Survey Finds Record Stress in Class of 2000
Just beginning their collegiate odyssey, members of the class of 2000 are far more stressed than those who have gone before, a nationwide survey has found.
More college freshmen are stressed about money, their grades and getting ahead. More of them are smoking. More admit to being depressed and a record number say they frequently “felt overwhelmed by all I have to do.â€
The emotional strain reflected on questionnaires distributed to America’s freshman class continues a trend that has so disturbed the survey’s directors, they even asked students this year about taking antidepressants and losing their tempers.
“The emotional health of students seems to have bottomed out,†said Alexander W. Astin, director of the 31st annual survey by UCLA’s Higher Education Research Institute, to be released today.
“It’s not that we have more crazy students or they are brittle mentally, but that they are feeling more stressed by the pressures in their lives,†Astin said. “And college years are supposed to be fun.â€
The survey, which gathered responses from 251,323 freshmen this year, is the nation’s oldest and most comprehensive assessment of student attitudes.
Much of the pressure is self-inflicted in a class brimming with self-confidence: An all-time high of 57.9% assessed their academic ability as at least above average; a record 49% believe they will make at least a B average in college, and 66.3% plan to go on to graduate school as a way to make themselves more marketable, another all-time high.
“What good is a bachelor’s degree?†asked USC freshman Brian Yates, who completed the survey in the fall. “I need to get the best grades I can so I can get into the best law school I can. I chose law because of the potential to make money.â€
Yet making money is no longer the most frequently cited reason to go to college, the survey shows. It has been eclipsed in the hard economic realities of the 1990s by a more modest goal: “To get a better job.â€
Linda J. Sax, associate director of the survey, said this year’s results “appear to reflect reaction to an increasing society pressure to go to college and get ahead in life.â€
This competitive atmosphere contributes to continuing grade inflation in high school as teachers feel pressure to help students advance, she said. A full 31.5% of freshmen now report earning A averages in high school, contrasted with 28.1% last year and a low of 12.5% in 1969.
And while the freshmen reported taking more college preparatory classes, a record 35.6% acknowledged that they were frequently “bored in class,†a trend that disturbs Astin.
“It indicates a number of them are not taking college prep courses out of interest,†he said, “but instead because they know it will give them a competitive edge in applying to college.â€
Volunteerism has also reached record levels, as nearly 72% of the freshmen reported doing some volunteer work in the past year.
Although Astin applauds the results, he suspects it’s not all altruism--a suspicion confirmed in interviews with freshmen.
“Volunteerism looks great on your resume, but it also makes you feel good,†said a freshman premed student at USC. Besides, she noted, the National Honor Society requires it of high school members.
The survey suggests that all of this competitive fervor is taking a toll, and that financial pressures are paramount.
Besides piling up record debt, two-thirds of this year’s freshmen are at least somewhat concerned that they will not have enough money to complete college.
“That applies to me,†said Sara Geisler, a USC freshman who is squeaking by with two scholarships and help from her parents. “It’s a quarter of my parents’ income and that’s crazy. I get very down.â€
Student loans continue to balloon as federal grants and aid have failed to keep pace with college costs. More than one-quarter of students now rely on federally guaranteed loans, and another 9.3% on loans from their colleges.
The number of students who expect to get a job to help pay for college continues to rise. This year, 41.1% plan to get a part-time job and 6.4% plan to work full-time.
“Given these trends,†the survey concludes, “it is not surprising that the percentage of freshmen who feel frequently ‘overwhelmed by all I have to do’ rose sharply to an all-time high of 29.4%, compared to last year’s record high of 25.3%.â€
In contrast, only 16% felt overwhelmed in 1985.
Harold Pruett, UCLA’s director of student psychological services, said he and his fellow counselors have been deluged with students fretful over their finances.
“I often talk to students who run up $4,000 or $5,000 on a credit card in a year,†the clinical psychologist said. “Then they stress and worry and some of them have to drop out of school for a quarter to pay it off. It starts a crazy cycle.â€
In the nationwide survey, one out of eight women in the freshman class reported “frequently†feeling depressed, contrasted with only one out of 10 women a decade ago. Fewer men report frequent depression: 7.4% for this year’s class compared with about 6% in 1986.
Cigarette smoking has been on the upswing for the past four years, with 15.6% of women and 13.1% of men calling themselves frequent smokers.
Although Astin attributes much of teenage smoking to rebellion, he also considers it “a reflection and a cause of stress.â€
Astin, who has been questioning students for 30 years, finds himself worrying about the new crop who are coming of age when it is more difficult to pay for college but when expectations for a successful college career are high.
“We’ve designed a system where our best students are overcommitting themselves,†he said.
“There is a paradoxical thing with self-esteem: The more you feel capable, the more you are willing to take on. It’s like these students are all becoming type-A personalities.â€
