[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 18 (Friday, January 26, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 5219-5222]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-01605]


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DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

[Docket ID ED--2023--OPE--0205]


Request for Information Regarding Mental Health and Substance Use 
Disorder Needs in Higher Education

AGENCY: Office of Postsecondary Education, U.S. Department of 
Education.

ACTION: Request for information.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Department of Education (Department) is requesting 
information in the form of written comments that may include 
information, research, and suggestions regarding supporting student 
mental health and/or substance use disorder (behavioral health) needs 
in higher education. The Office of Postsecondary Education solicits 
these comments: to identify examples of what has been effective in 
addressing college student mental health and substance use disorder 
needs; to learn how institutions of higher education (IHEs) have 
transformed their campus cultures and created campus-wide, inclusive 
strategies to provide support; to identify how State higher education 
agencies have supported college behavioral health; to better understand 
potential challenges institutions are facing in the design and 
implementation of solutions; and, ultimately, to inform future work 
from the Department.

DATES: We must receive your comments on or before February 25, 2024.

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments through the Federal eRulemaking Portal. 
We will not accept comments submitted by hand delivery, fax, or by 
email or those submitted after the comment period. To ensure that we do 
not receive duplicate copies, please submit your comments only once. In 
addition, please include the Docket ID at the top of your comments.
     Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to www.regulations.gov to 
submit your comments electronically. Information on using 
Regulations.gov, including instructions for accessing agency documents, 
submitting comments, and viewing the docket, is available on the site 
under ``FAQ.''
     Postal Mail or Commercial Delivery: If you do not have 
internet access or electronic submission is not possible, you may mail 
written comments to the Office of the Under Secretary, U.S. Department 
of Education, 400 Maryland Avenue SW, Room 7E307, Washington, DC 20202. 
Mailed comments must be postmarked by February 25, 2024, to be 
accepted.
    Privacy Note: The Department's policy is to make all comments 
received from members of the public available for public viewing in 
their entirety on the Federal eRulemaking Portal at

[[Page 5220]]

www.regulations.gov. Therefore, commenters should be careful to include 
in their comments only information that they wish to make publicly 
available.
    This is a request for information only. This RFI is not a request 
for proposals (RFP) or a promise to issue an RFP or a notice inviting 
applications. This RFI does not commit the Department to contract for 
any supply or service whatsoever. Further, we are not seeking proposals 
and will not accept unsolicited proposals. The Department will not pay 
for any information or administrative costs that you may incur in 
responding to this RFI. The documents and information submitted in 
response to this RFI become the property of the U.S. Government and 
will not be returned.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jessica Bowen Gall, U.S. Department of 
Education, 400 Maryland Avenue SW, Room 4C212, Washington, DC 20202. 
Telephone: (202) 453-5573. Email: [email protected].
    If you are deaf, hard of hearing, or have a speech disability and 
wish to access telecommunications relay services, please dial 7-1-1.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Background

    The need for mental health support has been on the rise across the 
country over the past two decades. In addition to rising rates of 
depression and anxiety, suicide is the second leading cause of death 
among 10-14- and 20-34-year-olds.\1\
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    \1\ https://www.cdc.gov/injury/wisqars/index.html.
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    For example, even before the COVID-19 pandemic, IHEs across the 
country were seeing an increase in depression and anxiety among young 
people and, unfortunately, an increase in suicide ideation, suicide 
attempts, and suicides.\2\ The COVID-19 pandemic only exacerbated these 
trends with a disproportionate impact on minoritized groups. In the 
Healthy Minds Data Report for 2021 Winter/Spring, among currently 
enrolled college students over the age of 18, 41 percent of students 
reported experiencing any depression, and 34 percent of students 
reported experiencing any anxiety.\3\ In the 2021-22 updated Healthy 
Minds Data Report, those numbers increased: 44 percent of students 
reported experiencing any depression, and 37 percent of students 
reported experiencing any anxiety.\4\ These data show that rates of 
anxiety and depression continued to increase during the pandemic. 
Moreover, research indicates that unmet mental health needs for 
students during college are associated with adverse student outcomes, 
including a low GPA and an increased likelihood of dropping out.\5\
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    \2\ https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1054139X1930254X?via%3Dihub.
    \3\ https://healthymindsnetwork.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/HMS_national_winter_2021.pdf.
    \4\ https://healthymindsnetwork.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/HMS_national_print-6-1.pdf.
    \5\ https://public.websites.umich.edu/~daneis/papers/
MHacademics.pdf.
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    Some college students may also experience issues with substance 
misuse or suffer from substance use disorders. The updated Healthy 
Minds Data Report also revealed that 28 percent of surveyed students 
reported engaging in binge drinking more than once in the past two 
weeks and 20 percent reported using marijuana in the last 30 days.\6\ 
Additionally, according to data from the Substance Abuse and Mental 
Health Services Administration's (SAMHSA's) 2022 National Survey on 
Drug Use and Health, the prevalence of substance use disorders 
involving either drugs or alcohol in 18- to 25-year olds is 
approximately 28 percent.\7\
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    \6\ https://healthymindsnetwork.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/HMS_national_winter_2021.pdf.
    \7\ https://www.samhsa.gov/data/sites/default/files/reports/rpt42728/NSDUHDetailedTabs2022/NSDUHDetailedTabs2022/NSDUHDetTabsSect5pe2022.htm.
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    College presidents have taken note of the need for increased mental 
health support. In American Council on Education (ACE) Pulse Point 
surveys throughout 2021, over 70 percent of college presidents 
indicated that student mental health was one of their top three 
concerns, an increase of more than 30 percentage points from April 
2020.\8\ Even after the end of the COVID-19 pandemic, mental health 
needs persist alongside many of the same barriers students and 
institutions faced prior to the pandemic.
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    \8\ https://www.acenet.edu/Research-Insights/Pages/Pulse-Point-Surveys.aspx.
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    The Department and the Biden-Harris Administration have long been 
focused on promoting behavioral health supports at both the K-12 and 
postsecondary levels as an integral strategy to supporting student 
overall well-being and success.\9\ The Department's focus on this issue 
includes providing guidance and resources to institutions to help 
support them in addressing student mental health and substance use 
disorder needs.
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    \9\ https://www2.ed.gov/documents/coronavirus/reopening-3.pdf.
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    The Department is also committed to taking additional steps to 
support institutions in addressing students' mental health and 
substance use disorder needs. One component of that work is to learn 
from those who have long engaged in addressing these needs and 
improving access, services, and outcomes to determine what is working, 
identify any gaps or unmet needs, and highlight opportunities for the 
Department and other agencies to be a beneficial partner. We want to 
work alongside IHEs, State higher education agencies, other Federal 
agencies, and experts to ensure students and institutions have the 
necessary knowledge and resources to select and implement easily 
accessible and effective interventions. We also want to ensure that 
institutions are connected to evidence-based solutions and peer 
institutions and can help build the base of what works both for entire 
campuses and for specific settings and high-need populations.

II. Solicitation of Comments: Helping Institutions Address Student 
Mental Health and Substance Use Disorder Needs

    To help inform the agency's role in supporting institutions in 
addressing mental health and substance use disorder needs, the 
Department is seeking input from the public. The deadline for these 
submissions is February 25, 2024. The Department encourages comments 
from IHEs, students, researchers, policy experts, academics, behavioral 
health professionals, other individuals familiar with identifying and 
addressing mental health and substance use disorder needs in higher 
education settings, organizations that work directly with institutions 
to counsel them in providing easily accessible, effective and inclusive 
behavioral health support and selecting interventions, State higher 
education executive officers, State higher education agencies and 
systems, and other members of the public.
    The Department seeks responses and supporting evidence to the 
specific questions below, as well as comments and supporting evidence 
on the identified general concepts and topics related to addressing 
mental health and substance use disorder needs in postsecondary 
education settings. When responding to this RFI, please address one or 
more of the following questions:

Successful Interventions

    1. What metrics have you used to define success in supporting 
behavioral health (mental health and/or substance use disorders) for 
all students?
    2. Does your institution (or the institution you support or attend) 
have a school-wide mental health and well-being strategy (a universal 
prevention strategy)? If so, please describe this

[[Page 5221]]

strategy. To what extent were/are students engaged as partners in the 
design and implementation of these strategies?
    3. How do you conduct universal assessments of your student body 
(or support institutions in their assessments) to determine their 
behavioral health needs?
    4. In what ways is your assessment inclusive of diverse student 
populations, including culturally and linguistically inclusive and 
identity-safe practices?
    5. What strategies or interventions do you believe have most 
improved behavioral health outcomes among students on your campus or 
the campuses you support, including systems-level interventions, 
population level interventions, interventions for high-risk students, 
or clinical interventions for students with mental health disorders? 
Please provide any accompanying evidence that informs your belief 
(e.g., summaries of local outcomes data, locally conducted evaluation 
studies). Please also share the campus or external resources (e.g., 
outside funding, digital mental health applications) that were 
necessary for implementation, including whether cost-sharing by the 
student was necessary (for example, from co-payments made by the 
student or billing the student's insurance).
    6. What steps have you taken to help ensure that all students are 
aware of, and can easily access (including in ways that protect their 
privacy), mental health and substance use disorder supports? What steps 
have you taken to educate and train relevant staff (e.g., faculty, 
coaches, housing/resident directors) about student behavioral health 
supports? How have you tailored outreach activities to meet the 
specific needs of particular student populations?
    7. What steps have you taken to encourage students to seek mental 
health and substance use disorder supports, including any specific 
activities to address stigma? For students, what barriers or fears do 
you or your peers have with engaging with behavioral health treatment 
at your institution and to what extent, if any, has your institution 
sought to address these fears and barriers?
    8. What steps have you or the institutions you support taken to 
tailor behavioral health interventions to the specific needs of 
particular student populations, including students from underserved 
communities and primarily off-campus populations, if applicable? What 
evidence (e.g., summaries of local outcomes data, locally conducted 
evaluation studies) suggests these interventions are effective? If not 
already provided above, please consider including any evidence here.
    9. What actions or partnerships have you formed (or helped 
institutions form) (e.g., with parents/guardians, law enforcement to 
prevent unintentional harm to students in distress) to ensure 
continuity of care for students with mental health disorders as they 
transition to, between, and from college? What steps have you taken to 
involve parents/guardians in the event of an emergent behavioral health 
concern? Have you encountered challenges (for example, privacy concerns 
or other challenges/barriers) or developed successful strategies to 
engage parents/guardians to ensure continuity of care and services for 
students entering with behavioral health disorders, or those with 
previously undetected, undertreated, or untreated behavioral health 
concerns?
    10. How is your institution ensuring that college students have 
access to health insurance and access to comprehensive behavioral 
health care?
    11. What steps have you taken to ensure that students with mental 
health disabilities receive academic accommodations and other 
reasonable modifications under the Americans with Disabilities Act of 
1990 and section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 to give them 
each a meaningful opportunity to participate in and benefit from the 
school's academic and non-academic programs? How have you integrated 
your disability services offices into initiatives to develop strategies 
to meet the mental health needs of students on your campus? What steps 
have you taken to address any bias--by professors, staff, or other 
students--against students with mental health disabilities?
    12. What kinds of trauma-focused services or supports are you 
providing to students who may have experienced trauma?
    13. What efforts have you taken to develop, enhance, or implement 
suicide prevention and postvention plans? Which of these efforts do you 
believe have been most strongly associated with reductions in suicide 
attempts and completions on your campus (or the campuses you support)? 
Please provide any accompanying evidence that informs your belief 
(e.g., summaries of local outcomes data, locally conducted evaluation 
studies). What is the process of connecting students to on and off-
campus suicide prevention/postvention supports?
    14. If applicable, please describe if your IHE or an IHE you 
support has received a Garrett Lee Smith Campus Suicide Prevention 
Grant from SAMHSA, please describe how these funds have been used to 
support suicide prevention efforts.
    15. How have you provided supports for the mental health of your 
faculty, staff, graduate students, and post-doctoral students? Please 
describe any prevention strategies, assessment approaches, and 
interventions and how these supports addressed unique workforce 
challenges that emerged as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic? What 
evidence (e.g., summaries of local outcomes data, locally conducted 
evaluation studies) suggests these practices are effective?
    16. What has your institution (or the institutions you support) 
done to ensure students have access to qualified and well-resourced 
mental health and substance use disorder professionals? What has been 
effective in addressing any challenges with hiring, developing, and 
retaining these professionals, including increasing the diversity of 
professionals?
    17. What steps have you (or institutions you support or attend) 
taken to decrease wait times for counseling centers and other available 
on-campus treatment options and services? Please provide any 
accompanying evidence including baseline data.
    18. What kinds of peer support related to behavioral health, if 
any, have you implemented on your campus?
    19. What role has your State played in helping to address mental 
health and substance use disorder needs on your campus, including 
through introducing and/or passing legislation, increasing funding, and 
engaging in State-wide initiatives?

Choosing and Implementing Interventions

    20. What resources (e.g., financial, staffing, technical) have you 
found to be most helpful in choosing and implementing evidence-based 
strategies to address mental health and substance use disorder needs on 
your campus (or the campuses you support)? For example, have you 
utilized SAMHSA's Evidence-based Guidebook ``Prevention and Treatment 
of Anxiety, Depression, and Suicidal Thoughts and Behaviors Among 
College Students''? \10\
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    \10\ https://www.samhsa.gov/resource/ebp/prevention-treatment-anxiety-college-students.
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    21. What support would be helpful in choosing and implementing 
strategies to address behavioral health needs on your campus?
    22. Reflecting on the challenges presented by the COVID-19 
pandemic, how has your institution adapted or

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refined its pandemic preparedness strategies to specifically address 
the mental health and well-being of students?

Role of the Department

    23. How can the Department best support ongoing efforts inclusive 
and exclusive of additional funding? What are the preferred methods for 
collaboration and sustainable partnerships between the Department and 
behavioral health experts?
    24. What unmet needs remain and what barriers have institutions 
encountered in providing mental health and substance use disorder 
supports for their students? How can the Department assist in helping 
to meet these needs and overcome barriers?
    25. Are there any resources you would like the Department to 
provide?
    26. If the Department were to hold a convening or other event, what 
specific topics or information would be most helpful to include in 
supporting institutions and the work of the field?
    Accessible Format: On request to the program contact person listed 
under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT, individuals with disabilities 
can obtain this document in an accessible format. The Department will 
provide the requestor with an accessible format that may include Rich 
Text Format (RTF) or text format (txt), a thumb drive, an MP3 file, 
braille, large print, audiotape, compact disc, or other accessible 
format.
    Electronic Access to This Document: The official version of this 
document is the document published in the Federal Register. You may 
access the official edition of the Federal Register and the Code of 
Federal Regulations at www.govinfo.gov. At this site, you can view this 
document, as well as all other documents of this Department published 
in the Federal Register, in text or Adobe Portable Document Format 
(PDF). To use PDF, you must have Adobe Acrobat Reader, which is 
available free at the site.
    You may also access documents of the Department published in the 
Federal Register by using the article search feature at 
www.federalregister.gov. Specifically, through the advanced search 
feature at this site, you can limit your search to documents published 
by the Department.

Nasser H. Paydar,
Assistant Secretary for Postsecondary Education.
[FR Doc. 2024-01605 Filed 1-25-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4000-01-P