Pre-Pandemic Student Survey Shows Overall Sense Of Belonging

Upper West Side NY

22 October, 2021

11:49 AM

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Columbia Daily Spectator BY DHWANI SREENIVAS OCTOBER 21, 2021 The University's student well-being survey report, released on Thursday, assessed more than 9,000 students' well-being and mental health prior to the pandemic. It suggests that while students experience an overwhelming sense of belonging, some traditional problems—including the plight of transgender and nonbinary students, concerns about mental health, and financial insecurity—persist on campus. The report stands in contrast to its 2018 counterpart, which asked less detailed questions and did not break down student responses as thoroughly. The 2020 survey was conducted prior to the pandemic, and students' mental health and financial insecurity have likely worsened since then. However, the University responded to the pandemic with innovative solutions, such as telehealth and open-resource textbooks, which may have alleviated some of the problems that have long plagued Columbia's campus. The results were collected before the recent appointment of Dennis Mitchell to the position of executive vice president of University Life. In an interview with Spectator, Mitchell said the results were meant to highlight areas of focus and concern in order to determine where "strategic interventions" are necessary. "The data reveals and affirms areas of strength and areas of growth for the University," Mitchell said. "Students should know the University resources are here for them … so [we're] hoping that's the most important takeaway." The survey launched in mid-February 2020 and surveyed students across Columbia's 16 schools, with a response rate of 31 percent. The survey closed as students were told to move out of their dorms and the pandemic worsened. Despite major changes in student experiences since, Claude Mellins, the principal investigator for the survey, said the data remains relevant to the student experience. "It gives us a really good understanding of how students were functioning prior to COVID," she said. "Although I will say this was going on while we were all hearing about other countries in the world; it was also happening when anti-Asian bias was beginning to happen in this country." A majority of the students surveyed—nearly two thirds—reported experiencing a sense of belonging at Columbia. Within the groups of male respondents, female respondents, and respondents of racial and ethnic minorities, a similar percentage of students reported feeling a sense of belonging. But the percentage drops dramatically—to 45 percent—for transgender and nonbinary respondents. Nonbinary students reported being 20 percent less likely to feel at home or feel valued at Columbia than other groups. Similar drops in percentage occurred when they were asked if they were able to perform at full potential or have access to campus resources that foster success. Mitchell said there is more to come from University Life to support transgender and nonbinary students. At present, the University offers students the ability to register with new pronouns in CourseWorks after launching a pronoun initiative this fall. Other areas of support include gender-neutral bathrooms, coordination and referrals for gender-affirming surgery and hormones, the continuation and maintenance of hormone therapy, and the availability of a transgender and gender expansive team at Columbia Health to coordinate care. "I'm not prepared to roll things out that we're in discussions with, because we haven't finalized [them]," Mitchell said. "But I can say to you that you will see more, not just on that side, but you'll also see more on the social justice and racial equity side—because both of these continue to stand out as student-wide challenges." More than a quarter of students in the survey reported having a mental health condition that had been diagnosed by a professional. Anxiety-related disorders, depression, and attention disorders were the most commonly reported conditions. More than half of students also cited their financial situation as a major source of stress, second only to their concerns about future employment and getting a job. Meanwhile, students have once again reported difficulty scheduling counseling appointments with Columbia Counseling and Psychological Services this fall. The criticism over wait times—which can stretch weeks—has been leveled by students toward CPS for years. To keep up with the high demand, CPS increased its staffing capacity by more than a third over the last four years. "We are always trying to improve experiences, and there are tensions, obviously, that run up against resource decisions, but I'm looking forward to learning more about this," Mitchell said. A majority of students—60 percent—reported receiving financial aid, and 10 percent of respondents said they experience difficulty paying for basic necessities either often or all of the time, with Black and Latinx students experiencing these feelings at higher rates. The most significant source of financial stress among students was non-tuition academic expenses, such as books or a computer. That concern was followed by paying for rent and transportation costs. "It's a small percentage, but it's not an insignificant one," Mellins said. Stress over non-tuition-related fees have long been associated with Columbia's need-blind financial aid policy, amounting to what some low-income students have claimed is the lost promise of a full scholarship. While many students receiving financial aid are promised that their tuition, housing, and dining costs will be covered in full by the University, those students often struggle to pay out-of-pocket expenses, such as the student contribution or textbooks. The pandemic, however, offered a look into what easing the burden of unforeseen costs on low-income students could look like. Over the last two years, many instructors changed their syllabi to either accommodate students' inability to purchase textbooks or made those same textbooks available through open-resource technology. As students returned to campus in person, some instructors kept that practice, while others reverted to the old system. Mitchell suggested the Columbia Student Support Initiative, a $1.4 billion funding campaign launched by University President Lee Bollinger in April, could funnel money toward longstanding concerns about non-tuition-related fees. "I think our approach has always been to assess all aspects of the University and University Life and work toward making a better life experience for our students," he said. "And anything that falls in that purview is fair for us to discuss—and then try to improve." Staff writer Dhwani Sreenivas can be contacted at [email protected]. Follow Spectator on Twitter @ColumbiaSpec. Founded in 1877, the Columbia Daily Spectator is the independent undergraduate newspaper of Columbia University, serving thousands of readers in Morningside Heights, West Harlem, and beyond. Read more at columbiaspectator.com and donate here.