The emotional health of college freshmen is dire, according to a January article in The New York Times that cited an annual national survey.
Portland State’s freshmen are no exception.
Dana Tasson, executive director for the Center for Student Health and Counseling, said that the National Health Assessment showed PSU students to be in line with national data in the sense that anxiety and depression are some of the most common complaints that bring students to SHAC.
“Our students lead incredibly complex lives with conflicting demands and responsibilities,” he said.
Kelly Hess is one such freshman. Hess is both an ASPSU student senator and the vice chair of the Elections Board. Though he was awarded the President’s Scholarship last year, he still struggles with financial stress and worries about the future.
“I want to learn,” he said. “I want to engage myself fully, but…it’s incredibly disheartening to have no real idea of where to go or what to do.”
Hess suffers from cluster headaches as a result of stress. He saw a therapist off-campus but stopped making appointments several months ago because he didn’t have the time for it.
Heather Mattioli, assistant director of Financial Aid at PSU, said that she sees many students like Hess who complain about financial pressure.
“I try to train my team…about the emotional health of our students,” she said, adding that Oregon’s recession intensifies the financial worries of students.
According to the Times article, stress relating to collegiate life begins before college. The number of high school seniors who are overwhelmed with the thought of job outlook and financial aid rose from 27 percent in 2010 to 29 percent in 2011.
Deb Sankovitz is a counselor at Clackamas High School, the school that sent more students to PSU than any other high school in the state last year. She said that she does notice a change among the seniors she sees.
“Everybody is stressed because of lack of resources—tuition is going up and income is going down,” she said.
According to Sankovitz, more and more students are discouraged by steep tuition rates and are attending community colleges to cut costs before transferring to a four-year institution.
In addition, she said that some high school seniors take a year off before attending college to avoid joining the national trend of increased stress.
This is exactly what Cody Shotola-Schiewe, a senior at Grant High School in Portland, plans to do.
“I see no point in attending college to get a degree unless I am going to use it directly after,” he said. “I still want to do a lot of living before I am tied down with a career.”
Once at college, many incoming students worry about which major will be relevant in today’s challenging economy.
“I…am worried about how I can find a job with my degree; one that can pay off my debts as soon as possible,” said Corey Lowder, a freshman majoring in psychology at the University of Oregon. “I’m worried that I might be getting the ‘wrong’ degree…I only hope I can have my occupation be…psych-related, but right now we’re living in an economy where any job is a blessing.”
Louise Paradis, assistant director at PSU’s Career Center, believes that student stress about landing job is the same as ever.
“[Students] get stressed about the future, whether it’s a good economy or a bad economy,” she said.
Tasson said that SHAC doesn’t have the data on hand to support the idea that financial worries and getting a job after graduation are leading contributors to freshman stress, but that he sees a lot of depressed students.
“Anxiety and depression are still our most common presenting concerns,” he said. “Those conditions can stem from a variety of factors, economic stress certainly being one of them.”
Tasson challenged the premise of the survey cited in the Times article.
“The problem…is that the study they reference asked students to rate their own mental health,” he said. “That can mean a lot of different things to different people.”
Hess believes he and his fellow PSU freshmen follow the national trend.
“People’s minds are elsewhere,” he said. “They don’t have time for school.” ?