More Than Inconvenienced: The Unique Needs of U.S. College Students During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

U.S. college students are a distinct population facing major challenges due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Before the pandemic, students were already experiencing substantial mental health concerns, putting both their health and academic success in jeopardy. College students now face increasing housing and food insecurity, financial hardships, a lack of social connectedness and sense of belonging, uncertainty about the future, and access issues that impede their academic performance and well-being. There is also reason to believe that COVID-19 is exacerbating inequalities for students of color and low-income students. We provide several recommendations for institutions of higher education to mitigate these obstacles, including engaging in data-driven decision making, delivering clear and informative messaging to students, prioritizing and expanding student support services, and using an equity framework to guide all processes.

Keywords

college COVID-19 health mental health students university

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

American College Health Association. (2019a). ACHA guidelines: Standards of practice for health promotion in higher education (4th ed.). https://www.acha.org/documents/resources/guidelines/ACHA_Standards_of_Practice_for_Health_Promotion_in_Higher_Education_October2019.pdf

American College Health Association. (2019b). American College Health Association-National College Health Assessment II: Reference group executive summary, Spring 2019. https://www.acha.org/documents/ncha/NCHA-II_SPRING_2019_US_REFERENCE_GROUP_EXECUTIVE_SUMMARY.pdf

American College Health Association. (2020a). ACHA guidelines: Considerations for reopening institutions of higher education in the COVID-19 era. https://acha-test.app.box.com/s/k202537ahi3w27b0w6cdhqxynr3vljif

American College Health Association. (2020b). ACHA-NCHA III reference group executive summary, Fall 2019. https://www.acha.org/documents/ncha/NCHA-III_Fall_2019_Reference_Group_Executive_Summary.pdf

Bettinger

Loeb

(2017). Promises and pitfalls of online education. Evidence Speaks Reports, 2(15), 1–4. https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/ccf_20170609_loeb_evidence_speaks1.pdf

Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. (2020). Today’s college students. https://postsecondary.gatesfoundation.org/what-were-learning/todays-college-students/

Brown

(2020, May 25). When Covid-19 closed colleges, many students lost jobs they needed. Now campuses scramble to support them. Chronicle of Higher Education. https://www.chronicle.com/article/When-Covid-19-Closed-Colleges/248345

Bruening

Argo

Payne-Sturges

Laska

M. N.

(2017). The struggle is real: A systematic review of food insecurity on postsecondary education campuses. Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, 117(11), 1767–1791. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jand.2017.05.022

Campbell

A. M.

(2020). An increasing risk of family violence during the Covid-19 pandemic: Strengthening community collaborations to save lives. Forensic Science International Reports, e-pub ahead of print: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fsir.2020.100089

10.

Chesser

Ham

A. D.

Woods

N. K.

(2020). Assessment of COVID-19 knowledge among university students: Implications for future risk communication strategies. Health Education & Behavior, 47(4), 540–543. https://doi.org/10.1177/1090198120931420

11.

Chronicle staff. (2020). Here’s a list of colleges’ plans for reopening in the fall. Chronicle of Higher Education. https://www.chronicle.com/article/Here-s-a-List-of-Colleges-/248626?utm_source=at&utm_medium=en&utm_source=Iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=campaign_1266901&cid=at&source=ams&sourceId=4357658

12.

Eisenberg

Golberstein

Hunt

J. B.

(2009). Mental health and academic success in college. The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, 9(1), 1–37. https://doi.org/10.2202/1935-1682.2191

13.

Fink

J. E.

(2014). Flourishing: Exploring predictors of mental health within the college environment. Journal of American College Health, 62(6), 380–388. https://doi.org/10.1080/07448481.2014.917647

14.

Goldrick-Rab

Cady

Coca

(2018). Campus food pantries: Insights from a national survey. https://hope4college.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/2018-CUFBA-Report-web-2.pdf

15.

Gopalan

Brady

S. T.

(2020). College students’ sense of belonging: A national perspective. Educational Researcher, 49(2), 134–137. https://doi.org/10.3102/0013189X19897622

16.

Gummadam

Pittman

L. D.

Ioffe

(2016). School belonging, ethnic identity, and psychological adjustment among ethnic minority college students. Journal of Experimental Education, 84(2), 289–306. https://doi.org/10.1080/00220973.2015.1048844

17.

Healthy Minds Network & American College Health Association. (2020). The impact of COVID-19 on college student well-being. https://www.acha.org/documents/ncha/Healthy_Minds_NCHA_COVID_Survey_Report_FINAL.pdf

18.

Higher Learning Advocates. (2018). How well do we really know today’s students? Inside-out perspectives on shifting demographics of higher education. https://higherlearningadvocates.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/10-18-HLA-TodaysStudents-Survey-Deck-FINAL.pdf

19.

Hittepole

(n.d.). Nontraditional students: Supporting changing student populations: A guide for chief academic officers & chief student affairs officers. https://www.naspa.org/images/uploads/main/Hittepole_NASPA_Memo.pdf

20.

Hooper

M. W.

Nápoles

A. M.

Peréz-Stable

E. J.

(2020). COVID-19 and racial/ethnic disparities. JAMA, 23(24), 2466–2467. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2020.8598

21.

Institute of Education Sciences. (2020). The condition of education 2020 (NCES 2020-144). U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics. https://nces.ed.gov/pubs2020/2020144.pdf

22.

Institute of International Education. (2019). 2019 Fast facts. https://opendoorsdata.org/fast_facts/fast-facts-2019/

23.

Lattie

E. G.

Lipson

S. K.

Eisenberg

(2019). Technology and college student mental health: Challenges and opportunities. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 10, 246. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2019.00246

24.

Lederer

A. M.

Menefee

S. E. I.

Burwell

C. B.

Oswalt

S. B.

(2019). Improving faculty engagement in college health initiatives: Insights from current faculty with a college health background. Journal of American College Health. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/07448481.2019.1664553

25.

Lederer

A. M.

Oswalt

S. B.

(2017). The value of college health promotion: A critical population and setting for improving the public’s health. American Journal of Health Education, 48(4), 215–218. https://doi.org/10.1080/19325037.2017.1316692

26.

LeViness

Gorman

Braun

Koenig

Bershad

(2019). The Association for University and College Counseling Center directors annual survey: 2019. https://www.aucccd.org/assets/documents/Survey/2019%20AUCCCD%20Survey-2020-05-31-PUBLIC.pdf

27.

Lipson

S. K.

Kern

Eisenberg

Breland-Noble

A. M.

(2018). Mental health disparities among college students of color. Journal of Adolescent Health, 63(3), 348–356. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2018.04.014

28.

Lipson

S. K.

Lattie

E. G.

Eisenberg

(2019). Increased rates of mental health service utilization by U.S. college students: 10-year population-level trends (2007-2017). Psychiatric Services, 70(1), 60–63. https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.ps.201800332

29.

McGorry

P. D.

Purcell

Goldstone

Amminger

G. P.

(2011). Age of onset and timing of treatment for mental and substance use disorders: Implications for preventive intervention strategies and models of care. Current Opinion in Psychiatry, 24(4), 301–306. https://doi.org/10.1097/YCO.0b013e3283477a09

30.

McLeroy

K. R.

Bibeau

Steckler

Glanz

(1988). An ecological perspective on health promotion programs. Health Education Quarterly, 15(4), 351–377. https://doi.org/10.1177/109019818801500401

31.

National Center for Educational Statistics. (2019). Fast facts: Back to school statistics. https://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=372

32.

Peltier

G. L.

Laden

Myrna

(2000). Student persistence in college: A review of research. Journal of College Student Retention, 1(4), 357–375. https://doi.org/10.2190/L4F7-4EF5-G2F1-Y8R3

33.

Schwartz

Kay

(2009). The crisis in college and university mental health. Psychiatric Times, 26(10), 32. https://www.psychiatrictimes.com/view/crisis-college-and-university-mental-health

34.

The New York Times. (2020, September 10). Tracking covid at U.S. Colleges and Universities. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/us/covid-college-cases-tracker.html?campaign_id=9&emc=edit_nn_20200906&instance_id=21961&nl=the-morning&regi_id=77709663&section_index=1&section_name=big_story&segment_id=37533&te=1&user_id=dcd7bcf2aacb2c20b7ce2e712348118c

35.

Turner

J. C.

Leno

E. V.

Keller

(2013). Causes of mortality among American college students: A pilot study. Journal of College Student Psychotherapy, 27(1), 31–42.

36.

U.S. Department of Education. (2010). Evaluation of evidence-based practices in online learning: A meta-analysis and review of online learning studies. https://www2.ed.gov/rschstat/eval/tech/evidence-based-practices/finalreport.pdf

37.

U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Policy Development and Research. (2015). Insights into housing and community development policy: Barriers to success: Housing insecurity for U.S. college students. https://www.huduser.gov/portal/periodicals/insight/insight_2.pdf