Dive Brief:
- A number of colleges and universities are turning to outsourced counseling services, in some ways an extension of Employee Assistance Program offerings, to meet student demand for such support.
- Inside Higher Ed reports the services are substantially cheaper than expanding on-campus resources, and contracts generally come with agreements to transfer high-risk cases to local personnel.
- Many institutions that have launched such programs did so initially to provide services to online or otherwise nontraditional student populations who weren’t on campus to seek other supports.
Dive Insight:
One key feature of outsourced counseling products is that they are typically available online or over the phone 24 hours per day. That flexibility fits well with a student schedule. And the low cost of contracts with companies like ComPsych, TAO Connect, and E4 Health fits well into university budgets. With increasing attention on student performance in assessments of institutions — by state and federal governments as well as prospective students and their families — mental health support can be seen as a retention strategy.