"…The rising rate of stress in college students is revealing the very real need for mental health and counseling services on campuses. Many campuses offer these services but are struggling to keep up with the increasing rate of students coming in the door.
It is important to take these matters seriously. Eighty percent of students report feeling stressed sometimes or often, and 34 percent report having feelings of depression as reported by the Anxiety and Depression Association of America." …
http://www.collegenews.com/article/stress-epidemic-among-college-students/
Really 20% of college students feel no stress? That’s surprising.
“Studying for assessments and writing papers are well-known aspects of the college experience. It is surprising, however, that the average full-time college student only spends 2.76 hours per day on education-related activities”
Well the feeling of freedom (one of the antitheses of stress) comes from accepting responsibility and meaningfully engaging in tasks at hand. Perhaps avoiding rather than taking on academics full on may be contributing to the problem if this statistic above is accurate.
Like @sushirtto I don’t think college students should expect their life to be stress free. Stress is part of college, always has been.
Also, stress and mental illness are two very different things.