EDITORIAL: Additional Counseling Center staff needed to serve students
A record-number of students seeking help at the Counseling Center means some will not receive the counseling they need until the spring semester.
Demand for mental health services in the fall semester is at an all-time high and Central Michigan University does not have enough counselors to deal with the influx. The university needs to prioritize spending that has a direct impact on students. Our well-being should be among its highest priorities.
To address the long list of students waiting for the Counseling Center, one part-time counselor was added and another part-time counselor was moved to full-time.
Students do not have to wait to receive emergency counseling participate or support groups, however, there are only nine full-time counselors, two part-time and four student interns who can accommodate the increasing number of students.
This is not enough, and hiring part-time staff is only a temporary solution.
More students are entering college with mental illness diagnoses and psychotropic medication needs, and more are accessing mental health services on campus, especially in the fall semester. The increased demand for counseling also increases demand for office professionals and support staff to schedule students and coordinate sessions.
In this time of reduced financial support for higher education, counseling services are mistakenly seen as a luxury that campuses cannot afford. CMU has an obligation to provide basic services to support student success. It is the expectation of parents and the community, but more importantly it is the right thing to do.
It would not be difficult to find funds for new full-time positions to be created, especially considering that $37.3 million in subsidies went to non-revenue generating areas of campus this year.
Full-time counselors at the center are paid between $55,000 and $80,000 before benefits, comparable to an assistant professor or academic advisor. The Athletics Department alone received $2.7 million more in subsidies than last year. This would pay for almost 50 new full-time counselors, assuming they are paid the same salary as the least experienced staff members.
Student mental health services are not only needed to support the psychological well-being of students, they are also an important part of academic success and retention.
A 2013 study conducted by the American College Health Association found that students who reported psychological distress also reported receiving a lower grade on an exam or in their course or experiencing a significant disruption in thesis, dissertation, research or practicum work.
Students with high levels of psychological distress are less academically successful, have more test anxiety, lower academic self‐efficacy and less effective time management and use of study resources. They were also found to be less likely to stay in school when faced with distraction or difficulty.
Increasing mental health services would benefit retention rates, allowing students to focus on their education instead of dealing with psychological issues. Between 1995 and 2014, 91 percent of first-time freshmen entering CMU in the fall semester continued in the spring, but only 76 percent enrolled a second year at CMU.
Students do not return for a number of reasons, but identifying students with depressive symptoms, especially during the first year of college, might decrease their risk of dropping out. If the university wants students to return, especially in the second semester, there needs to be resources to care for their mental health.
This issue is not going to go away. Counseling Center Director Ross Rapaport said the demand for services increased regardless of which direction enrollment trends.
CMU needs to anticipate that this will happen each fall and plan to hire additional staff during a the long stretch of classes before Thanksgiving, where midterm exams and changing weather tends to cause more students to seek mental health resources.
