Higher education’s silent pandemic
In a post-Covid world, how are students coping with the return to normality?
The pandemic created a world of money struggles and an increased amount of screen time, everything from lectures, meetings and consultations favoured Zoom, Microsoft teams and Blackboard.
Students, who most likely took advantage of the idea that they did not have get out of bed to attend a lecture, were hounded with the idea of the ‘new normal’ and only now, two years on have the restrictions officially been lifted.
Suddenly thrown back into face-to-face lectures after the ‘new norm’ was imbedded into their brains, has the pandemic influenced their motivation to work and most importantly of all, their mental health?
According to Mind charity, one in three young people (34%) said that their mental health has gotten worse during the pandemic, whilst also finding that young people want more education about mental health in universities.
Charlotte, a student who during the pandemic was in her second year of university, agrees. “I definitely don’t think there’s enough mental health chat in universities, you get guests coming in to speak about it all the time in high school, but at university there’s nothing, especially since the pandemic, you’d think there’d be more.
“I suffer with anxiety, and since the pandemic it has been much worse. Sometimes I can’t even leave the house which means I’m missing lectures. I think we all got so used to not having to go out to get our work done, we completely forgot our pre-pandemic routines that were once so normal to us.”
When asked about her motivation to complete her university work, she added: “My motivation has dwindled, it’s so frustrating. Before Covid I would do my work without a second thought, whereas now I have to make myself sit down and do the work otherwise it won’t get done.”
Could it be that mental health and motivation are linked? There is in fact a science to motivation: research has found it is linked to happiness, which the pandemic damaged for a lot of for young people. This possible link could be the key to students finding their drive to get the work done.
It is important to note that this crisis is not only affecting students but staff as well. An article written by the Guardian states that four in five university staff are struggling with increased workload and poor mental health because of the pandemic.
In a survey done by the University and College Union, 57.5% of staff admitted that their workload had increased. Jo Grady, general secretary of the UCU, said: “Staff were already stressed and overworked before Covid, and over the past year they have had to deliver a ‘blended learning’, while being forced to endlessly readjust their teaching plans.”
Whilst mental health and motivation are two components that are affecting students, one other factor could be due to financial hardship.
During the pandemic, most students returned home to continue online studies with the advantage of not having to pay rent for halls or house shares. Fast forward to now and the stress of having to depend on finding work to pay for necessities could be having a detrimental effect on students work ethic.
Isabella a student who lived at home during the pandemic and was furloughed said: “The halls I was living in allowed us to end our contract early if we moved out, so I had a full term of rent money to spend how I wanted.”
Isabella is now working two jobs alongside her studies to pay her rent, which she says affects her university work. “It’s exhausting. It’s hard to balance priorities between work and university, I’m at university two days a week and I work four days, when I get in from work, I don’t have the energy to do anything so I can struggle to do extra work for university.”
In December 2021 the government announced £20m of additional hardship funds to universities, according to the Financial Times. This number proves how many students may still be in a financial struggle.
“It’s an incredibly difficult situation for students at the moment,” says personal finance expert Iona Bian for the Financial Times. “The combination of mental health struggles with financial pressures can really derail a student’s finances.”
It seems that no student is alone in their thoughts, but with all Covid restrictions easing this month the future seems bright. If you have been affected by any of the issues raised in this article, further resources are linked below.
Student Minds find support.
Student Space’s free, confidential support services.
Mind Charity Helpline.
16 to 19 education: financial support for students.
Feature image by CollegeDegrees360 via Flickr.