Insights from 2024 Gallup & Lumina Foundation's State of Higher Education

"one in five students (22%) have considered stopping out due to mental health challenges or emotional stress."

The 2024 Lumina Foundation-Gallup State of Higher Education results are important reading for the higher education community.

Despite a steady decline in college enrollment over the last decade that may reflect declining confidence in the value of post-secondary education, adults' interest in pursuing some form of higher education is at the highest level that Lumina Foundation Foundation and Gallup have recorded.

In fact, 94% of adults say at least one kind of postsecondary credential -- such as an associate degree, bachelor's degree, certificate or industry certification -- is very valuable.

The 2024 report illustrates what's keeping students from enrolling and what's causing currently enrolled students to consider stopping out.

Some important highlights include:

• More than one in three currently enrolled students have considered stopping out of their degree or credential program within the last six months.
• Among those considering stopping out, 64% say emotional stress or mental health concerns are significant reasons — more than twice the percentage who say the cost of their program is what may cause them to stop out.
• Scaling this number across the entire student population suggests that more than one in five students (22%) have considered stopping out due to mental health challenges or emotional stress.
• Moreover, 28% of all female students have considered stopping out due to mental health or emotional stress — nearly twice the percentage of male students (15%)

In the context of the National Student Clearinghouse report that 113,000 students completed an official withdrawal in 2021, it is clear that school officials are smart to evaluate their policies and programs to support students who experience mental health conditions that may disrupt their academic term.

So what can be done to help students who do "stop out" to return to school?

1. Evaluate the language of Stoping Out. Instead of referring to student medical withdrawals, using the term medical leave of absence is less disruptive to students' well-being and identity.
2. Evaluate your institution's refund policy & how you protect students. How many students withdraw each term and how many students leave school never to return? If you don't provide 100% refunds for tuition, academic fees, and housing, than consider implementing GradGuard's Tuition Protection Plan which can. While stopping out is a major concern, GradGuard's experience is that more than 75% of students with paid claims re-enroll or plan to re-enroll. That is the entire purpose of GradGuard's Tuition Protection Plan - to help students return to campus if their health conditions force them to withdraw.
3. Reduce financial stress on students. According to the JED Foundation , implementing a tuition insurance program can be a useful best practice for reducing students' financial stress. Given that most schools do not provide a refund after the fifth week of school and virtually none provide a refund for academic fees or housing, tuition insurance can reduce students' financial stress and provide up to a 100% refund when schools do not.

At GradGuard , our mission is to help schools educate and protect students from the risks of college life, we understand that student mental health is a complex issue. The approach each campus takes can make a difference in the lives of students in need and support student enrollment and completion goals.

Even before last week's announcement, I remain optimistic that each of us can take steps in the higher education community to evaluate the policies and programs that help students and shape better outcomes for them.