The Effects Of COVID On College Students’ Mental Health
How has the pandemic affected you as a student? What’s the biggest struggle you’ve faced these past few months? Can you specify how you feel about virtual/online learning, and why do you feel this way? If you were able to change anything about the school system now that everything’s online, what would it be?
This might seem like an overwhelming questionnaire but it’s the revised and improved list of questions I had fellow college students respond regarding their concerns during this pandemic, in which they had so much to say.
“As I am an international student, my fellow colleagues and I are feeling extremely frustrated about the fact that we had to pay full out-of-state tuition this fall 2020 even if our classes are being via zoom from home. Most of us are not even in the U.S anymore.” Marcela Rezende Rosa is a senior at Cal State University Northridge and journalism major from Brazil who currently lives in London. Rosa is one of many undergraduate students struggling with the new norms Covid has left, one of them is virtual learning.
My purpose is to communicate the struggles of college students during the pandemic. Especially those “forgotten” or those not talked about as much such as international students. This year many people suffered the loss of loved ones, millions lost their jobs, and others lost the motivation to stay in school. Having online classes and not socializing with others is one of the biggest issues today faced by students of all levels. Having to pay full tuition fees for enrollment and missing out on the college experience is another huge setback. Struggling financially because of the sudden loss of jobs and dealing with a disease that has ended so many lives, all adds up to students suffering from mental disorders. Stress and anxiety which affects our mental health, is now quite common among college students not only in the U.S but around the world.
An article by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) reported that an “alarming” percentage of grad students are having problems with their mental health due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Not socializing has caused moderate to severe depression among students who already have the pressure of working towards a Ph.D. However another article by the New York Times tells quite the opposite. As many college students in the L.A County wish to return to school campuses and resume their classes there, other students across the country already did. The consequence to that decision is more confirmed cases of Coronavirus among those college attendees. In North Carolina for example, a 19 year old recently died of neurological complications apparently related to Covid. However the sophomore had been living off campus and taking classes online, he was also very healthy as reported by his family. When it comes to a virus the effects of the disease are unpredictable and symptoms are felt differently by every individual.
My community has a large demographic of Hispanic people. My neighborhood of Reseda which belongs to the 91335 postal area code, is also part of the San Fernando Valley. According to the Census Reporter, in my community 77% of the population are high school grads or higher, and 25% of them receive a bachelor’s degree or higher.
The numbers of those attending college and receiving a bachelor’s degree has gone up during the last several years. But after this pandemic, it’s uncertain whether those numbers will remain or decrease. College students agree to have lost that motivation to continue with their education as they face many obstacles trying to study from home. According to the Los Angeles Times, one of the obstacles local students from L.A community colleges are facing is deferring and not being able to take the classes they need during this virtual semester. Classes that require in person lectures which can not be instructed through a screen. An issue that’s causing student’s progress reports getting pushed back meaning their graduation date as well. Other concerns students have are the lack of a quiet study space at home, access to a computer or reliable internet, and financial problems which increases their anxiety and decreases their ability to study.
According to the Daily Bruin, since the outbreak of the pandemic in the U.S many international college students living in L.A have gone back home. They’re taking advantage of “zoom university” while being away in different parts of the world. However studying abroad this semester also has its downsides for those students. One of them is the time zone difference between their location and where their institution is located. CSUN’s Marcela Rosa currently lives in London which is 8 hours ahead of Los Angeles. That means she has to be awake and present in class at 3 AM of her time zone. “That messes my entire schedule up. I just keep my head up because this is my last semester before graduation.”
My proposal is to do something engaging similar to American Dreamers or Graduating During Covid. I would like to gather photographs of the people I interviewed along with a quote and a brief background story. I would also have them tell their goals for the future perhaps after graduation. Also to think ahead, to see themselves 3–4 years from now and say whether 2020 and living through a pandemic made them a stronger person or not, and what lessons did it teach them overall. My intention is to make those students dig deep into their feelings as they respond. I would also include a theme song on the project. Music makes everything better and by adding sound, it would put certain emotion into what’s being read. Bring a bit of positive vibes into all the negative aspects of 2020 especially for college students.
