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Student Health/Pandemic Issues
A growing number of universities are creating so-called alcoholism and drug addiction recovery communities, which often feature on-campus clubhouses, recreational opportunities, academic support and recovery courses. To promote the spread of the concept, about 20 colleges this summer formed the Association for Recovery in Higher Education. On the campus of one founding member - Georgia's Kennesaw State University - the community of 50 recovering students is up from three when the program was launched in 2008.
Almost half of military veterans who are enrolled in college have contemplated suicide at some point, and 20 percent have planned to kill themselves, according to a study presented Thursday at the annual convention of the American Psychological Association. Colleges are largely unprepared to meet the needs of student veterans, whose numbers will reach the hundreds of thousands in the next decade, said M. David Rudd, a professor of psychology and scientific director of the National Center for Veterans' Studies at the University of Utah.
Due to the federal law known as FERPA (Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act), parents have another reason for concern - will they be able to get enough information about their children while they're in college? The idea of young people independently managing their own difficulties without the immediate intervention of hovering parents appeals to many professors and campus administrators, but this notion has dangerous potential.
To help deal with increased demand for services, more campus counseling centers are using computerized questionnaires to help them flag a serious problem more quickly than traditional paper-and-pencil evaluations. Though not a replacement for in-depth questioning or counseling, many counselors say high-tech methods like these appeal to students, who are often more comfortable communicating with smart phones, iPads and laptops. These therapists say these screenings also help them do their jobs better, and fine-tune therapy.
Sen. John D. Rockefeller IV (D-W.Va.), chair of the Senate Commerce Committee, on Friday sent a letter to HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius that reiterated his call for protecting students with pre-existing conditions and guarding against dollar limits on care, and for avoiding unexpected dropped coverage because of clerical errors. But he also went to great lengths to call out insurance companies that say student health plans should not be subject to that law because their market is a volatile one with unique administrative costs.
Jon Dorfman was diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome at 9. This month, Dorfman, now 22, will graduate from St. Joseph's University. He's a film major, a former NBC intern, and a paid mentor at the school's Kinney Center for Autism Education and Support. He's also part of the newest wave of diversity to reach college campuses. As a generation of young adults - the first to be diagnosed with Asperger's as children - comes of age, it is demolishing stereotypes about its condition and prompting universities to respond to its needs.
If students have been covered by the college health plan and want to get onto their parents' insurance plan, they have 30 days from the date their student coverage ends to do so. Miss that window, and they may be left out until the plan's next annual enrollment period, usually at the beginning of the new year.
An October incident at Yale University has inflamed an ongoing national debate over whether universities are doing enough to fight rape and sexual harassment of women. The discussion raises all kinds of questions including what constitutes consent and whether students accused of serious sexual violence should be expelled even if they haven't been convicted in a criminal court.
The American Council on Education - which had said before the rules were released that subjecting student plans to the new federal law would jeopardize colleges' ability to offer health insurance - praised the proposal for gradually increasing annual coverage limits and for allowing colleges to charge annual health fees. But final regulations should make students eligible for the federal law's tax credits for premiums, because those costs are likely to rise, ACE wrote, on behalf of several other higher-education associations.
A nation that prides itself on fighting the abuse of power has an obligation to prevent sexual violence in schools and on college campuses, Vice President Joe Biden said Monday as he kicked off a nationwide awareness campaign on schools' responsibilities and victims' rights. Nearly 20 percent of college women will be victims of attempted or actual sexual assault, as will about 6 percent of undergraduate men, according to data provided by the Education Department.
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