While counsellors argue that student mental health should be the concern of the whole institution, many universities are anxious about investigating what they regard as the sensitive subject of student mental health. It's as if institutions are scared they'll be seen as a 'death trap' or as a place where students go to be unhappy. If some universities are dragging their feet in researching this area, others are finding it a positive experience. Leicester University is in the process of repeating its survey, this time asking additional questions about student finances. This is surely a step in the right direction.
More research is needed which looks at the links between stress, finances and student mental health.
And more funds are necessary to support those who support the students. My father died when I was 16, and some time after that I began to suffer from depression and panic attacks. I was self-harming as well, and had an eating disorder. I wasn't well enough to start my degree until I was 20. When I began the course, I lived for the first year with a friend, but she left at the end of my first year.