The Need for More Funding for Mental Health Resources on

College Campuses
By Andrew Uhring

April 8, 2016

Problems with mental health plagues college students today. An estimated one in four students 1
have at least one type of mental illness and half of students rated their mental health as below
average or poor 2. This leads to unsafe symptoms and coping mechanisms that detracts from
what they take away from their time at a
higher education institute. While most
students have access to some kind of
mental health center through their
university, the centers are usually
underfunded and understaffed 1. With
reports of more students feeling longer bouts of depression and being plagued by overwhelming
anxiety 2, now is the time to act, and increase appropriations for college mental health centers.

Causes of Mental Health and Stress problems

Mental health is an important issue, especially at the ages of 18-23, when most individuals attend
college. Students are moved into an entirely new environment without the aid of or support from
their parents. Here they are then also introduced to a variety of greater responsibility. With no
one telling them what to do, it is easy for students to become overburdened by their newfound
responsibility. Students have issues to deal with such as increased workload, personal doubt,
being forced to make life decisions, dorm room chores and unforeseen breakups 3. Take a
students class work as an example. In high school, there was little room for freedom compared
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to college. Students were expected to go to class at designated times, eat at the same time each
day, and after school activities occurred at mostly regular intervals. Transitioning to college,
there is no longer anyone ensuring students are attending their classes. With no one checking
over their shoulder, students are now able to skip class whenever they desire. Students have to
learn to balance leisure time with school time, which can be a source of great stress for many
students. These additional stressors and responsibilities can quickly lead to problems with mental
health. Preexisting mental health conditions are also a source of distress for students in the
college community. Reasons for mental health conditions vary but some include family troubles,
instability, violence, and parental divorce 4. Mental illness is a serious issue, but it becomes
worse when students dont have the resources to get help.

Not all the problems lie with the students, some of them lie with the university. Mental health
wouldnt be such a problem at college campus if the universities were able to handle the
students needs for mental health care. Unfortunately, colleges are often unable to handle these
pressures due to underfunding and understaffing. 88% of the directors of these centers report
staffing problems 5. This leads to students waiting multiple weeks to receive an appointment with
a mental health professional. Many university health centers are also open limited hours, usually
while students are in classes 5. This can be a huge problem for students. Depending on health
center hours and a students schedule, a student may never be able to make it to a mental health
care appointment or any special programs the center may offer. Lastly, depending on the
institution, it may charge a fee or price to students for using its mental health resources. There
are a variety of problems that come with this. If a student is on their parents health insurance
plan, the plan may not cover costs when it comes to mental health. In addition, parents may not

be willing to pay for services like therapy depending on their

view of mental illness and the stigma that surrounds it.

Unable to obtain help for their mental illness, students can suffer
greatly. Mental Illness can affect a students academics, social
life, and family ties. These arent the only problems with the lack
of funding for mental illness centers, mental illness is also
heavily stigmatized 6. This often leads to students being reluctant
to get help, even when available. The results of this are often tragic, sometimes even leading to
students committing suicide.

Mental illnesses such as depression and anxiety can affect students academic performance 3.
Problems with mental health can lead to a whole array of consequences at the individual level,
interpersonal level, and at the level of the entire university 4. At the individual level, mental
health issues can affect a variety of aspects of students lives. Specifically, some usual symptoms
of depression can include abnormal mood, problems with eating, sleep, decision making, and
social withdraw. These symptoms, along with the added stress, can affect students ability to
perform well in class4. Students may stop going to classes due to a decreased ability to make
good decisions and social withdraw. Not going to class can lead to falling grades and lesser
efforts put into studying. This negatively impacts a universitys academic performance and, as a
result, the graduation rates4. Mental illness can even cause students to drop out of their given
university.

These symptoms can also affect a student's social life in a variety of ways. Abnormal mood and
social withdrawal can affect students personal relationships and abilities to make friends4. A
withdrawn student may fail to reach out to friends for help or feel comfortable talking about their
mental health with other peers. Without having friends to reach out to, there is a potential for
even more increased stress and reliance on other, negative coping mechanisms to deal with his or
her problems 3. These coping mechanisms include use of alcohol and drugs, which only make
matters worse. The use of illegal substances or underage drinking may result on a dependency
on them on substances to help lift the student out of their depression or anxiety. Not only are
these substances usually bad for the user's body, but often individuals may run into trouble with
law enforcement if caught.

Mental illness can often affect a students relationship with his/her family. Students who are
withdrawn also have a decreased chance that theyll reach out to their family for help our
support. This can end up being a bigger problem than when seen at first glance, because it is the
family whose support is needed most when a student is trying to get help, especially if said
student is still on his or her parents health insurance plan. If a student is still on his/her parents
health insurance, any billing for mental health treatment will be sent to their parents. This
becomes a problem when looked at alongside the stigma of mental illness. A parent may not feel
the need to pay for mental health treatment, further leaving the student without help.

Unfortunately, mental illness is often stigmatized. This comes from the long held believe that
people who are mentally ill are also dangerous 6. Some people may also believe that people with
mental illness are making it up or that its self inflicted themselves. They may think that people
who are mentally ill have something fundamentally wrong with them that inhibits them from
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acting like a regular person and that they are to be pushed away from the rest of society. Others
may just believe that dealing with mental illness is difficult and those with mental illness are
more difficult to talk to than the average person. People often dont understand what they dont
know, which could lead to some confusions with mental health. The ramifications of the effects
of mental health, the availability of resources, and the stigma surrounding mental health are
great.

The need for these resources is unfortunately going up. The suicide rate of college age students
has tripled since the 1950s 2. One study

even

finding that the average college student

today has the same amount of anxiety as
the average psychiatric patient in the
1950s. Studies also show that the amount
of students dealing with eating disorders
today ranges around 20%, roughly 15%
higher than the students
of the 1980s. These issues dont just affect students however. Consequences of these issues are
broad. These issues start by affecting those closest to the student in question. It starts at friends
and faculty being concerned for the students well being but a suicide can significantly damage
the communitunty structure of a college campus 7. The broad effect of mental illness stems from
college retention rates. If those with mental illness are unable to get help and drop out of their
university, the university faces raising tuition and additional fees. In addition, with the rising
number of students with mental illness dropping out of college, they are unable to finish their
degrees. As many as 4.29 million students have dropped out, not earned their degree, and
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therefore are unable to enter a designated line of work and contribute needed skills in a
competitive job market 7. If this trend were to continue it could have unforeseen consequences on
the economy and job markets.

Possible Responses at the Federal, State, and University Level

Mental illness is clearly a problem throughout college campus. The underfunding of mental
health centers compounds this problem, making students unable to get help. There needs to be
increased funding for mental health centers for college campuses. This can come from a variety
of levels such as federal grants, restoring state funding, and students.

Federal Grants
The federal government already has an institution in place that awards grants for Substance
Abuse and Mental Health Service Administration (SAMHSA)8. Under this program there is a
block grant, or lump sum of money called the Mental Health Block Grant which is used to
support a variety of causes including, housing, rehabilitation, and crisis stabilization. Universities
could apply to receive a Federal Mental Health Block Grant and use it to fund their mental health
service center. This would then allow service centers to be better well staffed and able to offer
more services for little to no cost to students. Having these resources available would impact
student life, and give them the support they so desperately need. The federal government has
another institutional in place that offers grants through the bureau of health and human services.
In 2014, the bureau released $99 million dollars in mental health grants to specifically help
young people. It was used to train more mental health professionals and provide more mental
health resources for young adults 9. A portion of that money also went to communities of high

risk to improve access to mental health treatment options. Colleges campus have a higher
population of students with mental health disorders could be considered a high risk area. The
bureau of health and human services should release more money in the form of grants and direct
it towards expanding the availability mental health resources on college campuses.

State Appropriations and Budgeting

State governments have continually cut funding for mental health resources. States had been
funding mental health treatment but due to a recession and downturn into the economy, state
governments have cut their budgets. In the years between 2009 and 2011, together states cut
more than $1.8 billion in mental illness
funding from their budgets 10. These
budget reductions cut deep into the
funding for mental illness support with
Kentucky slashing 47% of its mental
health budget and Alaska cutting 35%. Ohio, once top of its class in funding and treating for
mental health underwent years of significant budget cuts for mental health after the 2008
recession 10 . This resulted in people being unable to access mental health resources and because
of that those with serious illnesses ended up in jail or hospitals unable to cope with everyday life.
States should restore and increase their mental health budgets to where they were to bring back
the accessibility for mental health resources. Inparticular, they should direct some of those funds
towards the mental health centers for universities. This would once again enable mental health
centers to work more effectively and would be able to better meet the demands of the mental
health of students.

University Mental Health Fees

Funding for university mental health centers could come from the students themselves.
Universities could require students to pay a mental health fee as a part of their tuition that would
then go to fund the student health center 11. Harvard University has found success with this
program, providing health care ,including mental health treatment, usually without copays to
students. Although the students would still be paying for it themselves, it would collectively cost
less to fund the center than each individual student paying for an appointment on their own. This
would enable the mental health center to function with more employees thereby solving the
problem of understaffing.

Universities need to receive additional funding to increase mental health resources whether it be
through federal grants, more funding from state governments, or students paying a mental health
fee. The need for effective and functional mental health centers is higher than ever. If college
students do not receive the help necessary the impacts are far and wide, from friends, the job
market, and the entire economy. Action must be taken before rates of mental illnesses like
anxiety and depression and rates of tragedies like suicides increase any further.

Endnotes
1. National Alliance on Mental Illness, Mental Health By the Numbers available at
http://www.nami.org/Learn-More/Mental-Health-By-the-Numbers (last acessed April 7,
2016)
2. Gregg Henriques, The College Student Mental health Crisis available at
https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/theory-knowledge/201402/the-collegestudent-mental-health-crisis (last accessed April 7, 2016)
3. Baber Shaikh and others, Students, Stress and Coping Strategies: A Case of
Pakistani Medical School, Education for Health (3) (2004): 346, available at
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Babar_Shaikh/publication/7888674_Students_stress
_and_coping_strategies_A_case_of_Pakistani_medical_school/links/02bfe50ff750d1b06
c000000.pdf
4. Martha Kitzrow, The Mental Health Needs of Today's College Students:
Challenges and Recommendations, NASPA Journal (43) (2003): 165, available at
http://depts.washington.edu/apac/roundtable/1-23-07_mental_health_needs.pdf.
5. Brian J. Mistler and others, The Association for University and College
Counseling Center Directors Annual survey, Association for University and College
Counseling Center Directors, (2011): 1, available at
http://files.cmcglobal.com/Monograph_2012_AUCCCD_Public.pdf
6. Arthur Crisp and others, Stigmatization of people with Mental Illness, The
British Journal of Psychiatry (177) (2000): 1, available at
http://bjp.rcpsych.org/content/177/1/4.full.pdf+html
7. Suicide Prevention Resource Center Consequences of Student Mental Health
Issues, available at http://www.sprc.org/collegesanduniversities/consequences (last
accessed April 7, 2016)

8. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Service Administration, Substance Abuse

and Mental Health Disorders, available at http://www.samhsa.gov/grants (last accessed
April 7, 2016
9. Health and Human Services, HHS announces $99 million in new grants to
improve mental health services for young people, available at
http://www.hhs.gov/about/news/2014/09/22/hhs-announces-99-million-in-new-grants-toimprove-mental-health-services-for-young-people.html (last accessed April 7, 2016)
10. Ron Honberg and others,State Mental Health Cuts: A National Crisis, National
Alliance on Mental Illness, (2011):1, available at
https://www2.nami.org/ContentManagement/ContentDisplay.cfm?ContentFileID=125018
11. Harvard University, Student Health Fee, available at
http://hushp.harvard.edu/student-health-fee (last accessed April 7, 2016)

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