How COVID-19 turned college students’ lives upside down

Anchal Dhir, a first-year Vocal Performance major at Ithaca College, was devastated when she received an email stating she lost her on-campus job due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

With Ithaca College, along with many other schools, switching to remote learning and many states declaring stay-at-home orders, students’ lives were already being turned upside down in March. For Dhir, the threat of losing her job during a global crisis put more stress on her in an already stressful time.

Though self-quarantining and social distancing are necessities in this global pandemic, both come with consequences that are difficult to avoid. Colleges and universities across the U.S. had to change their classes to an online system.

Many schools, such as Ithaca College, were forced to make this decision mid-way through spring break. This abrupt change has proven to be a challenge for many students, especially those who already struggle with their mental health. Many find it difficult to stay motivated with the new remote-learning system and show concerns about their future.

While colleges are working to keep their students safe, concerns about their mental health come into question. 

The switch to remote learning along with quarantine has caused an increase in students’ anxiety and a negative impact on their overall mental health, much of which cannot be ‘solely’ attributed to the pandemic.

According to a COVID-19 Mental Health Survey, taken by 100 college students, a majority of students say that they believe their mental health has been harmed by the virus, yet two-thirds of respondents do not know anyone personally infected by the virus.

In Active Mind’s survey of 2,086 college students, 80% of college students reported that COVID-19 negatively affected their mental health. Ninety-one percent of students attribute stress or anxiety as a way the virus has impacted their lives. Eighty-one percent said disappointment or sadness has impacted their lives and 48% of students said financial setbacks have had an impact on their lives, respectively.  

Brian Petersen, Director of Ithaca College’s Center for Counseling, Health and Wellness (CAPS), says that an interesting trend he sees currently is that more Ithaca College students are enrolling in counseling services through CAPS during this time. 

“There's a level of fear and anxiety about getting sick right now or having someone in our families get sick. It's not usually a fear that we carry around with us constantly, but the very act of quarantining reminds us every single day that we can get sick and that's raising that baseline anxiety,” says Petersen. 

In Dhir’s situation, the potential loss of her work-study job resulted in financial stress. Along with the stresses of the pandemic, something like the risk of unemployment can significantly affect one’s mental health. Each college student’s specific situation during the COVID-19 pandemic can add to the stress and anxiety they feel. Targeting the stressors and making strides towards improving mental health can aid students now and in the coming future. 

Working Three Hours Behind

During the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s no surprise that students are finding difficulty in keeping up with their schoolwork. Students who are living in a different time zone than the college they attend are also met with the added challenge of having to work around a shifted schedule.

Madeline Maxwell, a first-year Ithaca College student, finds herself in this position. Maxwell moved her life from the state of Washington to New York to pursue her passion for journalism at the Roy H. Park School of Communications. Now, she finds herself back on the West Coast, with the time zone change putting her three hours behind all her classes.

The view outside of Maxwell's window

“It is just tough to be...on the West coast right now because all my classes and everything that's due is due three hours ahead my time, which is confusing,” said Maxwell.

Maxwell finds herself waking up at around 5:30 a.m. every morning to get up for classes that range from starting at 6:25 a.m. to 7:50 a.m. and believes it has had an unhealthy effect on her sleep schedule.

“It felt super unhealthy,” she said. “I mean obviously it's really hard to have to get up like super early in the morning...It's just hard to have classes at that time cause I feel like...I'm not as alert as I would be.”

Rebecca Cogan, Director of Case Management at Ithaca College, believes that having a good, routine schedule is very important. It can create a sense of normalcy which is important in a difficult time such as the one everyone is experiencing currently. Unfortunately, this is a lot harder to achieve for students living in different time zones than that of the schools which they attend. 

“A lot of our students have been following the same schedule since August and suddenly to have a main component of our days adjusted or taken away in some cases entirely is really hard to adapt to,” Cogan said.

Maxwell also said that lack of communication between professors and students adds stress. Maxwell considers herself to be a hard worker with a strong work ethic, but says it is difficult to keep up with schoolwork when the assignments and due dates are no longer as clear as they were prior to the introduction of online learning.

Technology is causing issues that many students are facing. Issues related to technology and classes held via Zoom can create a barrier between professors and students in different time zones, putting more stress on them.

“So many of my professors have not been open in communication about what's happening and they don't even respond to their emails all the time...I really don't know when things are due because the professor is not getting back to me,” Maxwell said. “It's hard when your syllabus has not been updated and everything's online and your professor’s not holding class sessions.”

Education Put On Pause

In regards to the Fall 2020 semester, Maxwell said that she believes that if Ithaca College were to continue with remote, online classes via Zoom due to the COVID-19 pandemic, she would decide to leave Ithaca College altogether.

“I definitely don't want to take a semester off because I won't be able to graduate with all my friends. But I do live on the West Coast, which is really difficult when you go to school on the East Coast and if it got to the point where we were just online for the rest of the year, I would probably just end up switching schools instead of taking a semester off,” said Maxwell.

Unfortunately, this seems to be a trend, with many students saying they believe online classes for an extended period of time are not worth the time or money. 

Zoë Fitzsimmons, a freshman pre-med student at Delaware Valley University, finds that classes have become more stressful. Fitzsimmons says she feels she is missing out on the experiences she needs to get a good education.

“We were supposed to dissect a pig...We were supposed to do a lot of lab work because basically I did lab work for chemistry and I did lab work for biology...We're just given the data...but you don't get the actual lab experience,” said Fitzsimmons. “That might affect me because I'm like, ‘All right, well how do I dissect a pig now?’” 

Dhir says that, though she is not finding any difficulty with her classes, she knows that they are not up to par.

“I know that at least three classes are not even close to what they would be in person, and I had to accept that,” she said.

Layla Haidar, a pre-med student studying at the Iran University Of Medical Sciences, has found a passion in helping others. In her free time, she spreads awareness on mental health through her Instagram account. She says that she believes online classes add extra stress to students that can be hard to manage. 

“Typically the life of a student is already stressful, from attendance to assignments and exams. We work the hardest to achieve the best results, in hopes of graduating and obtaining our degree,” said Haidar. “When we as students are asked to achieve the same goals, but with minimal resources from home, it can cause a lot of stress.”

Haidar has decided to put her education on hold for the time being, seeing it as the best option for her line of study.

“I personally...postponed my studies because I felt I can’t catch up well on online classes. The resources are limited and the professors aren’t taking the time to teach properly,” Haidar said. “The university could have managed this better but unfortunately it didn’t. Obviously this will affect when I finish but I’d rather do it right than not do it at all.”

Though colleges are working hard to do what is best for their students, the quality of education is still a great concern for many. Colleges provide hands-on learning and many opportunities such as internships and student-run organizations. When these factors are taken away, students see fewer benefits to the education they’re paying for. With a lower quality of education, students find themselves stressed over what this means for their future.

“I think I'll graduate, but to be successful in my profession is more what I'm concerned about,” said Maxwell.

A decrease in physical activity and exercise

Tyler Webster, a junior at Ithaca College, is normally a very active person. When quarantine started, she stopped exercising for weeks.

“Until three weeks ago, I didn’t [exercise] at all,” said Webster. “I was so inactive, but I started playing hacky sack with my mom and dad…as soon as I get up and moving I just feel so much better.”

The COVID-19 Mental Health survey found 39 students rated their exercise and physical activity as two on a scale of one to five and 38 rated it as one.

Webster says her mental health has noticeably improved when she began moving around again after weeks of inactivity. This is not something that is unique to Webster. An article titled “Exercise for Mental Health” from the Primary Care Companion to the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, a peer-reviewed journal, explains how exercise improves mental health. According to their research, aerobic exercises reduce anxiety and depression due to an increase in blood circulation to the brain. 

Nancy Reynolds, Health Promotion Center Program Director at Ithaca College, strongly recommends some form of exercise to the students she works with.

“For some students, it could be just the walk that they do around the block or up and down their street. And there's a lot of different things people do,” said Reynolds.

The research supporting the correlation between exercise and mental health improvement is very strong according to Reynolds, with new information being published constantly.

“When you exercise, it impacts the brain in such a way that you're able to focus and concentrate better,” said Reynolds. “There’s just more and more studies coming out, showing the benefits of exercise and...being outside.”

Establishing routines

Reynolds also explained that exercise does more than just produce positive chemical reactions in the body, but it also helps build a routine. Exercise is just one of Reynolds’ six things to do every day while practicing social distancing. These six tasks are meant to develop a routine for college students, creating a sense of normalcy during the COVID-19 pandemic. A routine is one thing that Webster felt she did not have, making her feel lost.

“I just felt, and I still do feel, kinda stuck,” said Webster, “I just lost all my motivation to get up and do something or leave my house. When I leave my house it just can give me so much energy.”

Petersen agreed that students should follow a daily schedule. By being consistent each day, students create a level of predictability in their daily routines. 

Reynolds spoke on the importance of classes to students.

“You don't have this structure of getting up, going to class,” she said. “Coming out of class, we're just really off with our whole routine…so sometimes in wellness coaching, we go through that and kind of figure out a day-to-day routine.”

Reynolds says routines can help many students. Fitzsimmons is a good example of someone who believes in the importance of consistency.

“[I’m] basically trying to do everything that I would do on a normal day, even though I'm not going anywhere,” says Fitzsimmons. 

Active Minds’ survey found that 76% of college students have had trouble maintaining a routine since the pandemic hit. Reynolds fears that, still, the problem can get worse once classes end. Students like Webster find school to be an important component in creating a routine. Reynolds feels that not having classes can make students increasingly unable to follow a routine.

“I'm really concerned about the summer for students. A lot of students, I think, are wondering, like, what am I going to do all summer?” said Reynolds. “And that's where I think kind of developing these healthy practices now in preparation for the summertime and developing summer routines is really important.”

Schoolwork is one of the things that provides students a routine, which is why it may be important for students to keep up with their school workload. However, according to the COVID-19 Mental Health survey, students are not keeping up with their schoolwork, as well as they did before the pandemic. On a one to five scale, 61% of college students rated their current schoolwork management a one or two.

Ithaca College Junior, Lauren Czelusta, was able to re-establish her schoolwork routine after exercising.

“When the gyms closed, I was heartbroken,” Czelusta said. “It was always how I started my mornings, by working out. I didn’t want to workout anymore when I couldn’t go to the gym.”

It may be hard to take the first step to get back into a routine, which is why Reynolds created a list of six things to do every day while practicing social distancing. She worked with the marketing department of Cornell University’s SC Johnson College of Business to name her plan for students. According to Reynolds, having six steps listed out can help students begin their routines again.

Lack of sunlight and vitamin D

One of the six things Reynolds encourages people to do while social distancing is to go outside.

“Sunlight is really important,” Reynolds said. “Not necessarily just sunlight, but natural light, whether the sun's out or not.”

When asked to rate the amount of sunlight they have been getting during quarantine on a scale of one to five, 39% of college students chose two, while 38% chose one. When asked whether they were supplementing with vitamin D or with foods high in vitamin D, 54% responded ‘no’.

The National Institute of Mental Health (NIH) describes Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) as “a type of depression that comes and goes with the seasons, typically starting in the late fall and early winter and going away during the spring and summer.”

To be diagnosed with SAD, seasonal depressions must be more frequent than any non-seasonal depression for at least two years. Though not all college students have Seasonal Affective Disorder, it does not mean a lack of sunlight or vitamin D cannot affect their mood and mental health. 

A research study in Nutrition Journal found giving doses of vitamin D to individuals who had a deficiency improved their depressive symptoms after two months. 

It is necessary to acknowledge that while vitamin D supplements may improve mood and symptoms of depression, it is but a small part of treatment since depression has many causes. However, it is something that is important to a person’s mental and physical health and should not be neglected during quarantine.

The importance of relaxation

The COVID-19 pandemic is something that has heightened stress for many students. During this time, it is important to focus on relieving stress and taking some time to focus on relaxation. For Dhir, this means meditating.

Though Ithaca College switched to remote learning, Dhir was not willing to give up her job so easily. She appealed for her position and was approved to work remotely for the Ithaca College Fitness Center. In order to keep her job, she proposed guided meditation sessions via Zoom. 

For her first class, only about three people attended but Dhir says that the group has grown exponentially, with newcomers joining in with regulars each session. Every week, Dhir gives her participants assignments which she states they complete actively. To her, a group that started as strangers has become a welcoming space to all who wish to join. 

Assignment for Dhir's meditation: "Draw Your Essence"

She began meditating when she was 16 and has continued since, using her experience as a catalyst for her spiritual growth. Quarantine has allowed her to reconnect to meditative practices from her past. 

Findings from a study titled “Meditation Programs for Psychological Stress and Well-being” conducted by researchers from Johns Hopkins University suggest that mindful meditation can ease stress, anxiety, depression, and pain. It also aids anxiety symptoms associated with specific mental disorders, such as generalized anxiety disorder. 

“Everyone has completely different methods of coping, and I found a healthy way of doing it after years of unhealthily doing it,” Dhir said. 

She has used her mental health experiences to develop and grow during this time. Dhir says she has used her time in quarantine to relax and "work out her laziness," resulting in stronger mental health and more motivation.

“I think motivation can only be truly found from within, anything else is temporary,” Dhir said. 

For Ithaca College students specifically, CAPS offers a variety of resources and information, including a list of apps for mental health, self-care, and mindfulness. Unlike Dhir’s meditation sessions via Zoom, these resources are not limited to Ithaca College students. 

Reflecting on oneself and acknowledging unhealthy habits can help many students currently affected by COVID-19 and its societal impacts. 

COVID-19’s impact affects people everywhere in different ways. To college students especially, this pandemic creates a variety of stressful situations, adding challenges for those who struggle keeping up with their already stressful routines. With the resources and expert advice available, students can alleviate the stress surrounding them during this global crisis. 

“I think mental health is everything,” said Dhir. “Without it, the filter of the world around us is completely shifted.”