An average of £2.3bn is made in surplus each year by universities collectively, bringing the total reserve as of 2017 to £44.27bn. If you pair this figure with the £50mn spent annually on student wellbeing, this comes out as 0.001% of university spending going towards student welfare. This is unacceptable.

Currently, the mental health crisis is not at the top of the government’s list of priorities at the moment, considering the COVID-19 pandemic. However, our current situation only makes the mental health crisis more pressing. The new academic year has presented many challenges; academically, financially and practically. However, the emotional toll on students cannot be underestimated. Students have been sent to live in student accommodation blocks full of strangers from across the country, thus most have inevitably had to self-isolate, and have found themselves prisoners in a 13 square foot dorm room where they may not see anyone for days on end. And then to add to what is essentially a form of torture, many have been charged excessive amounts of money by their respective universities to have food sent to them in order to follow government laws put in place for public safety.

A 2020 investigation of 62 universities in the UK has found that 55% of them had no idea how many students die by suicide a year. This statistic includes some of the country’s most prestigious institutions, such as Durham, King’s College London, Royal Holloway, St. Andrews and Nottingham. This is because, legally, universities are not required to monitor student deaths due to a lack of enforced communication between coroners and the universities themselves. This is simply not just; I refuse to believe that our government believes that it is safe and moral to send the country’s children to effectively prison cells where the management don’t care whether they live or die. 

The solution to this problem should not be to pull out the plug, we should be turning off the tap, so to speak. The way that we should be fighting the crisis is through proactive prevention, but this simply cannot be possible when the funding is not there. Despite the rise in demand for wellbeing services in universities, budgets are decreasing in many universities, including London Metropolitan, Queen’s University Belfast and Cambridge, as well as many others who have remained stagnant. It is unreasonable to expect our university’s to be able to protect student welfare if they are not trained to do so, and there is not sufficient funding for effective services to facilitate these student’s needs.

This is why we not only need more funding for specialist support organisations run by universities, it should also be essential for all teaching and pastoral staff to be trained as Mental Health First Aiders so that it is easily identifiable when a student is at risk. Please sign this petition if you believe in the welfare of our country's students.