Emotional Health of College Freshmen at a Record Low

in college life by skohng — January 28, 2011 at 9:57 pm | 0 comments

It’s Tough Being a College Kid these Days

Not only are students paying more to go to school only to apparently learn less, but a recent study finds that mental health among college freshmen dropped to an all-time low in 2010. The annual survey, administered by the Higher Education Research Institute at UCLA , polled 201,818 first-time, full-time students at 279 universities and colleges across the country.

Is Your Student at Risk?

It seems that the Freshman 15 is the least of their worries. Some numbers to chew on:

• only 51.9% of these freshmen feel that their emotional health is “above average”–that’s down from
• 55.3% in 2009 and the highest rate of 63.6% in 1985, when HERI first started asking this question.
• 62.1% of respondents say that the economy affected their choice of school. And even at that,
• 53.1% of students use loans to get by while 73.4% depend on scholarships and grants. Finances not only dictated where they went, but it’s also the main reason they’re there: a whopping
• 72.7% say that “the chief benefit of college is that it increases one’s earning power.”

The Freshman Survey

This study revealed some interesting findings about the political leanings and opinions of freshmen, but the spotlight shines on these conclusions:

• Fewer students than ever before are reporting above-average emotional health.
• Students feel increasingly overwhelmed before entering college; twice as many female students report feeling this way.
• Record high numbers of students believe the chief benefit of college is that it increases earning power.

It’s pretty clear: our freshmen (and, more so, our freshwomen) are stressed out.

On the Bright Side

The good news? They’re motivated. And confident. About one third plan on being active in community service, and over 70% rate their academic abilities as above average. They want to succeed and they want to make a difference. The takeaway, then, is that the resources that help bridge the gap need to be tapped into. Students, first-year and otherwise, need to know what’s available on campus–counseling, student groups, faith-based groups–and need to know that they can, and should, make full use of them. Campus officials, in turn, need to be in tune with these needs more than ever before and be poised to make relevant resources available. If it takes a village to raise a child, it takes a college to get them through adulthood and beyond.

Tags: counseling Education Mental Health resources