Illinois colleges get more funds to upgrade mental health services
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Illinois colleges and universities are finally getting additional funding to improve mental health services for more students in need.
What's happening: State lawmakers last month approved $9 million in funds for the Mental Health Early Action on Campus Act, which was passed in 2019 without funding to implement it.
- It requires colleges to improve mental health training, screening, treatment and other support tools on campus. Allocations were based on each school's self-assessed need.
Why it matters: More than 60% of U.S. college students meet the criteria for at least one mental health problem, per a 2021 survey.
- And requests for counseling and other mental health services have been steadily rising on campuses since before the pandemic.
- Locally, UIC faculty are so concerned about supporting student mental health that it became a major negotiation point in their recent strike.
Between the lines: No one is certain about what's driving the increased need among students, but Jen McGowan-Tomke, of mental health advocacy group NAMI, tells Axios it could be a few things:
- "Many attend college around the time mental health issues begin. … It's also when young people are managing stress and anxiety, which can be compounded by the transition to college and potentially being away from home."
- Penn State researchers found that COVID "has only exacerbated a student mental health crisis that existed before the pandemic." Roughly a third of students suggested their reason for seeking mental health services were related to the pandemic, per a 2022 study.
What they're saying: The money recently allocated to Illinois colleges could be used to "develop an online screening tool" or "increase on-campus clinical staff to shorten or eliminate long wait times to see a provider," said Lily Rocha of the Young Invincibles, a youth advocacy nonprofit that supported the bill.
What's next: Rocha told Axios mental health advocates will seek renewed funding each year.
- "It's not fair to students to begin improving the services and then stop," she said. "This is a great start, but the funding must be continuous for students to see the impact."