What Students With Mental Health Challenges Should Consider in the College Search

You’re at the end of your junior year of high school with a list of colleges that interest you. You’ve also faced some mental health challenges, and the COVID-19 pandemic didn’t help. And maybe you wonder if your preferred colleges will meet your mental health needs.

The answer is reassuring: Most colleges have counseling centers and provide accommodations for documented mental and physical health issues, learning differences and other areas where students may need assistance. Administrators recognize that anxiety, depression and substance abuse among students are on the rise, and the need for these services has increased.

“There is no one-size-fits-all college,” says Amy Gatto, director of research and evaluation at Active Minds, a nonprofit organization that promotes mental health and has student chapters at 800 colleges and high schools across all 50 states.

Know Where to Seek Advice

First, it’s important to know who to turn to for advice.

“Start with the family pediatrician, therapist, guidance counselors or teachers,” Marcus Hotaling, director of the Eppler-Wolff Counseling Center at Union College in New York and president of the Association for University and College Counseling Center Directors suggests.

Consider School Size, Distance From Home

It’s also important to consider how college size and proximity to home may affect mental health and well-being.

“Some students will thrive at a large school where others will fall through the cracks,” Hotaling says. “Some students will be bored at a small school where others will love being the big fish in a small sea.”

“Will a student be able to come home at any other time than the major holidays? Can they afford the airfare?”

In some cases, taking a gap year between high school and college may be a good move for a student experiencing a mental health challenge.

Therapy

Though most colleges have counseling centers, “there are differences from one college to another in relation to the limits to services offered on campus,” Hotaling notes. “Some schools will have session limits for counseling, while others do not.”

It is not unusual for students to remain in treatment with their pre-college therapist, so families should consider that option as well.

Medication

Different colleges have different policies governing medication management. Families on a campus tour should feel free to ask questions regarding general college policy, such as whether there is a campus psychiatrist who does medication management.

Academic Accommodations

Hotaling suggests that students set up accommodations as soon as they arrive on campus. Policies differ from school to school, he notes, but for academic accommodations, most colleges “will require some level of neuropsychological testing and a testing report be sent to the college.”

Living Arrangements

The most basic decision regarding living arrangements is whether you will live on campus or go to a commuter college and live with your family.

If you are required to or decide to live in campus housing, is your mental health better served with a private room or are you fine with a roommate? And is it possible you may be forced to make a change down the road?

What to Do After Acceptance, Before Deciding

By the time you decide to apply to a college, you likely know the college’s mental health offerings.

“The school will give you honest answers about what, according to their policies, they can realistically offer you,” Hotaling says. The time for students to get really specific about their needs is after acceptance but before making a decision, Hotaling says.

Excerpted from “What Students With Mental Health Challenges Should Consider in the College Search” in U.S. News & World Report. Read the full article online for additional details.

Source: U.S. News & World Report | What Students With Mental Health Challenges Should Consider in the College Search, https://www.usnews.com/education/articles/what-students-with-mental-health-challenges-should-consider-in-the-college-search | Copyright 2022 © U.S. News & World Report L.P.

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