Mental health care received small funding boosts throughout the UW System in 2009, though every university still fell short of recommended staffing ratios.
In 2006, the average ratio nationwide was one counselor per 1,698 students, according to the National Survey of Counseling Center Directors. The same survey found 83 percent of counseling directors had grown concerned about the effects of substandard mental health care, especially regarding student suicides and campus violence.
UW-Madison's University Health Services executive director, Sarah Van Orman, said these incidents, though serious, are not the most frequent threats of poor mental health care.
""There are hundreds and hundreds [of students] nationally who don't create an act of violence, but ... they drop out of school and they lose their education,"" she said.
UW-Madison's roughly 28 counselors offered the system's best ratio, barely beating the International Association of Counseling Services' recommendation of one full-time counselor per 1,000 to 1,500 students.
According to an August 2008 UW System report on mental health counseling presented to the Board of Regents, the system's average ratio was one counselor per 2,140 students.
UW-Milwaukee's ratio was twice that, with one counselor for every 4,289 students.
""There are any number of [UW-Milwaukee students] who ... have enormous stresses in their lives, sometimes balancing a job, a family and university life,"" state Rep. Jon Richards, D-Milwaukee, said. ""It's troubling to see such a huge gap with mental health care at UWM.""
Since the report, UW-Milwaukee Counseling Director Paul Dupont said his staff added the equivalent of almost two full-time counselors, though their ratio is still more than twice the IACS standard.
UW-Parkside, UW-Platteville, UW-Whitewater and UW-Eau Claire also fell below the system average and have added about five counselors since. The regents' report recommended hiring 30 counselors to meet the IACS standard, a $3 million investment UW System spokesperson David Giroux said was ""worthwhile"" but currently infeasible.
Giroux said though the programs are valuable, an expansion of that size is unrealistic under current budget constraints.
Staffing is just one area where UW schools could use aid, according to UW-Madison Director of Counseling Dennis Christoffersen.
""We've got three hospitals with inpatient psychiatric units. Other communities don't have one. They have to travel 50 miles to get to the one psychiatric hospital,"" he said. ""Talk about disrupting a student's life."" Christoffersen added UW-Madison offers one of the shortest wait times and is the only system school offering a 24/7 crisis hotline, though others direct students to community crisis numbers.
As for UW colleges, the report noted that only three of 13 even provided counseling services, according to the regents' report.
Van Orman said all UW System health care is funded through tuition and segregated fees, so it is unlikely the state Legislature will step in, and Gov. Jim Doyle took $237,000 from UHS' reserve fund this summer to help plug the budget gap. Van Orman said the cut will probably alter UHS' budget request next year, which may mean higher segregated fees.
""It's more likely that increased resources would come from basically students saying, ‘I'm willing to pay more tuition and fees to support this,'"" Van Orman said.
