Since the beginning of April, at least 27 higher education institutions have received a call of an active shooter, hostage situation or bomb threat, only for it to be fake or unfounded once police reinforcements arrived on the scene. This number reflects the date of this publication. Moreover, it’s an issue plaguing the entire education sector. In the 2022-23 academic year alone, the Educator’s School Safety Network discovered 417 swatting or accidental reporting incidents in higher education and K12 as of April 26.

Swatting incidents are usually carried out by anonymized callers reporting an impending emergency from remote areas from campus. The FBI speculates that many of these calls might be coming from foreign actors. For example, an entire residence hall at MIT had to be evacuated following a bomb threat. At Harvard, armed police officers raided a student residence hall after a reported hostage situation.

While only an illusory issue, school communities are forced to approach every call with the same level of precaution. The string of swatting incidents follows the recent deadly shooting at Michigan State University and the stabbings currently haunting the University of California, Davis.

Safety officials and legislators are beginning to map out how to deal with the rise of swatting incidents, but how some big-brand universities have recently handled these unfounded calls has sparked tension in the community. For example, in response to Boston University’s swatting incident, the second alert the school gave students about their potential active shooter was to stop calling BU about the threat and await the next update. The Harvard community was equally “outraged” by the lack of communication given to students. However, officials believed the Harvard University Police Department’s actions aligned with law enforcement protocol.

More from UB: This president has leveraged her city’s tech boom to embrace an AI-centric future

Fighting back

Although the nature of swatting makes it difficult for law enforcement to identify them, it isn’t stopping one official from intimidating any future perpetrators. Last week, one Pennsylvania lawmaker proposed legislation to make those found guilty of swatting responsible for compensating the cost of first responders tending to hoax calls.

Some officials believe we need to change our conception of swatting incidents entirely. Kelly Nee, BU’s chief safety, security, and preparedness officer, believes that swatter should be charged under terrorism statutes to increase their level of punishment and oversight. Amy Klinger, of the Educator’s School Safety Network, believes in something similar.

“We have to shift our thinking from these as being, ‘Oh, it’s just a bad joke or a threat’ to being, ‘These are attacks, and they truly are attacks.’ And we need to treat them as such, in terms of our investigation and in terms of our consequences, because they have really significant—a really significant impact on kids and schools. And so we have to treat them as the serious problem that they truly are,” says Klinger, according to PBS.

Here are schools that have experienced a swatting threat since April at the date of publication:

• Harvard University (Mass.) April 3
• Rider University (N.J.) – April 3
• Cornell University (N.Y.) – April 4
• MIT – April 5
• Valparaiso University (Ind.) – April 6
• Rutgers University (N.J.) – April 6
• Clemson University (S.C.) – April 6
• University of Central Florida – April 7
• University of Oklahoma – April 7
• Southern Utah University – April 8
• Boston University – April 9
• Syracuse University – April 9
• Wake Forest University – April 9
• University of Nevada (N.C.) – April 9
• Middlebury College (Vt.) – April 9
• University of Pittsburgh – April 10
• Collin College (Texas) – April 12
• Baylor University (Texas) – April 12
• Galen College of Nursing (Texas) – April 12
• Tyler Junior College (Texas) – April 13
• Hamilton College (N.Y.) – April 16
• Florida International University – May 2
• Arizona College of Nursing (Florida) – May 2
• Indiana River State College (Florida) – May 2
• Santa Fe College (Florida) – May 2
• Palm Beach Atlantic University (Florida) – May 2
• University of South Florida Sarasota-Manatee campus (Florida) – May 2

The post How should colleges respond to the recent surge in swatting incidents? appeared first on University Business.

Seli Fakorzi, director of mental health operations at TimelyMD, provides colleges with proactive measures they can take to ease student suffering in the wake of catastrophe.

Prepare for tragedy

A postvention planning guide can help institutions organize relief efforts that can be scaled to different kinds of traumatic events, such as active shooters or natural disasters. With proper maintenance through scheduled reviews and assessments of its effectiveness after a tragedy, postvention planning can cut out an administrator’s need to scramble for resources and effectively facilitate a strong action plan.

A telehealth service like TimelyMD, for example, can provide 24/7 assistance for students.

“We feel like it’s going to take all hands on deck,” Fakorzi said. “We partner with colleges and universities to make sure we are just an extension of the services they provide on campus.”

Create an emergency operation planning team

Individuals react differently to tragedy; the way they do can be informed by their identity. A multilayered emergency operation planning (EOP) team can develop systems and protocols that serve a dynamic community, which is almost a certainty at big universities.

A proper EOP team should be diverse in its make-up: school personnel from different departments, student and parent representatives, and organizations that serve the interests of different racial minorities and religions.

The key for an EOP team is to be well-versed in the community so that it’s accurately represented and to build close relationships with community partners.

“Part of the planning is to understand what the on-campus community, the surrounding community, and the student body make-up is and to study their behaviors,” Fakorzi said.

Make space for students to process after a tragedy

Studies show that students are still most comfortable with peer-to-peer support when expressing mental health issues. While it’s important for colleges to create spaces for this, encourage the administration to be open and available when students do want to speak with staff.

More from UB: Here are 8 ways to improve experiences for college students and employees

Promoting self-care among students

An effective way faculty and staff can guide students to recover from tragedy is by encouraging them to prioritize their well-being.

• Urge students to connect with friends and family members or contact the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) for distress that doesn’t alleviate.
• Suggest they decrease their news intake. Screen time can hamper the healing process.
• Additionally, studies suggest that mindfulness and meditation can help reduce anxiety and depression.

“We have to find all the ways we can to help students find their way and thrive especially after a tragic event and how do they maintain a level of wellness long-term,” Fakorzi said.

The post When tragedy strikes: How you can promote healing for students, faculty and staff appeared first on University Business.

The National Association of Student Personnel Administrators (NASPA), joined by the online student wellness service Uwill, surveyed student affairs professionals nationwide on a variety of topics related to mental health on campus, and their results pointed to one consistent conclusion: Campuses need more help to alleviate mental health concerns among students.

A whopping 72% of faculty believe the trajectory of mental health on campus has decreased over the past year, even though 77% reported their school has increased financial commitment to its mental health services and 87% believed their school president or provost has prioritized campus mental health.

“What are we learning from this? There is an issue,” said Michael London, CEO of Uwill. “Schools are putting more dollars against that issue, but the schools themselves are recognizing that they’re not even close to where they need to be.”

Not only has demand steadily increased past a workable threshold, but 43% of staff also reported that the greatest challenge related to improving the state of mental health was the severity of mental health issues.

Treating the severity of mental health, which exists in such a “gray area,” isn’t so simple because it’s not always an explicitly diagnosable condition, like a broken arm, according to Erin Andrews, director of clinical affairs at Uwill. But faculty have noticed an increase in negative behavior among students.

More from UB: Mental health remains the top concern for students

“We’re noticing an increased level of distress, we’re noticing a decrease in their ability to cope, we’re noticing a lasting impact of things that older generations might have regarded as just a part of life,” Andrews said. “And that’s what’s really impacting their ability to function as individuals and academically.”

Faculty workload, coalesced with more intense therapy sessions, has not treated staff kindly. In fact, 63% of staff reported their own mental health has taken a hit over the past year. It is no surprise, then, that the two actions faculty want to see prioritized to improve mental health on campus are expanding mental health services and increasing funding for existing services.

A possible solution to offload faculty workload and address student demand is partnerships between campuses and online mental health providers, such as Uwill, according to the company’s CEO.

“What we can do on campuses to really improve what we’re seeing is giving additional resources to support the staff, faculty, counselors, students, and everyone else who is touching on this expanding due to the shortage of resources,” said London.

An online mental health service can provide teletherapy, a virtual appointment with medically licensed counselors part of the service’s network, saving the campus time and energy.

According to TimelyMD’s aforementioned survey addressing student mental health, 75% of students who did utilize a teletherapy service say they experienced improvement.

“What most campuses are finding is, rather than hiring another counselor on campus, let’s diversify the solution so that we can handle most any solution at any time within a campus,” London said.

The post ”We cannot out-hire this need”: College counselors are at their limit appeared first on University Business.

COVID has not only driven enrollment down for five semesters in a row, but it has also made high school graduates even more skeptical of the value of a college degree than they were prior to the pandemic when enrollment numbers were already beginning to drop, says Lynn Pasquerella, president of the American Association of Colleges and Universities.

“Since COVID, trends have been upended,” Pasquerella says.

What will remain typical if a recession hits is that states will surely cut higher ed funding, adds Thomas L. Harnisch, vice president for government relations at the State Higher Education Executive Officers Association. “Institutions will have fewer resources and there will be a lot of pressure to hold the line on tuition,” Harnisch says. “You want to do everything you can to make college affordable during challenging times.”

Preparing for recession

During the Great Recession, there were both steep funding cutbacks and tuition increases. Programs and campus services were eliminated and access was reduced as a substantial number of admitted students weren’t able to enroll, Harnisch points out. “Community colleges are highly sensitive to changes in the macroeconomy,” he says. “If we go into a deep recession with increased unemployment, we’ll see more people going to community colleges to upskill and pursue new opportunities in the workforce.”

Despite all the uncertainty, college and universities are girding for recession with some of the same strategies they’ve been pursuing to combat a host of financial pressures. Some institutions are developing fast-track master’s programs to make it easier for students to stay in school and add to their bachelor’s degrees. Others have partnered with businesses and industries to set up shorter-term programs that allow students to earn credentials for “immediate employability,” Pasquerella explains. 

In Connecticut, for example, Sacred Heart University has created a brewing science program with a local craft beer brewery. Nearby, Eastern Connecticut State University began offering a cannabis marketing and management minor shortly after the state legalized recreational marijuana in 2021. And residential colleges and universities are working to develop hybrid versions of the accelerated, low-cost—and heavily marketed—degree programs available from schools such as Southern New Hampshire University and Western Governor’s University.

More from UB: Who is on the positive side of the growing gender gap in education?

Colleges looking at alternative sources of revenue are leveraging their physical facilities to host outside training programs, community events and youth sports camps, among other activities. Administrators are also anticipating that international students—and the full-price tuition they typically pay—will return with the pandemic easing and certain Trump-era policies repealed.

“There’s a growing mistrust in higher education, and liberal education in particular, that colleges and universities exist within the ivory tower, willfully disconnected from the practical matters of everyday life,” Pasquerella says. “We need to make visible the transformative power of a college education, not only economically, but the ways in which it helps people to be engaged citizens and flourish as members of their communities.”

No recession relief?

And here’s another way the expected economic slowdown will look different from past recessions: Higher ed leaders may not be able to rely on relief from the federal government considering the multiple rounds of stimulus provided during the pandemic. “If there is a deep recession like we had in 2008, because of the spending that occurred during COVID and potential changes on Capitol Hill after the election,” Harnisch warns, “the chance of the federal government helping out states could be much lower.”

Selective colleges are most likely to weather an economic storm because the number of households in which both parents have bachelor’s degrees is growing, meaning those families can afford to enroll in those higher-priced institutions, says Anthony Carnevale, director of the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce. And regardless of whether there is a federal relief package, public colleges and universities will enjoy a level of protection because legislators, regardless of their party affiliation, are unlikely to let a public school shut down.

Less selective four-year private schools will face the greatest risk, as they don’t offer high-prestige programs or the types of training and skill programs that become popular during times of economic turmoil, he adds. Further clouding the outlook is that the infrastructure bill passed by the Biden Administration will provide short-term jobs to adults who, in a more typical recession, would be more likely to enroll in college to gain new job skills.

These divergent forces may further segregate higher education between students who can afford the more traditional liberal education and students who will rely on post-secondary training programs to find gainful employment more quickly. Consequently, lawmakers from both aisles are likely to push for more transparency around employment and earnings outcomes for every degree program offered across higher ed, Carnevale says.

“This is probably going to be the most complicated decade that higher education has seen since the 1980s,” he concludes. “It will sort out institutions and it will drive a lot of reform.”

The post How a looming economic slump could upend higher ed’s playbook appeared first on University Business.

Even when the campus shut down the following month because of COVID-19, DePaul’s pantry stayed open. Over the next year, the need increased and donations poured in, sparking conversations about expansion. Jen Fox, associate director of Strategy, Assessment & Initiatives in DePaul housing, found the group Swipe Out Hunger online and began assessing the possibilities. With DePaul already providing food, towels, sheets, backpacks and a Career Closet with clothing, it was doing far more than the average pantry and needed a name to new reflect that.

The Basic Needs Hub fit perfectly. Now in two locations in a new spot on the first floor of Lincoln Park and on its Loop campus—each is open to serve all enrolled students. A simple swipe gives them access to a variety of perishable and non-perishable items. They can take what they need, although they are encouraged not to overindulge since others use the space, too. It is thriving, thanks to generous individual donors, and serving more students than it could have imagined. But it wants to do more if it can.

“It wasn’t known to students that we offered all of these services, so we worked to build that and we’re still building,” Fox says. “The important thing we’re adding this year is a student advisory board, so we can really meet the students where they are, whether that be specific kinds of foods—halal or vegan—or whatever type of brands they’re interested in. We don’t want students to be concerned with these items so that they can focus on their academics and their friendships.”

As many as 50% of college students nationally have experienced some food insecurity and struggled to afford basic needs items during the COVID pandemic. Chicago has been one of the communities slowest to reopen and recover. Rick Moreci, director of Housing, Dining & Student Centers at DePaul, notes that over the course of the past year, there have been over 3,000 swipes for students looking for basic needs assistance.

“The usage since we opened in 2020 has definitely gone up,” Moreci says. “We’re doing a good job of communicating around our campuses that this resource is available. I don’t know that there’s necessarily more need, but more students know [they are here]. The future of this is in many ways unwritten. Not only is there overall university support from our leadership, but there’s also the support of faculty and staff across the university who literally brought groceries to us; who have asked us how they can help. You just can’t even measure that. It just shows the spirit of this place and what we’re about. The outpouring of support was something I was not ready for.”

What’s in the hub?

While Fox and Moreci have been instrumental in the development and oversights of the Basic Needs Hubs, because their roles stretch beyond those areas there is a student employee at each who is tasked with ensuring operations run smoothly. Wanting to give students even more of a voice in the process, DePaul has moved to create a board comprised of those dedicated to the cause.

“The advisory board will hopefully make sure we’re doing the work in the most intentional way, that we’re sticking with DePaul’s mission,” Fox says. “We don’t know if we’re going to be working with families; if we are going to provide diapers and formula. Are those things that we need to look at? The hope is to use the students’ voices to propel us forward, working with different departments and organizations to do some drives to get more items that students really want and need.”

More from UB: Colleges fight to end food insecurity, 9 potential solutions

One immediate need that DePaul’s team is trying to boost is that of toiletries, which are both donated and purchased, Fox says. Fresh items are also at a premium as the pantries get stocked once per week at the smaller Loop and twice at Lincoln Park, which is open three days a week. Nonetheless, the variety on hand is pretty amazing thanks to the Career Closet and partnerships with its Health Promotion and Wellness Office and student groups. Aside from expansive food selections that include frozen items, the Hubs feature over-the-counter COVID tests, career clothes and accessories, dress shoes, winter clothes and boots.

As for entry, the swipe gets them through the doors, and students can select what they need. “Some schools, you order it and they provide it to you,” Fox says. “We wanted to be a space where students felt safe and not necessarily being watched over with what they do. So the pantry and the Career Closet are open to students during the hours that they’re open, without questions.”

Of course, as needs continue to remain high or even expand, DePaul’s team must be watchful of donations coming in. “We’re growing fast,” Moreci says. “That also means making sure that we’re growing at the right pace so that we are meeting the needs of the students without getting too overwhelmed.”

DePaul’s expanded efforts to go beyond a simple pantry show what can be achieved if institutions put some might behind their initiatives. But it does take time, resources and support. For colleges and universities that might already have pantries but are looking to grow to serve students in a basic needs capacity, the two DePaul leaders shared some guidance.

Fox says three things are important when launching a needs-type facility for students:

• Lean on others who have Hubs, like DePaul, can provide a strong example of the types of resources and support to operate and generate ideas about different kinds of donations. “I Googled basic needs hubs and found a couple of locations that were doing it.”
• Turn to Swipe Out Hunger, which has an abundance of ideas and guides to starting a pantry or needs hub. From that, DePaul not only launched its Hub but pulled together and worked with K-12 to help them get theirs going.
• Reach out to regional organizations or those connected to higher education who can help find resources.

“My advice for any institution looking to do this is, A. yes, do it because the need absolutely exists,” Moreci says. “But B, talk to your campus partners. The pandemic propelled us much faster than we expected to grow. Had we not had a year of conversations leading up to opening our very first pantry and bringing in partners—from the Dean of Students and faculty, and health promotion and wellness—I don’t think we’d be where we’re at today. No one or two people, even if they’re the best-intentioned, most passionate people on the face of the planet, can do this work without having a support network.”

The post The Basic Needs Hub: DePaul’s special mission to serve students appeared first on University Business.

The storm ripped apart homes and the Sanibel Causeway, knocked out power for millions of residents and caused more than 100 deaths. Even though FGCU’s main campus survived the worst of Ian, its Vester Marine & Environmental Science Research Field Station in Bonita Springs was damaged by storm surge. Students, staff and faculty also were impacted. In addition to the horrific imagery, employees sustained damage to homes, cars and boats, and there are still many struggling with basic needs.

“Many members of our FGCU family have been severely impacted,” said Pamela McCabe, Coordinator of University Communications & Media Relations. “We launched a call center last week with a virtual check-in form for our students and employees to simply tell us how they were doing. Since then, we have lifted up employee- and student-focused teams to guide people through the recovery process with one-on-one attention.”

Through all of it, less than 14 days after the fifth largest hurricane to land in the United States crashed into Cayo Costa, FGCU reopened for business on Monday. It escaped with tree loss, a few windows being blown out and bleachers in its soccer stadium being crumpled, but it experienced no flooding. Still, it’s been a long 13 days.

“To say that we’ve been through a hard time with Hurricane Ian would be an understatement,” said President Mike Martin, who is scheduled to retire in late December. “But we are bouncing back. The campus is in good shape.”

Planning, advisories crucial in a crisis

Part of the reason FGCU is managing as well as can be expected is how quickly and decisively the team responded to this emergency. There have been no less than 18 major advisories put out by leaders at FGCU, from the time Ian was a tropical storm set to impact Cuba to Monday’s announcement that it had launched the Eagles in Need relief fund to assist all of those affected on campus. That fund will go to giving grants to those who lost personal items, and some who have lost close to everything. It also just developed a Hurricane Ian Disaster Leave Program for staff and faculty.

“It is to donate leave to a pool, which will be distributed among those who suffered severe hardship,” McCabe said. “Examples include displacement, the need to remediate flood damage to an employee’s home, loss of vehicle/transportation options due to flood, inability to physically travel to campus due to road closures or obstructions, and/or inability to work or telework due to local school or daycare closures.”

Beyond the emergency money and the initial messaging around safety and care, FGCU has tackled decisions with precision. It has posted alerts on the abundance of resources available to students and employees and kept them apprised of re-openings. It has made counselors available and stepped up shuttle services. It has kept its food pantry open to serve those in need. Though it had to shut down classes for 10 days, it says its semester is scheduled to finish on time because of its tireless crisis response, barring any further setbacks.

More from UB: From Dunk City to world impact, the rise of Florida Gulf Coast University

FGCU’s response—and ones like it in recent years from institutions such as Tulane University in New Orleans—provide excellent blueprints on how to respond to natural disasters. FGCU’s advisories alone show how an institution can get the word out to communities through detailed, yet streamlined briefs. Those two institutions have been through this many times, but the severity of storms such as Ian and Katrina can test a university’s plan to the core. How prepared is your campus to respond to a hurricane, flood, tornado, earthquake or other crisis? Was it prepared at all for COVID-19 in March 2020?

Because of the latest hurricane, the Department of Education reiterated to institutions the vast amount of resources available to them during emergencies. They include:

• Federal Student Aid for domestic and foreign Title IV-eligible colleges and universities.
• Assistance on potential grant adjustments to activities and budgets through the Office of Postsecondary Education.
• The Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund’s Emergency office, which can be used toward “exceptional need, which may include needs that have arisen as a result of the recent hurricanes. Institutions should carefully document how they determine exceptional need. Institutions cannot direct or control what students use their emergency financial aid grants on as funds must be provided directly to students.”
• The Readiness and Emergency Management for Schools’ Technical Assistance Center helps can campuses create strong preparedness plans, as well as reacting in emergencies
• Project SERV, which can get short-term funding to colleges “that have experienced a violent or traumatic incident to assist in restoring a safe environment conducive to learning.”

The post Florida Gulf Coast University ‘fortunate’ to be spared from hurricane, but many employees are struggling appeared first on University Business.

That is because, as Biden noted, tuition and fees have tripled over the past four decades. Wages have not kept pace, leaving students with staggering amounts of debt – to the tune of $1.75 trillion. The average borrowers owe more than three times the $10,000 in relief they might get through the program, estimated to cost some $330 billion. For those that had loans paused again, and who won’t have that luxury by January, only 14% will be able to make payments, according to a new report released by credit score product ScoreSense.

So with return on investment very much front of mind for students and families weighing the cost of postsecondary education – and colleges now squarely in the crosshairs from detractors that want adjustments be made – how can institutions be what they were 40 years ago: affordable?

There have been many softballs lobbed on the subject, from doubling the Pell Grant to reducing tuition and fees to putting the onus on policymakers to just pay out more. But there is one development, fueled greatly by the COVID-19 pandemic, that may provide a sliver of opportunity. It is the continued emergence of online learning and access to better, quicker and career-focused curricula.

“The higher education industry needs to become more responsive to the needs of the modern learner,” Amrit Ahluwalia, director of strategic insights at Modern Campus, said. “This means looking at programming to ensure it leads to good jobs and creating more diverse pathways for students to earn credentials that doesn’t necessarily require four years or tens of thousands of dollars.”

The controversial subject brings its own issues in terms of value and a further breakdown of face-to-face residential campus structures, but there are plenty of examples of success, including Arizona State University’s ASU Online, Western Governors University and Southern New Hampshire University. While a fully remote experience might not be best for all students, bringing more of that model or more stackable credentials and open educational resources to traditional institutions could be helpful.

“Students are voting with their feet and finding alternatives to traditional higher education,” Ahluwalia said. “There are 1.4 million fewer students enrolled in degree programs today than there were in 2019. However, enrollments in coding boot camps and non-degree job training programs has grown exponentially through the same period. The modern student is a consumer, first and foremost. They prioritize return on investment when it comes to postsecondary education and are primarily looking for programs—whether they’re offered by traditional colleges/universities or by alternative providers—that will help them achieve their career goals.”

What needs to be done

As Ahluwalia suggests, four-year options aren’t the only paths, although interest in highly selective institutions has never been greater, showing that a college degree still possesses serious marketability. However, he says giving an influx of notoriety and capital to two-year institutions, an idea that got torched when Biden’s original Build Back Better plan fizzled, would be a great start, providing a strong, cost-effective access point for millions of students.

“We need to do a better job of highlighting and celebrating the community college system that exists in every county across the United States,” he said. “These high-quality institutions can get students halfway toward a bachelor’s degree—and in some cases all the way to a bachelor’s degree—at incredibly affordable rates. The more we can do to highlight the diversity and flexibility of the education ecosystem for students, the better.”

More from UB: Five tech leaders say higher ed must do more to meet employer demands

Rising tuition, the long-lasting pandemic and inflation all have made four-year college paths more challenging. A lack of state and federal funding (aside from recent emergency grants) hasn’t helped, and the reliance on financial aid has only fueled rises in tuition, according to many studies. But Ahluwalia said there is more to it than that, hinting that spending at many institutions has gone off the rails, not really meshing with the desires of students.

“Public supports for education access have disappeared over the last 40 years, making students largely responsible for paying for higher education,” Ahluwalia said. “Second, many universities entered into an arms race through the 1990s and 2000s, making massive capital investments in luxurious campus amenities. However, the majority of students enrolling in higher education today (and since the mid-2000s) are considered “non-traditional”, which means they’re adults, they’re working multiple jobs, and have dependents. These individuals know they need a postsecondary credential to achieve their career goals, but don’t actually use campus amenities in the same way… even though they’re footing the bill.”

Despite olive branches being extended temporarily on student fees and textbooks, for example, those bills continue to go up and the wiping away of current debt only extends so far.

“Students with existing loan debt will be eternally grateful, but it’s worth noting the average student is carrying a loan debt of $39,000,” he said. “So, for many former students, the debt forgiveness will be a start, but they’ll still be in a hole. Compound that with the fact that many college graduates tend to be underemployed in their first job out of college—creating a challenging career trajectory—and it becomes clear that debt forgiveness in and of itself doesn’t address higher education’s core problem.”

The post Is this simple solution key to fixing the student debt crisis? appeared first on University Business.

Higher ed, and its financial aid teams, are grappling with the same wage stagnation, rising inflation and job dissatisfaction plaguing much of the U.S. workforce. And understaffing increases the chances that institutions could face fines for failing to comply with federal and state rules, NASFAA President Justin Draeger said. “We are sounding the alarm bells that many financial aid offices are critically short-staffed, which could create cascading issues for those colleges and universities, both in their ability to adequately serve students while also remaining compliant with federal and state rules,” Draeger said. “College presidents have a lot on their plate and, while they are often rushing from fire to fire, this is one area that should not be overlooked.”

The surveys were conducted online in March and May. Nearly 80% of the respondents worried about remaining “administratively capable,” meaning they would not have enough staff to manage compliance. More than half (56%) were concerned about meeting students’ needs.

The two surveys also found:

• Half of the respondents to the first survey reported operating at a 75% staffing capacity in 2019-20 and 2020-21.
• 56% of respondents to the second survey reported that they did not have time to complete the original survey because of limited staff.
• Permanent, full-time employees cited three main reasons for transferring or resigning: a higher salary or better benefits elsewhere (69%); no longer having the desire to work in financial aid (35%), and moving to a different office at the same institution (29%).
• An overwhelming majority of aid offices (86%) said they are not receiving enough applications from qualified candidates.
• The large majority of those (67%) felt it was squarely an issue of salary restrictions that made the job uncompetitive.

More from UB: Why COVID isn’t the only reason enrollment declines are getting worse

In another troubling financial aid development, new FAFSA filings are down 9% and FAFSA renewals have fallen 12%, according to a National College Attainment Network report released earlier this month.

A number of factors, including increased employment opportunities, affordability and time to earn degrees might be driving the slowdown in FAFSA entries. “We think about FAFSA as a leading indicator of enrollment and retention,” says Bill DeBaun, the Network’s senior director of data and strategic initiatives. “We think about it as a signal of students’ intent to enroll. If we are seeing this large decline in renewals, we have to consider the very real possibility that students are sending a signal that their enrollment decisions have changed.”

The post 2 big problems that could be caused by a financial aid staffing crisis appeared first on University Business.

According to a new study released by Mantra Health on the 2021 fall semester, around 90% say they are experiencing burnout, especially as their centers ramp up in-person sessions. The majority of clinicians and directors also say their work is being impacted.

“Over the last year college counseling centers have seen an uptick in professionals leaving the field and a smaller pool of applicants to refill their positions while the demand from students seeking treatment continues to rise,” said Dr. David Walden, Director of the Counseling Center at Hamilton College in New York. “In addition, clinicians are contending with their own personal COVID stress as they worry about their own health and the health of their family and friends. These factors have made it increasingly difficult for directors and clinicians to avoid burnout while institutions are having trouble hiring and retaining quality mental health staff.”

More than 60% say they are as tired or more tired than they were during the height of the pandemic. Last year, when Mantra conducted its State of Provider Burnout in College Counseling Centers, less than 50% said work was being impacted. That number has risen by 15% this year. And Mantra notes that the level of burnout among directors and clinicians at colleges and universities is about 12% higher than their colleagues nationwide.

Ensuring that clinicians are able to do their work well is essential in maintaining healthy campuses. But workloads have become so significant that 70% say they have no time or energy for leisure activities.

So what proposed changes would clinicians and directors say could help curb burnout? More than 50% of clinicians said reduced workload would be a start, while another 20% would like the opportunity to work from home. Around 15% would like positive feedback along with promotions or raises. An equal 36.5% of directors mentioned more vacation time and boosting staff camaraderie and personal connections. If changes are not made, institutions run the risk of losing more workers at a time when centers already are seeing increases in students reaching out for care.

“The results of this survey highlight some of the specific needs of clinicians as we enter a shift from the acute phase of the pandemic to an ongoing endemic situation,” said Dr. Harry Rockland-Miller, Director Emeritus at the Center for Counseling and Psychological Health at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. “While most clinicians have benefitted from returning to the workplace, they have varying feelings around in-person clinical services. Making the distinction between being in the office versus providing in-person services is key. For clinicians to succeed, it’s critical they are recognized, appreciated, supported and feel that they are working as part of a larger community in support of a critical mission.”

How else can colleges and university leaders create more palatable work environments for directors and clinicians? The first is to simply show support and recognize the work they are doing. The second is to provide some options for remote work when possible. The third is to raise the visibility of the counseling centers and the clinicians who serve them. And fourth is to find ways to alleviate some of the workload through outside partnerships or by getting them additional help.

The post How the mental health crisis is crushing college counseling centers appeared first on University Business.

That report of nearly 200,000 students and more than 200 institutions exposed huge gaps in the time it takes for institutions to meet their financial needs. The costs of those delays are high, with some students stopping out of college and many more struggling to offset financial strains on housing, food and childcare expenses. The mental anguish they are coping with has been unprecedented.

“They’re not OK,” says Sara Goldrick-Rab, Founding Director of the Hope Center and Professor of Higher Education Policy & Sociology at Temple University. “I have never seen the level of stress that these students are facing. Students are still very clear: they’re not getting the help they need.”

Caught up in their own red tape and a lack of support services, colleges are pushing the average time from application to delivery of those funds to nearly 13 business days. Worse, two-thirds of students who need help haven’t even applied.

How significant are these gaps and what can institutions do to help students thrive and ensure they remain at their institutions? University Business sat down with Goldrick-Rab, who also serves as the Chief Strategy Officer for Emergency Aid at student financial success and emergency aid firm Edquity, to learn more.

How significant is the crisis students are experiencing?

One is an economic crisis. The pandemic has disrupted students’ economics—increased expenses, technology, housing and jobs. Many did not get stimulus checks. One in four has a child, and school disruptions have had major impacts. Second is their mental health, from the isolation of the pandemic to disruptions in their regular routines. The way that many thought they would be experiencing learning has radically shifted. Third is the need to process difficult health information all the time, some of which is quite scary. We’re talking about anxiety, depression and the effects of having had the virus.

Do institutions have proper supports in place to handle the distribution of emergency aid?

Colleges and universities are being told it’s their job to help students and being given a lot of federal money. But what they don’t have are the systems to deliver that money well. The Department of Ed gave the money with very little instruction on what good distribution looks like. We spent $32 billion on emergency aid and said to colleges, ‘Go and do it.’ Schools should have to track the time that it takes to get money out the door and report it, but they didn’t set any expectations. If you want a college to send out $1,000 to students, it’s not like you just drop a helicopter full of money right over people. Somebody has to administer it. Congress didn’t give any more money to financial aid offices. Of the administrative cost allowance for the Pell Grant—about $6,000—colleges get about $5. No company would do this.

You conducted this massive survey of 195,000 students and 200 institutions. What were some of the biggest takeaways?

The amount of need was substantial, and the number of people not getting help was huge. We surveyed their institutions to learn about their practices. The staff is absolutely trying, but they’re basically doing triage. They’re struggling in three big areas:

• Helping students to know that support is available. You can’t just send them one email or put the information online. You have to do everything over and over. Marketing and communications offices often put money on external PR, not on internal communications.
• They do not have systems in place to quickly process lots of applications and make hundreds of decisions a day. No company would do it the way higher ed is, which is to have committees examine each application one at a time.
• Higher ed is miserable at delivering money to students. They put the money in an account, then you have to get the money out and move it to your bank account. What’s worse is, they often don’t put it in an account. They cut a check, and they cut them once a week. The average amount of time it takes for students to get help is 12.8 business days. We would never ask anyone we care about to wait three weeks for help.

A few institutions were highlighted for positive work in the study. What are they doing differently from the others?

What they’re doing is not great, it’s just better than others. They’re Bs, not As. They’re cutting red tape and not doing long applications anymore. They are getting checks cut more often and using mobile banking to get money to students. The Bs understand the need to move fast, and the need to move fast for a lot of people. The name of the game is scale.

How does Edquity’s process differ in getting money to students?

Edquity is using something that I developed, an app to get money out the door to students within 48 hours and make equitable and evidence-based decisions quickly. There are a growing number of schools using it—Western Governors University, Southern New Hampshire University, Compton College in Los Angeles and Dallas College. Some colleges don’t know it exists. Some colleges don’t think it’s safe. I’m not sure what we’re waiting for. They’re thinking that the financial aid system as it currently is will save them.

What are the benefits of getting those funds in the hands of students for higher ed?

We released a report that shows if we send them one email once a month, they are much more likely to apply [for aid]. If you give students emergency aid, there’s emerging evidence that suggests it can increase graduation rates. These are low-dollar programs—$250-$1,000. We’re not talking about $15,000 scholarships. Right now it’s seen as nice to have, not essential. It’s very hard to take seriously presidents who say ‘My enrollment is down’ or ‘We’re doing DEI work’ but are not invested in emergency aid or doing it well.

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