Patterns During the Pandemic: How Eating Disorders Have Affected College Students During COVID-19
In the latest issue of the Mary Christie Quarterly, MCI’s summer intern, Mollie Ames, writes about the impact of the pandemic on eating disorders among college students. “Patterns During the Pandemic: How Eating Disorders Have Affected College Students During COVID-19” includes testimonies from students who were in recovery from their eating disorder at the onset of the pandemic, as well as those who struggled through new eating and body-related concerns as the stress and isolation of quarantine took their emotional toll. Dr. Rachel Rodgers, director of the APPEAR (Applied Psychology Program for Eating and Appearance Research) at Northeastern University, provides her expertise, helping illuminate why the pandemic triggered widespread issues with food and body image and who tends to be most at-risk. As students look toward another major shift in routine, they continue to imagine what their eating, exercise, and recovery will look like upon their return to campus this fall.
Mental and Behavioral Health
Main Stories
In light of Ohio State’s recent findings that the rate of burnout increased over 40% among a sample of undergraduates between last summer and this spring, The Hechinger Report reiterates the extent of the pandemic’s emotional toll on college students and stresses that reacclimating to school life will no doubt bring new and persistent challenges. Young people between the ages of 18 and 23 have been shown throughout the pandemic to be experiencing the most stress — often related to their schoolwork — with a particular impact on Hispanic and Black students. As schools anticipate significant demand for on-campus mental health services, many are trying to equip students with coping mechanisms, including app-led meditation. Experts encourage college faculty and staff to acknowledge the trauma for students over the last year and take strides to connect with them whenever possible.
Vox suggests that “America’s Mental Health Moment is Finally Here,” discussing the implications of gymnast Simone Biles’ ‘revolutionary’ decision to remove herself from competition when the emotional strain became too great. Elite athletes, and particularly Black women athletes, have been open about their struggles with mental health and the need for self-care like never before. So, as more people are willing to talk about and ask for help for mental health problems, many young, Black female athletes are paving the way to destigmatize the issue even further. Insurance and work culture still pose potential barriers, but the future of mental health awareness seems more promising, as Gen Z-ers are not only the most likely to recognize and report symptoms of anxiety and depression but the most likely to seek treatment.
In an op-ed for Commonwealth Magazine, William James College president Nicholas Covino urges colleges to prepare to confront the trauma that their students will have faced over the last year of the pandemic. As they return to campus, students, Covino says, will need support that extends beyond standard mental health counseling and ultimately falls on the entire community to provide. In particular, studies have shown that students’ academic and emotional wellbeing improve in classroom environments where they are comfortable sharing their feelings and have opportunities to connect with others. Faculty members can be a particularly important line of defense when it comes to assisting students, although it is important that faculty are also being cared for and not viewed as a substitute for psychiatric services.
Other News
In an op-ed for Inside Higher Ed, higher education expert Ray Schroeder suggests that schools are not returning to operations ‘as normal’ simply because campuses are opening up. Rather, he stresses that, given the extent of the pandemic’s mental health impact on young adults, colleges need to recognize the unknown long term emotional consequences for students and respond appropriately.
The Harvard Gazette announces the initiation of Harvard’s new 24/7 mental health hotline, which provides students with access to a licensed counselor at all hours and for any mental health concern (emergent or non-emergent). While standard counseling options will still be available, the hotline service hopes to facilitate students in the process of getting the appropriate care for them.
While people with a history of anxiety or depression may be less likely to get screening imaging (e.g. mammograms, low-dose CT screening for lung cancer), a new study finds that they are significantly more likely to use diagnostic imaging (e.g. imaging in the emergency department, chest imaging in response to heart pain, neuroimaging in response to a headache). These findings are particularly applicable to people in institutions of higher education, as 32.9% of health plan members aged 18-29 without anxiety used diagnostic imaging, while 44.5% of those with anxiety did so.
For Forbes, UC Berkeley first-gen McNair Scholar Ariana Berumen describes her struggle to feel like she belonged academically and socially at an institution that did not provide easy access to connect with other first-gen or Latinx students. As students of color and first-gen students tend to report feeling less belonging, Berumen advocates for physical spaces to foster connections among these students and, in turn, promote improved mental health outcomes.
In light of the recent wave of elite athletes sharing their struggles with mental health, the editorial board of UCLA’s The Daily Bruin considers the intense pressures placed on their school’s student athletes to perform. The op-ed urges the school to support student athletes and prioritize their wellbeing over their athletic abilities, including by offering athlete-specific intervention and counseling options.
The University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health has directed over 14 awards, or $2.7 million, to various research and community groups investigating the social-emotional and broader health concerns brought about by the pandemic. Eight of these awards are going toward organizations that focus specifically on the mental health impact of Covid-19 for young people, including LGBTQ+ youth and youth of color.
The Roanoke Times considers colleges’ responsibility to students to care for their mental health on-site, as the demand for services is spiking without substantial enough resources on many campuses. While schools often frame their counseling services as a short-term solution, adolescent mental health care across Virginia is lacking or non-existent, leaving many students without options.
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
The Second Chance Pell Experimental Initiatives will expand access to college education for incarcerated students in the forthcoming 2022 to 2023 academic year. The Second Chance Pell was established in 2015 by the Obama administration to provide federal funding of Pell Grants to prisoners in federal and state prisons. The expansion will allow for 200 institutions to participate in offering prison education programs with the aim to have programs implemented in all 50 states. Students will also have an increased variety of programs to better support students’ studies. Emily Bouck West, deputy executive director at Higher Learning Advocates, says the move to provide more college level education to incarcerated individuals will reduce recidivism, increase employment opportunities after release, allow individuals to escape poverty, and reduce racial disparities considering that “people of color are disproportionately affected by the criminal justice system.”
The Chronicle speaks with Temple University professor Sara Goldrick-Rab about a report she recently co-authored, revealing who was infected with Covid-19 among a population of around 100,000 students: While 7% of all respondents reported having been infected with the virus, those who were evidently most at risk included students of color, low-income students, working students, student parents, students with anxiety or depression, and students facing food insecurity. Goldrick-Rab encourages schools to ask students whether they have been infected in order to better understand the ways that inequality affects the student body and address potential long-term impact.
Dr. Linda Garcia, director of the Center for Community College Student Engagement, collaborated with the National Alliance of Community and Technical Colleges for a panel that addresses the pandemic’s disproportionate impact on Black students, especially Black men. Diverse Education reports that the panel focused on ways to maintain enrollment among Black male students, including by providing community support and mentorship opportunities and strengthening paths to post-secondary education. Schools will need to hold themselves accountable for supporting their vulnerable students and speaking to them directly about what would make them feel most safe.
According to The Washington Post, historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) are receiving more financial support than ever before, including from both federal and private funding. Yet, many HBCUs continue to contend with the consequences of “decades of state and federal neglect,” as even record-breaking donations do not fully counter outstanding maintenance and other necessary institutional costs. HBCUs are historically more dependent on government funding, and while some states are offering more assistance, they still await President Biden’s budget proposals and consider the possibility that funds could wane.
Diverse Education highlights a recent report from the Student Borrower Protection Center (SBPC), finding that for-profit institutions target communities of color in their “recruitment and location strategies.” Because for-profit schools are the source of just 9% of student enrollment but 17% of student debt, their targeting strategies widen the racial wealth gap by burdening students of color with more debt. Across Midwestern cities, for-profit schools in majority Black and Latinx neighborhoods vastly outnumber those in white neighborhoods, leading the SBPC report to advise the Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights to require greater transparency among these institutions.
Campus Safety
Inside Higher Ed’s latest Student Voice Survey examined responses from over 2,000 students and 113 colleges and universities that showed the majority of students (63%) support decreasing public funding for their universities if free speech was prohibited on campus. About 8 in 10 student respondents said they felt safe on campus. Students of color were more likely to be invested in decisions related to campus security. Most students believe institutions have a responsibility to investigate off-campus reports of sexual assault with 80% of women, 74% of nonbinary students, and 66% of men agreeing. When asked about COVID-19 safety protocols, community college students were more likely to want hybrid learning and avoidance of large events. Most students supported “returning to a sense of normalcy” and preferred increased sanitizing procedures for safety measures as opposed to indoor social distancing and wearing masks.
Substance Use
A study from the University of North Carolina Chapel-Hill determined that 439 first-year students reported drinking less and fewer instances of binge drinking during the first four months of the pandemic compared to before its onset. Social isolation and reduced peer support may account for the drop in alcohol use from 54.2% before the pandemic to 46% mid-pandemic and the drop in binge drinking from 35.5% beforehand to 24.6% mid-pandemic. Meanwhile, stress and education-related concerns correlated with increased drinking, and 20.5% of students admitted to using alcohol and substances as coping mechanisms.
Student Success
In another year of growing popularity for test-optional policies, Higher Ed Dive reports that over two-thirds of bachelor’s degree granting universities will not require standardized SAT and ACT scores for the incoming fall 2022 admissions cycle. FairTest, an advocacy organization dedicated to reducing inequities in standardized assessments, analyzed over 1,600 four-year higher education institutions not requiring college entrance standardized testing. Bob Schaeffer, executive director at FairTest, says test-optional policies will likely continue to grow as eliminating such requirements lead to increased diversity “but doesn’t cut academic quality.” The SAT and ACT has been widely criticized for benefiting affluent, White students who are able to afford extensive test-preparation and costly fees associated with the tests.
As unemployment spiked to almost 15% during the pandemic, the non-profit College Promise is directing its energy toward developing new ways to improve economic mobility and professional success for college students. Diverse Education highlights some of the programs involved, which aim to ensure college completion by offering college scholarships, college transition assistance, and mental health and legal services for school-aged students. Other projects work to increase economic mobility by supporting students as well as their parents, offering help in receiving their post-secondary education.
Basic Needs
The United States Department of Education has released $600 million towards helping students facing homelessness and housing insecurity. States and school districts will be able to access the remainder of funds from the American Rescue Plan Act’s Homeless Children and Youth program. The District of Columbia and Puerto Rico will also be able to use the funds to connect students to support services to combat homelessness.
The University of Richmond is donating modular homes to help the homeless and survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault. Five double wide homes and 20 singular units were bought last year to quarantine residential students as part of the University’s COVID-19 response strategy. The university announced that it will no longer need all the units and will be donating them to the Family Crisis Support Services in Virginia. The units will be used for emergency shelter and transitional housing for those in need.
College Affordability
According to Higher Ed Dive, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed a bill this week expanding student aid, investing $47.1 billion towards higher education. The legislation will increase grant eligibility for older adults to attend community college, allowing for an estimated 133,000 community college students to participate. The bill will also help with expanding California’s Middle Class Scholarship, which covers college costs not covered by federal, state, or institutional aid. First-year applicants who complete an associate’s degree at a California community college in two years will also be guaranteed admission to the University of California or California State campus of their choice.
The Washington Post highlights the ways colleges are using pandemic funds to absolve student balances, making it possible for thousands of students to re-enroll prior to the start of the fall semester. Over 150 colleges are forgiving outstanding bills for unpaid tuition, parking or library fees. The Education Department has also specified how to use the $76.2 billion in federal aid for colleges and universities to reap financial losses during the pandemic. Dominique Baker, assistant professor of education policy at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, says the logic behind forgiving student balances is clear: “Keeping a student enrolled yields more money than having them drop out.” Additionally, the Wall Street Journal publicizes the universities benefitting from the practice. The City University of New York is clearing $125 million in student balances for over 50,000 students. Historically Black colleges and universities are also using the $2.6 billion allocated for HBCUs from the American Rescue Plan Act to clear unpaid balances to re-enroll their students, many of which are from low-income backgrounds.
The Department of Education is allocating an additional $3.2 billion to historic and under-resourced institutions, including historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs), tribal colleges and universities (TCUs), minority-serving institutions (MSIs), and some community colleges. With about $1 billion going to HBCUs and MCIs and $143 million going to TCUs, Diverse Education reports that the influx in funds will come from various Higher Education Emergency Relief Funds.
Coronavirus: Safety and Reopening
The Chronicle reports on colleges responding to the recent surge of Delta variant cases. This past spring, the nation’s colleges and universities were hopeful to return to a nearly normal fall semester, given the declining transmission rates of COVID-19 and millions of vaccines being administered to Americans. However, the spread of the more contagious Delta variant and low vaccination rates among some states have led to colleges re-evaluating safety policies. According to The Chronicle’s Live Coronavirus Updates, more colleges and universities are reinstating mask mandates. Last week, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention recommended that people wear masks indoors in counties with high rates of Coronavirus cases, regardless of vaccination status. Additionally, some college leaders are struggling to reach herd immunity and desired campus community vaccination rates prior to the start of the fall semester, despite incentivizing rewards and multiple email reminders. For instance, only 26% of students report being fully vaccinated at Adelphi University in New York. States such as Arkansas, one of the states banning public institutions from mandating vaccines or mask requirements, are seeing the highest number of cases and hospitalizations since January.
Inside Higher Ed highlights a newly released statement by the American College Health Association that condemns state-level restrictions prohibiting colleges and universities from administering vaccine mandates, regular COVID-19 testing, or mask requirements. The following nine states have passed statewide bans restricting vaccination mandates: Arizona, Arkansas, Michigan, Montana, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Ohio, Tennessee, Texas, and Utah. Signed by over two dozen higher education organizations, the statement from ACHA decries the restrictions, describing them as “dangerous,” noting “state actions that prevent the use of established and effective public health tools at the same time as COVID-19 cases increase is a recipe for disaster.” The statement petitions lawmakers and government figures “to empower colleges and universities to use every available public health tool to protect campuses and neighboring communities from a COVID-19 surge this fall.”
