Nearly half of students feel school did not properly prepare them for the demands of university life (39%), according to new research by student accommodation provider Here! Student Living.
The survey of current university students and graduates from the last five years found that 39% felt school didn’t equip them for university, while fewer than one in 10 said they were prepared ‘very well.’
Although 41% said school prepared them ‘somewhat well’, many students reported struggling with the transition into higher education, with more than two in five students (41%) admitting they feel stressed ‘often’, with a further 19% saying they feel stressed ‘very often.’ Just 1% admitted to never feeling stressed.
Workload (67%), cost of living (67%) and exams (60%) were revealed to be the biggest contributors to student stress with a third of students claiming this had a negative impact on their academic performance (33%).
This was translated into how students feel about their mental health too, with only 11% describing their wellbeing as ‘very good.’
Lorna Street, Marketing Manager at Here! Student Living says: “University life brings a unique combination of pressures all at once, academic workload, financial strain, living away from home for the first time and uncertainty about the future. Deadlines and exams sit alongside the everyday challenges of managing money and navigating new relationships, often without family nearby.
“Research shows that demand for university counselling has outpaced supply at almost every institution, and rising living costs have added financial anxiety that previous generations did not face to the same degree.”
For the full findings on how university is affecting students mental health, please visit: https://herestudents.com/a-deep-dive-into-the-reality-of-mental-health-at-university-and-how-to-actually-cope/
Photo by Keira Burton: https://www.pexels.com/photo/multiethnic-friends-studying-with-notepad-and-netbook-on-grassy-field-6147377/
