By William H. Freivogel
More college students are arriving on campus reporting serious mental health problems and more students are threatening suicide than in the past. But some college counseling services, such as those at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, are so understaffed that many students have to wait weeks before getting help.
That is one of the findings of a five-month investigation of colleges and universities in four Midwestern states.
Last year, about 40 students at SIUC threatened to commit suicide, counseling officials say. Counselors use a triage system to try to identify those with such urgent mental problems when the students first walk in the door. Those without urgent problems have to wait about three weeks to see a counselor.
The situation at SIUC is common in other Midwestern states. Counseling and psychiatric services are buckling under the increased demand from students entering schools with more serious illnesses than seen before. A national survey of college counselors last year found that the percentage of students reporting serious mental problems had nearly tripled over the past decade.
Many counseling services are failing to meet the nationally accepted standard for counselor-to-student ratios, leading to longer waits for assistance and limited number of sessions.
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