When college students think about quitting smoking, it is most likely due to stress or strain on their mental health.
That's according to recent data from the “Study on the state of higher education”, carried out by the analysis company Gallup and the private foundation Lumina.
For the study, researchers interviewed 6,015 enrolled students, 5,012 previously enrolled students who never completed their program, and 3,005 adults who never enrolled in higher education. This particular study is part of a broader attempt to understand American attitudes toward college as more and more people question whether rising college costs are really worth it, and it all goes back to the pandemic.
The most important lessons so far? How surprisingly compelling concerns about mental health and well-being are for college enrollment and participation, according to one of the researchers.
Of all those surveyed for this latest study, 35 percent had contemplated “stopping school” or failing to complete their studies. However, despite small increases in college enrollment among black and Hispanic students, the latest survey found that those students are still considering dropping out of college at a higher rate. In the survey, 42 percent of Hispanic students reported that they had considered dropping out of school, compared to 40 percent of black students and 31 percent of white students.
Those numbers have remained relatively constant over the past few years. But the reasons why students leave have changed.
According to the report, students are now considering leaving their post-secondary pursuits primarily due to emotional stress, mental health and cost. And mental health and stress are at the top. The number of students tempted to leave university due to their mental health or wellbeing has increased, with 54 per cent of all students citing emotional stress (and 43 per cent citing personal mental health) as reasons for leaving.
While not surprising, it is disappointing.
The numbers increased during the pandemic, and researchers hoped this was a pandemic-related phenomenon and that the emotional stress students feel would decline to pre-pandemic norms, says Stephanie Marken, a senior partner at Gallup responsible for its education research. division. But then it remained at its all-time high. “I think that just represents a new normal,” Marken says.
An optimistic reading of these findings would be that students are simply more comfortable sharing their struggles with researchers, and therefore researchers are noticing higher levels of tension, Marken says. But there are other concerns: Inflation has forced people to work more and triggered more financial stress, Marken notes. Financial problems can also manifest as stress and worry, which makes it much more difficult to participate in studies, he adds. Today's students also tend to have more competing responsibilities with school than students a decade or two ago, Marken says, such as childcare.
Still, at least one researcher fears that this could mean more students enroll in college and then leave without a degree.
Students who start college but don't finish are worse off than a student who never went, Marken says. They don't see a pay increase from earning a certificate or degree. They possibly took out loans to go to school and also lost time at their workplace. They are also more likely to have difficulty paying bills, Marken says.
Not solving the problem would mean a significant loss of economic opportunities for the country, he says. After all, even with inflated costs, lifetime earnings are significantly higher for students who complete their studies with a degree.
Laws of attraction
Retaining students has also become vital for universities. As the number of traditional college-age students has declined, some schools have even begun to question whether they can keep their doors open. For regional schools, it has been particularly pronounced. With enrollment numbers low, schools may be anxious to keep the students they have from giving up.
Understanding why people leave is critical to keeping enrollment numbers high, Marken maintains. In investigating “stopping,” Gallup researchers were trying to understand whether colleges will continue to lose more students and whether the “some college, no degree” population will continue to grow.
Based on this research, Marken believes so.
What about the solutions? Much of the money spent by institutions has been focused on providing support during times of crisis, Marken says. That's important, but less money has been spent “upstream,” helping students understand how they can also be more resilient in college, a necessarily difficult time in their lives.
It's very important for students to get resources to develop some resilience, so they can bounce back from the challenges they experience in everyday life in a way that doesn't lead them to drop out of their program, Marken says. That means equipping students to feel connected to their community, helping them build a network and find their niche, which can help reduce loneliness. For example: offering networking opportunities and extracurricular activities that are truly individualized for students.
Redirecting some money there, he says, could address the problem more proactively.
But in the meantime, the trend is disturbing.
“I'm really deeply concerned about the growing 'some college, no degree' demographic in the U.S.,” Marken concludes, adding, “I think it's an indictment of our postsecondary education system, that we have so many students who temporarily abandoned their studies. .”
