Nearly Half of College Students Expected to be Affected by Mental Health Issues This Fall
Forty-four percent of recently surveyed college students said they expected to be impacted by their own mental health concerns this fall or by those troubling their roommates, classmates and/or instructors. Although 82% are familiar with the mental health resources available to them on campus, more than half (53%) said preparing for the fall semester this year was harder than it was last year. Only 7% said it was “much easier and less stressful.” The survey was conducted by the National Society of High School Scholars. According to that organization’s president, “As the school year gets underway with continued uncertainty and unpredictability, we need to be sure those resources are easy to find, easy to use and easy to share with other students.”
Source: Campus Technology
Most Undergrads Depended on Financial Aid to Pay for College
Approximately 60% of U.S. undergraduate college students relied on federal financial aid to pay for their education during the 2017/2018 academic year, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. Overall, 70% used some form of financial aid, not including loans from private lenders. “Of the federal aid, 44% of students used Pell Grants and 39% borrowed from federal student loan programs. The average amount of total aid was $13,000, and the average amount of student loans was $6,600.” Among graduate students, nearly 60% received federal financial aid and 41% took out loans to pay for school. The average loan amount was $24,800.
Source: Inside Higher Ed
Researcher Questions Financial Value of Out-of-State Students
A new study conducted by a higher education professor at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville calls into question long-standing beliefs about the financial value out-of-state students bring to the public colleges they attend. An “increase in out-of-state students at public colleges was linked to a decrease in per-student tuition revenue, according to the research… It was also often associated with declining spending on student services, meaning that in-state students usually didn’t benefit from public colleges recruiting from beyond their state borders.” Because out-of-state students have generally paid higher tuition than in-state students, public institutions often recruit them to boost revenue. Since 2002, the population of out-of-state students has increased 55% at flagship public schools. “[T]he findings could be influenced by regional tuition exchanges, an arrangement among several neighboring states that allow many out-of-state students to receive the same or similar tuition rates as their in-state peers.”
Source: Higher Ed Dive
Increased Gender Inclusion in Grad Course Syllabi Influences Students’ Outlook on Success
Male and female graduate students respond to greater inclusion of female authors on assigned reading lists in significantly different ways. “When [researchers] adjusted the share of female authors on a syllabus from 10% to 30%, female graduate students’ self-efficacy, meaning their perceived likelihood of succeeding in the hypothetical course, was not affected. Male students, meanwhile, showed lower self-efficacy, reporting that they were less likely to succeed in the course when more women appeared on the syllabus.” Similarly, making syllabi more gender diverse resulted in lower self-efficacy among students who said they were “not supportive of diversity.”
Source: Inside Higher Ed