70. Increase access to campus-based mental health care services.

Campus Support Programs 09.6.24

Here’s what the federal government can do:

  • The U.S. Department of Education should collect, conduct, and disseminate research on the impact that access to campus-based mental health services has on the academic outcomes of students of color, first-generation students, and students with lower incomes.
  • The U.S. Department of Education and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services should ensure that higher education institutions have access to and an understanding of guidance to address mental health on college campuses (including nondiscrimination obligations related to mental disabilities).
  • Congress should increase funding for mental health services at higher education institutions.

Here’s what state government can do:

  • State legislatures should require higher education institutions to ensure access to culturally competent mental health services. State legislatures should provide permanent and substantial funding for this purpose.

Here’s what institutional leaders can do:

  • Higher education institutions should increase access to and provide culturally competent mental health services.
  • Higher education institutions should offer mental health services at flexible times in the day and in an accessible manner.
  • Higher education institutions should increase recruitment and retention of mental health professionals, especially people of color and LGBTQIA+ professionals.

As colleges and universities look to improve the mental health services available to the students they serve, policymakers should be responsive to the significant increases observed in mental illness rates since the pandemic. A national survey of 96,000 revealed that during the 2021-22 academic year, college students experienced all-time high rates of depression, anxiety, and suicidality. [i] During the 2022-23 academic year, the rate of depression for college students was 41 percent, a decrease of only 3 percent from the previous year, and just 36 percent of college students reported seeing a mental health therapist or counselor in the past year. [ii] However, for students of color and those in rural communities, their mental illness may often go untreated. White college students are almost twice as likely as Asian American and Black students to seek mental health care. [iii] Although nearly half of college students are students of color, 72 percent of college counselors are white. [iv] In 2024, the U.S. Department of Education shared relevant information on supporting mental health in higher education.[v]

 

[i] The Healthy Minds Study, Healthy Minds Network. https://healthymindsnetwork.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/HMS-National-Report-2021-22_full.pdf.
[ii] Ibid.
[iii] Ketchen Lipson, Sarah; Kern, Adam Kern; Eisenberg, Daniel; & Breland-Noble, Alfiee. “Mental Health Disparities Among College Students of Color,” Journal of Adolescent Health, September 2018. https://www.jahonline.org/article/S1054-139X(18)30191-5/abstract.
[iv] Murray, Trish; Braun, Lynn; Gorman, Kim; Bershad, Carolyn; and Leviness, Peter; “The Association for University and College Counseling Center Directors Annual Survey – Public Version 2018,” Association for University and College Counseling Center Directors. https://www.aucccd.org/assets/documents/Survey/2018%20AUCCCD%20Survey-Public-June%2012-FINAL.pdf.
[v] “We Want to Hear from You: Supporting Mental Health and Substance Use Disorder Needs in Higher Education,” U.S. Department of Education, January 25, 2024. https://blog.ed.gov/2024/01/we-want-to-hear-from-you-supporting-mental-health-and-substance-use-disorder-needs-in-higher-education/?%23038=&=.