United States: a third of undergraduate students have considered stopping studies because of the Covid

The pandemic has had a huge impact on the mental health of students. This is what the Gallup Institute highlights. More than 5,000 American students pursuing higher education (bachelor’s or associate’s degree) were asked about their state of mind after months of enforced isolation and distance learning. If this population is already particularly vulnerable outside of the pandemic, it is now even more so. A third of young people enrolled in a bachelor’s degree (32%) say they have considered interrupting their studies for a semester or more in the last six months. This phenomenon is even more accentuated among students seeking to obtain an “associate degree”, the equivalent of a diploma in general university studies (DEUG).

Most Americans say they’ve considered dropping out of school because of emotional stress—whether they’re pursuing a bachelor’s or associate’s degree. The Covid-19, the cost of studies and the difficulty of their university course are also among the most cited reasons. “If higher education institutions face an increase in mental health disorders [au sein de la population estudiantine] over the past decade, it has been clear that the pandemic has exacerbated an already critical problem.”notes the Gallup Institute in the studywhich he produced in partnership with the Lumina Foundation.

These results are, unfortunately, hardly surprising. The pandemic has led to an increase in cases of depression and anxiety across the world, as previously revealed in a study published in October in The Lancet. Young people have been hit harder than older age groups, as they experienced this crisis during the founding period of coming of age.

Student debt: main source of concern

Another concern: repayment of student debt. Many analysts fear an increase in defaults among young graduates. In 2021, some 40 million Americans accumulated a debt of 1,700 billion dollars (1,612 billion euros) contracted to pay for their higher education. A pause on the repayments of certain student loans had been decreed in March 2020 by Donald Trump due to the health crisis, before being extended until May 1 of this year by Joe Biden. “Millions of people with student loans are still dealing with the impact of the pandemic and need more time before they can resume repayments”, explained in December the American president. A few days before the end of this system, many Americans fear that part of the youth will be even more immersed in precariousness.

Many young people, whether in the United States, the United Kingdom or France, feel that they have been forgotten by the authorities during this period. US states such as Arizona, Colorado and Florida have tried to respond by allowing students to take time off to take care of their mental health. Some schools across the country have even created relaxation rooms to help them better manage their daily stress and anxiety.

The deterioration of young people’s mental health is not without consequences for American students, but also for the university system itself. “The decline in enrollment presents a significant challenge for higher education institutions, especially for smaller institutions that rely heavily on enrollment to stay open”underlines the Gallup Institute.