IT FIGURES
by James A. Baumann
“I can hardly bear to think back to lockdown – it ruined my mental and emotional health, and I have a hard time focusing now . . . it just hurts.”
That was one student’s sobering response to a recent poll taken by the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) to determine how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected students’ mental health heading into a new academic year. Early results from the survey support what many other research projects have shown and concerns higher education leaders have had: Students will arrive on campus with significant challenges beyond the usual.
Preliminary data from the “Beginning College Survey of Student Engagement” looked at responses received between May and August 2021 from more than 35,000 students who had completed high school and were preparing to enter one of 57 colleges and universities in the United States. (The survey will remain open through mid-September 2021.) As other surveys have shown, the effects of the pandemic have been dramatic and are likely to continue to color the student experience. When asked what substantial (meaning they answered “very much” or “quite a bit”) mental health challenges they were facing, 20% of respondents said they felt hopeless, 25% had difficulty sleeping, and 27% suffered from an inability to concentrate. In addition, 27% experienced loneliness, 30% depression, and 53% mental and emotional exhaustion.
Survey results show that those experiencing mental and emotional exhaustion could benefit from additional academic support as the year begins; of those who said they experienced mental and emotional exhaustion, 70% had high expectations of academic difficulty.
In addition, whatever hope students may have held for a more normal first-year campus experience seems to be weakening. In May 2021, as vaccines became widely available for most college-age individuals, a high of 60% of respondents were “very optimistic” about their first year of college. By mid-August, though, that percentage had dropped to 42%. The survey authors offer that the decline could be due to the emergence of the Delta variant or normal concerns as the beginning of classes neared.
Continued updates to the NSSE “Beginning College Survey of Student Engagement” are available online.
James A. Baumann is the ACUHO-I Publications Director.
