Why millions of college kids are mentally ‘disabled’

“As many as one in four students at some elite U.S. colleges are now classified as disabled, largely because of mental-health issues such as depression or anxiety,” starts the Wall Street Journal’s recent report on the alarmingly high level of mental disorders and psychological problems currently plaguing America’s college students.

The Journal cites a few examples: California’s Pomona College has “22 percent of students … considered disabled this year, up from 5 percent in 2014.” At three Massachusetts colleges – Hampshire, Amherst and Smith – as well as Yeshiva University in New York, “one in five students are classified as disabled. At Oberlin College in Ohio, it’s one in four. At Marlboro College in Vermont, it’s one in three.” Think about that – one in every three students legally classified as “disabled.” (All it takes is a note from one’s doctor.)

Then there’s New York’s Vassar, Oregon’s Reed, Massachusetts’ Mount Holyoke and the University of Vermont, all with 16 percent of students psychologically disabled. At Haverford it’s 15 percent, Stanford 14 percent, Brown 12 percent, Yale 11 percent and Columbia 8 percent.