Higher Education and Rehabilitation for People with Psychiatric Disabilities

In the present day, college attendance is widely considered an economic endeavor (Astin, 1993; Levine & Cureton, 1998). Occupations with greater prestige and status require a college education (Pascarella & Terenzini, 1991; Rodriguez & Ruppert, 1996). Besides contributing to higher socioeconomic status, post-secondary education has also been found to positively impact quality of life (Pascarella & Terenzini, 1991), health outcomes, and mortality rates (Hamburg, 1997; Haveman & Wolfe, 1984; Pincus, Callahan, & Burkhauser, 1987). No doubt as a result of these obvious and well-publicized benefits, a more diverse and increasingly larger number of adults are attending college. Statistics kept by the U.S. Department of Education show that in 1997, 44% of undergraduates were over the age of 25 and 43% were attending college part-time. Sixty-five percent of all high school graduates now go on to post-secondary education; "the nation has moved from what has been characterized as elite to mass to universal higher education" (Levine & Cureton, 1998, p. 145). Despite the high volume of individuals who enroll in higher education, most people who matriculate into colleges and universities do not complete a degree (Tinto, 1993). Many factors may account for this attrition, including a lack of fit between students and educational institutions, students' difficulties financing their education, and competing life circumstances (Astin, 1993; Tinto, 1993). An additional factor affecting college completion remains largely unexplored. This factor is mental illness. Evidence suggests that people with mental illness begin college, but are frequently unable to complete their educational goals. Kessler, Foster, Saunders, and, Stang (1995) used nationally representative data to estimate that approximately 4.3 million individuals would have completed college if they had not experienced a serious mental illness. This attrition from college represents a waste of resources by post-secondary educational institutions, financing bodies, and the individuals themselves. Students who struggle with mental illness may not be finding the specific supports they need to overcome barriers to the completion of their education. Although the symptoms of mental illness present a barrier to higher education, they can often be overcome with medication, psychotherapy, or a combination of these treatments. Aside from the symptoms, there are a number of other barriers to higher education faced by people with mental health problems. Loewen (1993) found that this population of students faced a lack of awareness or understanding of mental illness by faculty and peers. Moreover, institutional discrimination exists on some campuses in the form of mandatory psychiatric withdrawal policies (Hoflman & Mastrianni, 1991). These academic policies require students with mental illness to leave campus until they seek treatment, demonstrate competence through employment or education at another institution, or both. Campus facilities have only limited mental health services available. Sixty percent of a sample of college administrators surveyed report that increasing numbers of undergraduates are using psychological counseling services and are using them for longer periods of time. One dean wrote, "Students bring more nonacademic related issues [to campus]. We are becoming a secondary social service agency" (Levine & Cureton, 1998, p. 96). Campus mental health professionals responsible for taking care of the psychological needs of students are alarmed by the increasing numbers of students with serious mental illness because they do not have the resources necessary to serve this population (O'Malley, Wheeler, Murphey, O'Connell, & Waldo, 1990; Stone & Archer, 1990). In addition, people with serious mental illnesses who attend college may be falling though the cracks in mental health service systems. While colleges lack the resources to address this population's psychiatric treatment needs, mental health service providers may not be providing these individuals with support for their educational endeavors. …