Mental health and stress are among the top reasons college students consider dropping out of school, according to a recent Gallup poll.
Among students who said they had considered leaving the program in the past six months, 54% cited emotional stress and 43% cited mental health as the reason why, according to the the Gallup poll. Gallup also noted that 35% of college students surveyed reported that they considered dropping out of school in the past six months.
The percentage of students who said emotional stress was a reason they considered leaving their programs nearly doubled between 2020 and 2023, according to the survey.
The Gallup survey found significant shares of students pursuing a bachelor’s degree cited emotional stress and mental health in the new survey. The survey found that about two-thirds of students pursuing a bachelor’s degree cited emotional stress as a reason for considering dropping out of school, while about 56% cited mental health.
Gallup noted that those enrolled in bachelor’s degree programs were slightly more likely to cite emotional stress and mental health as reasons they considered dropping out than those in associate degree programs. Fifty-eight percent of undergraduate students said stress was the reason, while 45 percent included mental health.
Another common reason for students wanting to leave their programs was the financial cost, with 31% of students saying this. This includes 39% of those pursuing a bachelor’s degree.
The results they’re part the Lumina-Gallup Foundation 2024 State of Higher Education Study. The survey was conducted online among 14,032 current and prospective college students from October 9 to November 16, 2023.
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