Article by Tara Albert, Sarah Kain, Maddie Shannon and Vongni Yan

Matt Weir/The Collegian

At a time when incoming freshmen nationwide are more stressed than ever, Fresno State is failing to assess the mental health needs of its students and provide an adequate level of psychological counseling.

A recent survey of more than 250 colleges and universities nationwide found that incoming freshmen reported more emotional stress than at any time in the past 25 years.

Dozens of California schools ”” including CSU Los Angeles, CSU Long Beach, CSU San Marcos and Fresno Pacific University ”” participated in the “American Freshman: National Norms” survey and were able to determine the increasing stress levels of their students.

Fresno State, however, chose not to participate in the study even though the level of student stress at the school is arguably higher than at many other universities, according to students, faculty and administrators.

Consider these facts:

Few, if any, universities in the CSU system have undergone more profound changes in the makeup of their student bodies than Fresno State.

Over the past three decades, the population of white students has dropped from 63 percent to 33 percent, while the Latino student population has grown from 22 percent to 35 percent.

This shift has meant that more than two-thirds of the students now attending Fresno State are the first in their families to seek a bachelor’s degree and that more than one out of four students come from families that live in or near poverty. This shift has also meant that a growing percentage of students are juggling work and school, adding significantly to their mental health stress.

With the compounding burdens of a historic recession and the growing noise of the gadget age, it’s likely that the student body at Fresno State is more stressed than at any other time since the Vietnam War.

“We definitely see the increase in stress,” Sandra Fuentes, the director of Student Support Services at Fresno State, said.

Fuentes cited as reasons the declining economic climate in California and the pressure that students face from parents who are struggling to keep households afloat and are seeing fewer opportunities for their children.

“We see students struggling with the balance of personal and academic responsibilities,” Fuentes said. “They’re having to stay home and miss class so their parent or provider of the home can use the car to go to work, or to go look for work, or to meet the family needs.”

The economic hardships are forcing more students to find their own jobs and to assume the burden of additional work hours. “We’ve had a number of students who come in and have daily struggles making basic daily needs met,” said Fuentes, who works with first-generation, low-income and disabled students.

The failure of Fresno State to assess the emotional well-being of its students is reflected in the fact that the school has participated in the nationwide survey only four times since the early 1980s.

Likewise, when it comes to providing actual mental health services, Fresno State falls considerably short, according to a Collegian survey of other CSU schools.

Fresno State has only one psychiatrist, three psychologists, a full-time pharmacist and two pharmacy technicians on staff to serve students. San Jose State, by contrast, has one psychiatrist, 10 psychologists, two counselors and a part-time pharmacist on staff.

Gena Gechter, who coordinates the Psychological Services department at Fresno State, said the mental health staff was cut in 1992 because of budget shortages and has struggled to keep up ever since. Today, the school tries to reach out to students in need of mental health counseling with such programs as depression screening day, but the outreach could be better.

“We used to be able to solicit and market services to students as part of the outreach,” she said. But no more. While resources have dwindled, she said, the number of students in need of service is ever growing.

“In the Fresno community, the available resources have shrunk. There were a lot of students who might have had services through the county and now have to come here because there is nowhere else,” she said. “Students who are losing their insurance are starting to come here as well.”

Provost William Covino declined to comment about Fresno State’s failure to assess the emotional state of its student body or provide the necessary services to help reduce stress.

Gechter said if Fresno State did survey freshmen about their mental health needs, she would gladly use the information to improve services. But she suspects that the cost of administering and analyzing the survey is one reason why Fresno State chooses not to participate.

“If your vice president doesn’t give you an adequate budget, you can’t participate in these studies,” Marjorie Bommersbach, interim director of the Counseling Center at Chico State, said. “They cost money.”

The information gleaned in the survey is more than worth the price, Boomersbach said. “You need to know who your student body is,” she said.

Vivian Franco, the director of Admissions, Records and Evaluations at Fresno State, knows the profiles of the students on campus and the everyday hardships they face.

“More students need to work and work more hours to put themselves through school,” she said. “Students are overwhelmed handling multiple roles. Generally it’s family problems, personal problems and balancing work hours with their class time.”

Statistics show that almost 30 percent of first-time freshmen at Fresno State are dependent on families that made less than $24,000. By comparison, only 13 percent of first-time undergraduate students at Chico State are dependent on families that made less than $24,000.

Kathleen Molina, the academic counselor for the Office of Advising under Student Success Services, said many Fresno State students are also having to deal with the stress of attending a commuter campus. Many students have to worry about gas and vehicle maintenance costs and allotting enough time to travel to and from school.

“A lot of our population are coming from rural areas,” she said. “It’s not unusual to have people traveling 50 miles one way.”

Freshman Jesus Arizaga lives in San Joaquin with his family and commutes an hour to and from school every day. He said he often has to pay bills and pick up groceries for his family.

“I’m usually the one with the car, so I have to be the one running errands,” he said.

Molina said first-generation students are often unable to rely on their parents for guidance in an unfamiliar college atmosphere. And yet they feel no shortage of pressure from their parents to succeed. Familial responsibilities and cultural expectations often conflict with their pursuit of an education.

“These students have to find a way to hold on to their traditions and still respect their culture,” Molina said. “They are expected to step up in the family. It’s really a balancing act.”

Over the past decade, Fresno State has drawn more students from middle and lower income families than other CSU schools. This is reflected in the fact that two-thirds of its freshman come from parents with no bachelor’s degrees.

At Cal Poly Pomona, by comparison, only 10 percent of new students come from first-generation college families. At San Diego State, the figure is 22 percent. At Sacramento State, 57 percent of first-time freshmen are first-generation students.

Edward Armstrong, a first generation college student at Fresno State, works 15 to 20 hours a week while taking a full load of classes. He spends at least 15 hours a week studying. Armstrong is also a member of Sigma Chi, a fraternity on campus, and spends much of his free time planning community events for the fraternity or volunteering at mentoring organizations in Fresno Unified School District.

“I constantly juggle work, school and tests,” he said.

Sophomore Morgan Perry works 15 to 20 hours a week and spends an equal amount of time studying. She is taking 22 units and works as an intern for the Fresno Grizzlies. She is majoring in business and pursuing a minor in pre-law along with seeking a special events planning certificate.

On top of all this, Perry is the vice president of Kappa Kappa Gamma, and spends about 20 hours each week planning events for the sorority. “My parents pressure me to be the perfect child because my older brother made some mistakes, and now I have to make up for them,” she said.

Linda DeAngelo, who administers the national freshmen stress survey out of UCLA, underscored the importance of universities accurately surveying their students. How else to understand the emotional and financial stresses they carry, she said. This information is the first step in helping them alleviate the pressures.

“Getting involved and assessing your students is really about getting to know their needs,” she said.

CSU Long Beach has been participating in the “American Freshman” survey since 1997 as well as a national survey by the Association for University and College Counseling Center.

“We’ve been assessing for quite a while, and we’re doing what students need from us today,” said Brad Compliment, director of Psychological Services at CSU Long Beach. “We’re doing more prevention-based outreach, workshops and being available for students on campus.”

He said the school has noticed an increased level of stress for upperclassmen who are so focused on school that they forget about planning for a future career. “They worry a lot about graduation, and not so much what happens the day after,” Compliment said.

To meet that stress, the mental health staff at CSU Long Beach includes one psychiatrist, nine psychologists, one social worker and a licensed clinical social worker.

Up the coast at Chico State, the staff includes one psychiatrist, three clinical psychologists, a counseling psychologist and two social workers.

“I know at Fresno State, you are very understaffed,” said Bommersbach, the Chico State interim director of counseling. “I know your director. She’s fabulous. She’s advocating to get more counselors. [But] sometimes it falls on deaf ears.”

Bommersbach said the center at Chico State has endured its own cuts, and that students must sometimes wait three weeks before they are seen.

“We used to have a staff of 20 people years ago,” she said. “It’s gotten smaller and smaller.”

At Sacramento State, the mental health staff includes two psychologists, two licensed clinical social workers and a licensed marriage and family therapist. Rene Reis, the school’s marriage and family therapist, said Sacramento State consistently assesses the mental health of its students to ensure that needs are met.

At San Jose State, more than 40 counseling workshops are offered each semester. The workshops cover a variety of educational and personal issues, including stress management, relaxation, healthy relationships, and first-generation student help. Students can receive six individual or couple sessions per semester. Counselors are also available for students at all hours through a crisis hotline.

“If it’s necessary, they are able to meet with students in person,” Kell Fujimoto, interim director of San Jose State’s Counseling Services, said.

The situation at San Jose State is about to get even better with the implementation of a recent executive order by the CSU Chancellor’s Office. The order allows CSU presidents to authorize a student fee to help meet the needs of mental health issues on campus.

It is unclear if Fresno State will be authorizing a similar fee to improve its mental health services.

Fresno State does take part in a lesser known National College Health Assessment survey every year. The survey measures how stress affects students’ education, including why they miss an assignment or class.

Adding to the overall stress of Fresno State students is the rising costs of college, which have grown more than ten fold since the 1980s, and the difficulty of getting classes to fit into a schedule. As a result, the years of schooling needed to graduate have risen steadily. Today, statistics show, it takes six years for the average incoming freshman to graduate.

Nowhere is this stress more felt than among first-generation students. Studies show that they participate less in co-curricular activities like student government and intramural sports. They also have lower retention rates.

Gail Yang is a freshman biology major and a first-generation college student. She said family responsibilities interfere with her study time, and are a big source of stress.

Yang has three younger siblings, ages 3, 8 and 9, who she has to baby-sit every day. “It’s really hard to concentrate on your studies while you are babysitting,” she said.

Yang’s parents constantly remind her to do well in school and put pressure on her to succeed, she said. “I understand that college is important,” Yang said. “But there is only so much that a person can take.”