A recent headline in Inside Higher Ed reads “Only One-Third of College Students Have Positive Mental Health.” Clearly, anxiety and depression have become part of the everyday student experience.
That article draws upon the 2024-25 edition of the Healthy Minds Study, whose findings are quite unsettling for university administrators and parents alike.
A mere 36 percent of college students reported that they have high levels of success in relationships, self-esteem, purpose and optimism. And that is actually an improvement over the even more dreadful results during the COVID years. The study’s lead author, Daniel Eisenberg, professor of Health Policy and Management at UCLA, cites the return to in-person instruction as a possible reason for the gains in student well-being. He concludes that “We should be encouraged that we’re seeing some signs of a positive trend, but we also should keep in mind that the levels [of mental distress] are very high.”
College itself should not be solely blamed for this mental health crisis. More than half of the students surveyed reported that they had received a diagnosis of a mental health impairment at some time during their lives. Presumably, some of these diagnoses came in their pre-college days. Based on my four decades in academia, I have seen too many parents send their children to campus with the unrealistic hope that their sons and daughters will have these issues miraculously disappear once they move into the dorms. This ignores the reality that adapting to college life is a challenge for even the healthiest of 18-year-olds. Parents should think of colleges as partners in their children’s mental health, not replacements. I advise sharing all you can about your child with the college’s psychological services team upon enrollment. Don’t worry about stigmatizing your kid – he or she will have plenty of company among those with identified psychological concerns.
Are the numbers as grim for Jewish college students? The Healthy Minds survey used to provide a respondent’s religion, but they stopped doing so three years ago. The pre-2022 results were encouraging, with Jews reporting that they were considerably better off than others in terms of mental health indicators, especially compared with those who said they have no religion. The positive impact of religious identification is consistent with a finding that several researchers and I also discovered. At Northwestern University, we tracked graduating seniors who stated in exit surveys that they loved their college years and would enthusiastically recommend the school to others. How did they develop those positive feelings? Three experiences stood out: they were more likely than other Northwestern students to be a member of a sorority or fraternity, to be involved with a musical group, and/or to be affiliated with a campus religious association. All three created a sense of community. The Healthy Minds survey found that two-thirds of students feel isolated at least some of the time. Religious and other organizations can be a remedy for such isolation.
Circumstances facing Jewish students have changed dramatically since Oct. 7, 2023. How are they faring today? A new study by faculty from Northwestern, Brown, and UC Berkeley provides some fascinating answers. Over the first five months of this year, the researchers surveyed students attending 600 colleges and universities. As one of the authors, Northwestern Psychology Professor Greg Miller put it, he was “surprised and relieved” by what they found: Jews on average reported being better off mentally than others did.
While this is certainly good news, there was a wide dispersion in survey responses, with some Jewish students indicating that they are suffering greatly. Why? It is a familiar story – they said that they didn’t fit in with the prevailing campus culture. When college students feel that they don’t belong, anxiety and depression follow.
With the ability to foster connections being key to a student’s mental health, organizations such as Hillel and Chabad (and their non-Jewish religious counterparts) must be well-funded and well-respected. Without them, students may easily be left adrift, especially during these trying times.
Maintaining positive mental health is a challenge that is not unique to college campuses. Fortunately for Jews, we have a faith that teaches resiliency, supplemented with a set of institutions that are eager to support us when we are most in need.
Morton Schapiro served for more than 22 years as President of Northwestern University and Williams College. He taught almost 7,000 undergraduates over his more than 40 years as an economics professor.
