Social distancing requirements, mask mandates
and daily temperature checks. Quarantine and
isolation. Online learning glitches. Campus
Black Lives Matter protests. Anxiety over
whether to join partiers or hole up in dorm
rooms or at home to stay safe.
This is freshman year 2020 for many college
students nationwide.
“There is a lot of stress and distress among
students now,” said Mary Ann Takemoto,
interim vice president of student affairs at Cal
State Long Beach near Los Angeles, where
most classes are online.
Freshmen in particular “feel a little more fragile”
than usual. “They feel overwhelmed by a lot of
things going on as we approach this election.
There’s this increasing national anxiety,” she said.
The Long Beach university offers an array of
online resources on reducing stress, improving
study habits, and where to go for counseling
and other help. Takemoto said less than three
months into the fall semester, almost 200
students — about 25% of them freshmen —
have been referred to a campus counseling
and crisis center. Five in one week went to
psychiatric hospitals, a number more typical of
an entire semester. While Takemoto didn’t have
specifics on those students, she said some were
likely freshmen.
“Sixty percent of our students are students
of color. Many do not have technology hot
spots, many do not have a good place at home
for studying,” Takemoto said. The university
has made efforts to loan laptops to needy
students, but “we still know that it doesn’t
always work.”