Student Fees: Advocating for Your Money to Go Towards Mental Health

Why Student Fees Matter for Mental Health

• Demand for campus mental health services is rising among college students (Ehrnstrom et al., 2022).
• Emotional stress and mental health concerns are the top two reasons students have considered stopping course work (Gallup & Lumina Foundation, 2024).
• Investment in mental health programs and services has the potential to improve student retention and success.
• Campus funding has the potential to increase resource accessibility, reduce service wait times, and ensure culturally competent care for all students.

Options for Funding Mental Health Services:

Students seeking to increase funding for mental health services can advocate for one of two options:

1. Slightly raising student fees to add a contribution for mental health services. Students can voluntarily support an increase in their fees to ensure better mental health resources for themselves and their peers.
2. Adjusting existing health fees to ensure that mental health services are included. Currently, many health fees cover general health services but do not encompass counseling or mental health care.

Who Makes Fee Decisions?

There are usually three rounds of approval required:

1. Student Government: Often the first step in approval.
2. Student Fee Boards/Committees: Evaluate impact and provide recommendations.
3. Board of Regents/Trustees: Final approval for budget changes.

Making the Case for Increased Funding

Steps for a Successful Proposal:

1. Build a Coalition
   • Involve diverse voices for a well-rounded advocacy effort
   • Delegate tasks to team members
2. Gather Research & Data
   • Retention and graduation rates
   • Mental health survey data (Healthy Minds Study, NCHA)
   • Peer institution comparisons
3. Collect Student Stories
   • Personal narratives create an emotional connection to the issue
4. Develop a Clear Proposal
   • Outline benefits of the changes you are proposing
   • Write a SMARTIE Goal to make your vision clear
   • Develop a clear timeline with input from stakeholders on important dates and times required for campus processes
5. Present to Decision-Makers
   • Prepare a clear agenda and, if appropriate, a presentation
   • Highlight peer institutions with similar success
   • Bring a coalition member to take notes
   • Expect multiple meetings before final approval

Impacting Existing Student Fees to Be Inclusive of Mental Health

Iowa State University

At Iowa State University, Cole Staudt, serving as Student Government President, recognized an urgent need for expanded mental health resources on campus. Concerned about the lengthy wait times for counseling services, which had reached up to six weeks, Staudt approached the Vice President of Student Affairs to push for immediate action.

Initially informed that improvements were at least a year away, Staudt persisted. “I pushed it and said, ‘We need this now,’” he recalled. He emphasized the need for more counselors, psychiatrists, and greater capacity for mental health services. His investigation revealed a funding discrepancy: the Health Center was financed primarily by the student health fee, while Counseling Services relied entirely on the university’s general operating budget.

Prompted by Staudt’s advocacy, the Director of the Health Center and her team developed a proposal for the Student Fee Committee, which included university leadership and student representatives. After careful analysis and collaboration, the Student Fee Committee and then the Board of Regents approved a $12 per semester increase to the student health fee, raising it from $108 to $120. The increase generated $817,680 in additional funding and, for the first time, allowed the student health fee to support both Health Center and Counseling Services operations.

TIP: A student fee proposal often requires extensive analysis and critical data from Counseling and Health Services. These departments are essential partners in ensuring clarity about how funds will be allocated and what specific services the increase will support.

Creating a Student Health Fee

 University of Iowa

At the University of Iowa, a collaborative effort between the student government and university staff led to the establishment of a new $12.50 mental health fee. This initiative provided critical funding to add six new therapists, increasing the counseling team to 21 professionals, and supported the construction of a new counseling services building on the east side of campus.

The proposal relied heavily on data from the counseling center to demonstrate the pressing need for additional space and staff. Over a two-year period, the counseling center experienced a 30% increase in students seeking mental health services, with more than half presenting with diagnosable anxiety or depression.

TIP: Proposal writers strengthened their case by aligning their request with the university’s strategic goals, emphasizing the importance of keeping services on par with peer institutions. When crafting proposals, it can be beneficial to research your school’s peer institutions using tools such as the Chronicle of Higher Education’s Interactive Peer Institution Tool.

Conclusion

Whether your efforts focus on reallocating existing student fees or creating new health fees, your work has the potential to make a lasting difference on your campus. By leveraging campus data and benchmarking against peer institutions to build a compelling proposal, you are not only advocating for better mental health resources but also fostering a campus culture that prioritizes student well-being. Change may not happen overnight, but your advocacy lays the foundation for future generations of students to thrive—from their first day on campus through graduation.