More students willing to skip college to protect mental health: Gallup

Students are increasingly leaving school — not with a degree, but with a mental health crisis.

A new Gallup survey has reported that 41% of students who are currently enrolled in a postsecondary program have considered stopping their education in the past six months.

The number has gone up significantly since the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, in which 33% of students had considered dropping out within the previous six months.

“Emotional stress” was the most-cited reason for students wanting to drop out, coming in at 55%.

“Personal mental health reasons” — included as a survey response for the first time this year — were the second-most cited, at 47%.

Students in a four-year degree program appeared to fare worse, as almost half of students earning bachelor’s degrees said that they “frequently” experience emotional stress.

Gallup researchers, with support from the education-advocacy group Lumina Foundation, surveyed 12,015 US adults age 18-59 between October and November last year.

Participants were required to hold a high school degree or an equivalent, and have not yet completed their associate’s or bachelor’s degree.

Researchers also saw disparities between genders: 47% of female students who took the survey said that they “frequently” experience emotional stress, compared to only 30% of male students.

Meanwhile, 43% of younger students, age 18 to 24, were “frequently stressed.” This is compared to those students age 25 and above, of whom only 29% stated that they felt the same.

Even with restrictions from the pandemic lifting, the report showed that “students in associate or bachelor’s degree programs were no less likely in 2022 than they were in 2021 to have considered stopping their coursework prior to completion.”

Surprisingly, the least cited reason for students wanting to drop out was that the degree wouldn’t help them with their personal goals.

The mental health of students has been a key policy platform as of late. President Joe Biden called for more mental health support at schools during his State of the Union address in February, announcing a $280 million grant program that will help schools hire more counselors to address this issue.

“When millions of young people are struggling with bullying, violence, trauma, we owe them greater access to mental health care at school,” Biden said during the address.

A 2022 study by Boston University found that, in the past eight years, depression among college students increased by nearly 135%, while anxiety increased by 110%.