Story at a glance
- A new Gallup survey found a growing number of college students are considering dropping out and citing emotional stress as the reason why.
- Multiracial students were the most likely to report having considered stopping school.
- About 76 percent of bachelor’s degree students cited emotional stress as the reason for stopping school.
College students are not doing so well, with a growing number considering withdrawing from their programs and citing emotional stress.
A new survey conducted by Gallup surveyed about 5,200 college students across the country pursuing an associate or bachelor’s degree. The results showed that about a third, 32 percent, of currently enrolled students pursuing a bachelor’s degree reported having considered withdrawing from their program for a semester or more in the past six months.
Among all racial and ethnic groups, multiracial students were the most likely to report having considered stopping school, with about half of those pursuing an associate or bachelor’s degree reporting they considered stopping school in the past six months.
The most common reason cited for stopping school was emotional stress — with 76 percent of bachelor’s degree students and 63 percent of associate degree seekers.
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COVID-19, cost of attendance and coursework being too difficult were the next most common reasons cited. Notably, the percentage of respondents that cited coursework was too difficult increased by 17 points — increasing to 34 percent in 2021 for bachelor’s degree students.
The implications are serious, as Gallup explained when students who drop out of higher education, they end up leaving worse off than when they entered. That’s because many carry high levels of student debt without the benefit of a higher-earning degree.
The surge in emotional stress is also worrisome, as Gallup believed that is likely a reflection of the impact CO VID-19 has had on college campuses nationally. Millions of students dealt with frequent openings, closings and emergency remote learning for the past two years.
“The two issues — academic challenge and mental health — are highly related as coursework challenges can increase feelings of stress, and stress can make concentrating on schoolwork and studying even more difficult,” said Gallup.
Gallup’s findings are consistent with other research, like a report by the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) that found Black and Latino students’ education plans were disproportionately affected by the coronavirus pandemic.
That report, conducted by the Latino Policy & Politics Initiative at UCLA, found that before COVID-19 vaccines were available, almost 11 percent of Latino students planned to cancel their postsecondary education plans in the fall of 2021, compared to only 6.4 percent of the total population.
Black students were 10 percent more likely to cancel their postsecondary plans, compared to only 5.5 percent of Asian students and 5.4 percent of white students.
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