Thanks so much for posting this - yikes. I haven’t finished clicking on all the links from it yet, but have read this one, which is absolutely devastating:
http://yaledailynews.com/weekend/2014/01/24/we-just-cant-have-you-here/
I am a mental health service provider. This is extremely complex. Many serious mental health disorders fully manifest on average, between the ages of 18 and about 25. No matter how endowed or sophisticated an institution is, they are not equipped to deal with serious mental illness for very long, and their policies recognize their limitations. Colleges are not mental health institutions, and students with serious problems likely do need treatment outside the institution. The fact that an institution makes it known that there are limitations is their way of saying we can’t help you if you are too sick to function.
Frightening account. It is hard to know what the whole story was that led to the hospitalization she refers to, but the treatment there, not being able to contact anyone?!
Very interesting; the Newsweek article (one of the links) is particularly good.
Regarding ^ quote from @NorthernMom61. That’s not the issue. The question is whether a college has policies that identify, punish and work to permanently remove students who seek help or need a medical leave.
Schools like Yale and other Ivies tend to have very high graduation rates: they stick with their students to an extraordinary degree, possibly to preserve that statistic, possibly for other more humanitarian reasons.
This student benefited in the long run and returned to campus. It would seem that the medical leave was helpful to her.
I think the search policy and the lack of access to a phone are both concerning but otherwise, I wonder what she expected to happen in the scenario described?
Parents should purchase the tuition refund policy before their kids start college: this negates any financial effect of a forced withdrawal. And with a disability that is documented, financial aid will most likely be provided (at an Ivy anyway) for any extra semesters on campus.
I had a friend at a school that has something of a reputation for being high-stress and having students with mental health issues. This school has also been sued related to a student suicide. My friend felt like she was pressured to take medical leave as an only option when she was dealing with mental health issues, and it was made very difficult for her to return - the impression was that they were looking more toward their desire to not have students with mental health issues on campus than actually looking holistically at the best options for those students. They were considering having those students on campus a risk to the institution, and it was about what was best for the institution and not the student.