So often students hear complaints like 'oh you students have easy lives, all you have to do is go to lectures and then write essays/take exams, try getting a real job'. Well, actually, our lives are difficult and, generally, we are at university to try to help ourselves get 'a real job' in the future (although it doesn't always turn out that way). This sidelining of students' mental health is really worrying. Saying that students 'have it easy' just makes us feel as if our very real mental health issues are not legitimate.
The University of Bristol has reported 3 student deaths by means of suicide so far this Autumn Semester (between September and December). In 2014, 130 students (about the size of one of my first year lectures) in England and Wales committed suicide (97 of these were male, 33 female). This was a massive increase from 2007 when numbers were 75. Why have numbers almost doubled?
- Rising tuition fees.
- Less financial support for students.
- Stigmatisation of students' mental health.
- More pressure on school leavers to go to university to obtain a degree despite fewer job prospects for graduates.
- The marketisation of our universities.
