) The Emotional Navigation Work of University Life: first-generation and marginalized students navigate significant mismatches between family-valued and institutionally-valued emotional competencies, with material conditions and social inequalities (caste, gender, socioeconomic background) fundamentally shaping emotional capacity; (2) Covert SEL Infrastructures: peer micro-communities and informal networks serve as primary support systems, frequently compensating for inadequate formal services; and (4) Institutional Emotional Architectures—pedagogical practices, physical spaces, and institutional cultures systematically structure emotional possibilities. The results show that social location significantly influences student well-being, with first-generation, low-income, Dalit, and female students facing larger emotional loads. In order to create culturally applicable SEL frameworks that address both human experiences and institutional settings in the particular West Bengal context, this study offers the crucial qualitative foundation. The results have important ramifications for legislators, teachers, and university administrators who want to address the mental health epidemic among Indian college students.</p>