85% of Michigan community colleges fall below the recommended full-time counselor-to-student ratio of 1 counselor to 1000 students, the standard for the counseling profession set by the International Accreditation of Counseling Services.

60% of Michigan community colleges also fall below the statewide average number of providers per 1000 students.

Note: This data represents colleges’ total clinical capacity to provide individual counseling. One standardized counselor represents a 24-hour block of clinical hours per week, assuming a counselor working 40 hours per week would have 24 clinical hours per week.

Among colleges that offer non-crisis mental health services (i.e., individual counseling) to students, the models for staffing mental health providers vary greatly. Dual / multi role providers, who serve as mental health providers in addition to other roles within their college, are the most commonly used model of care among MI community colleges.

Survey respondents were asked to report their top three barriers to improving mental health services at their college, which were used to create a score for each barrier. Higher scores indicate greater, more pressing barriers.

As can be seen, many colleges pointed to limited funding, competing institutional priorities, and insufficient counselor time as the greatest barriers to strengthening their student mental health support.