Humboldt's Student Needs

Student Health & Wellbeing Services is almost entirely funded by student fees paid each semester. The campus clinic provides medical services, counseling and psychological services, and a range of campus-wide health education programs to students. But student needs have grown more quickly than resources, leaving a shortage the on-campus clinic cannot meet.

  • 1,700 Humboldt students have untreated mental health concerns
  • More than 100 students leave Humboldt each year because of untreated health barriers
  • While nearly 1 in 4 students come to Humboldt having used psychotropic medication, most students have to wait months or don’t have access to a psychiatrist at all. After getting to a place where they ask for help, students often wait weeks or call back repeatedly to schedule with a mental health therapist because the system is so understaffed and backlogged with high risk crises. In a few years the wait will be 3 to 4 weeks for a first appointment
  • 68 percent of students at Humboldt screen positive for some level of anxiety - significantly higher than the national or CSU averages
  • Community health resources can’t make up for our shortage – Humboldt County has just 1 psychiatrist for every 4,600 community members. 
  • Community health resources are expensive - one visit to a physical or mental health provider off campus costs more than an entire year of student health fees, and one night in the hospital costs more than a semester of tuition