Most students who are behind on their path to graduation cited mental health as a factor, according to a newly released spring 2025 mid-semester check-in survey.
The survey, conducted between March 19 and April 2, showed out of 948 students, 101 students reported feeling significantly behind in their coursework and thus, their path to graduation.
60% of those students cited mental health as a factor.
Mary Mayo, a third-year Journalism + Design student at Eugene Lang College of Liberal Arts, has been struggling to keep up with assignments this semester.
“I’m a big procrastinator. But that’s more on me, and not necessarily the course work,” Mayo said. “I feel like I prioritize school a lot, even though I procrastinate because I’m stressing so much about my performance.”
Students are at the point in the school year when mid-semester fatigue sets in. Coursework is piling up, forcing students to work into the early morning finishing assignments or even skipping class to get another class’s work done.
Natalie Sickling, a fourth-year literary studies student at Eugene Lang said she was feeling overwhelmed and feared falling behind in her studies. “It’s a combination of the increased workload in classes and the pressure of the semester coming to a close,” she said.
A 2016 study conducted by Deutsches Ärtzeblatt International found that poor mental health affects students’ ability to learn, focus, and retain information. Unaddressed mental health problems can impair cognitive function, decrease motivation, and increase tardiness or absenteeism.
Sickling’s experience with stress and procrastination is all too common. To support mental health, The New School’s Student Health Services (SHS) offers various psychiatric and counseling services to address these issues.
But seeking counseling from SHS, she said, just increased her stress. “To get an appointment set up seems so much more stressful than to talk to somebody for an hour.”
“Having social support is always something that I recommend,” said NYC Psychiatric Associates’ licensed psychiatrist Dr. Kevin Long, providing professional insight into how a student can cope with their course work and mental health. “For some it’s going out for a walk or having a little treat or something to eat. Some people it’s listening to a favorite song. It really kind of depends on your best coping strategies.”
According to the American Psychological Association (APA), coping mechanisms are the foundation to weathering any mental health crisis. Exercise, for one, also increases brain concentrations of norepinephrine in brain regions involved in the body’s stress response. This helps reduce depression and anxiety by enhancing the body’s ability to respond to stress. The APA observed that walking at a brisk pace increases blood flow and oxygen to the brain, triggering the release of endorphins and serotonin, the happy hormones.
For Sickling, she’s perfected her own routine to handle stressful times at school. “I paint my nails hot pink, I have a bomb pop, and a cigarette on my fire escape every night,” Sickling said.
In addition to counseling, SHS uniquely offers 30-minute mindfulness sessions, established by PhD alumni to coach students through one-on-one mindfulness techniques to help manage anxiety and stress. Students can schedule these mindfulness sessions through the SHS portal at https://shsportal.newschool.edu.