As a public university, one might assume that the university budget is readily available and easy to find for those who wish to access it. However, we have found that this is not the case. Due to recent complaints from students regarding mental health services, we wanted to look over the UConn Student Health and Wellness budget to see how the funds are broken down. Despite all of our research and discussions with the UConn Office of Budget and Planning, we were unable to find any specific information on the Student Health and Wellness budget that would allow students to see how their funds are being allocated to specific resources. UConn often claims that they provide students with lots of resources for their mental health, but in reality, does a poor job of facilitating those resources and keeping the students informed regarding what they offer. This leaves students who are struggling with mental health issues to have to seek out resources on their own. UConn needs to make resources to students more accessible, which includes lessening the wait times for appointments and providing more ways for students to reduce their stress or get aid for their mental health struggles. However, students cannot ask for resources to be re-allocated without understanding the current Student Health and Wellness budget. Therefore, we are asking for a Student Health and Wellness budget to be publicly released so that students have a better understanding of how the funding for this department is received and broken down.

Despite UConn offering services to help keep students happy and healthy, the mental health services offered by the university still have various improvements that must be made to ensure that students are getting all the help they need. A few concerns that have been commonly expressed by students are that it takes a very long time to get an appointment, that students are expected to have medical insurance in order to receive treatment, and that students whose struggles are “too bad” cannot be handled by university services and have to be sent elsewhere for treatment. Additionally, information on mental health resources have to be sought out by the students who are struggling. With common mental health issues often leaving students who are struggling feeling unmotivated to get help, paired with the stigma that surrounds mental health issues making students feel embarrassed to ask for help, not making information and resources more accessible to students is harmful and impractical to those who may need assistance. Making the UConn Student Health and Wellness budget public and available is the first step in starting a discussion about how much money is available to this department, the beneficial ways that money can be allocated, and what additional funding might be necessary to provide students with the quality care that they deserve.

Making the budget public and accessible will give students the opportunity to understand how the funds for mental health services within the Student Health and Wellness department are allocated and will start to allow for important changes to be made. A budget breakdown, similar to the one SUBOG publicly provides for their board, would be a great way for the Student Health and Wellness Department to show which areas of the department get certain percentages of the funding. This would allow students to understand how the money is allocated and start to make decisions about how the money for Student Health and Wellness should be allocated, both to the mental health department and within it. Letting students have a voice in the decision-making of funding will help their needs to be met in a more effective way. For example, students might help to find ways to allocate more money to the mental health department from Student Health and Wellness so that more staff can be hired, lessening the issue of how difficult it is to get appointments in a timely manner. This is essential, because mental health struggles need to be prioritized and cannot be put on the back burner for long periods of time, which limited appointment availability ultimately does. Money can also be re-allocated to advertising and outreach purposes; since students currently have to go out of their way to search for information to get help, which can be deterred by a lack of motivation or embarrassment, simply keeping all of the information regarding mental health services on the Student Health and Wellness page is not enough. Student Health and Wellness should go out of their way to let students know that there are services and help available to them, should they need or want it. A mass email, similar to the UConn Daily Digest, could be sent out on a daily or weekly basis to inform students of available resources, techniques for managing stress and anxiety, ways students can ask for help, and more. This puts the information students need but may not seek out right in their inbox. 

College is a particularly stressful environment, and college students are at the age where most mental health problems reveal themselves or develop. It is essential that UConn and the Student Health and Wellness department make more of an effort to combat the development of mental health issues and can provide the resources to those already struggling. Huskies deserve more than the current insufficient resources, and making the budget public can allow students to help the department to be more effective.