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Holistic Understanding of Economic, Social, Health and Ethical Issues That Are Troubling Students in the West
Student distress is a complex web of economic burdens, mental health crises, and ethical decay, demanding a holistic approach for lasting solutions.
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Recent unrest among students in several European countries has led to increasing urgency of trying to understand their problems. However often this attempt is made in rather narrow contexts, including in terms of their implications for elections and political power. We suggest here that from the perspective of finding more durable solutions, a wider view of many important aspects of youth welfare in the west should be taken. This article attempts to understand the problems of youth in Western countries from this perspective, while my views on youth movements can be seen in my earlier article—Alternative Path of Youth Movements.
Aside from the better known issues that have been already discussed extensively, is it not of the greatest importance, from the point of view of a true concern for the welfare of students, that we should be deeply involved with the fact that depression, mental health problems and even suicide attempts among students in several of these countries have increased in recent years to an alarming extent? How many people even realize the fact that 10 per cent of high school students in the USA have already attempted suicide at this tender age, or that those experiencing suicide thoughts in the 18-24 age group nearly doubled in France in just seven years (this and related issues are further discussed later in the article)? These and several other aspects of youth distress indicate that many of those at a tender age with deep sensitivity are in fact crying out for a deeper and better understanding of their problems and feelings.
One troubling aspect is that of students facing economic stress and even debts at a very early stage in their lives. Young people should be able to start life on a note of freedom and liberty. They should be entirely free to act according to the voice from their heart regarding what is the most promising and satisfying path for them in future. They should be able to choose work where they feel they can contribute most to society.They should be free to walk the path less travelled, if this is what they really want to do in their life.
But this becomes very difficult if the young are burdened with debts right at the start of their life. Unfortunately this is precisely what has happened in some of the richest countries, denying important democratic choices to young people when they need this the most. In the USA student debt burden has reached as high as about 1860 billion dollars in year 2026, with average balance debt of around 40,000 dollars per student. If you look not at average but at those suffering more difficulties, the situation becomes worse.
Problems for college-leaving youth increase due to the fact that payments for many of them as trainees in many corporate units or elsewhere are all too low and sometimes even nil, while repayment obligations start all too soon. A survey of the National Association of Colleges and Employers found that 40% of interns in corporate units were unpaid.
To student debt should be added the burden of credit card debt. Serious delinquency in credit card debt for the 18-29 age group has been reported at exceptionally high levels recently. Not just mental tensions but physical illness once a month related to this has been reported from 20% of the indebted youth in surveys.
In UK also the problem of student debt is serious and most indebted students have associated this with mental health and other health problems. Several students from other European countries studying in UK have also faced problems in paying back their debts. A recent headline in The Telegraph (6 October, 2026) said—‘EU graduates dodge 360 million British pounds in student loan repayment’. While the newspaper was more worried about the repayment, the issue is more of the genuine difficulties students face. These difficulties also cause academic loss. The journal Chemistry World reported on 26 October the adverse impacts of debts for the study of science in UK—“A generation of students feel betrayed by the establishment and the hidden inequalities embedded into the flawed system.” This is causing a drain of talent, the journal said.
While the problem of student debt is widely recognized in the USA and the UK, there is a perception that it is not serious in several other European countries due to lower educational fees. However in several European countries the situation is changing and economic stress for students in increasing. As stated in the BM 75 Resolution of the European Students Union (ESU, co-funded by the European Union) in 2018—In Europe more and more countries are getting into a system which forces many young people to get into debt. According to this resolution, in Netherlands the government got rid of the basic monthly grant of students, leading to reduced access to education for economically vulnerable students. This increased the average debt per student by 6000 Euros. The average debt per student became 21000 Euros. This resolution added that in Ireland the student charges doubled since 2011, forcing students to miss classes while taking up low paid jobs.
In several countries it is not the increasing education related expenses but other aspects of the rising cost of living, costs relating to housing and daily needs which have become the main cause of increasing economic stress and debts for students. On the one hand within the wider social system of consumerism and high-profile advertising, an attractive lifestyle is displayed and emphasized and high profile advertising, attractive lifestyle is being displayed and emphasized and on the other hand many youth feel not just deprived of this for now but also in future because of debt incurred in student days, or are sometimes tempted to spend beyond their means, further increasing their economic stress and debt. If they become caught up in addictions (such as alcohol, drugs, or online gambling), the situation becomes even more difficult to handle.
Several surveys have linked debt and economic stress to adverse health outcomes, and this also adversely impacts family life. When young people start a family, it is supposed to be the sweetest time in life, but all too often it is now spent under the shadow of debt. Many young college-educated couples cannot afford satisfactory housing or must postpone having their first child for too long.
If young people emerge from college saddled with debt, they are already under pressure to start earning a certain amount of money immediately. This leaves them little time to find a livelihood that is satisfying in a social and ethical sense, beyond meeting their essential economic needs.
As the yearning of youthful hearts for living and working according to their ideals is not satisfied and as their deeper social-spiritual aspirations are frustrated at an early stage of their life, this often leads to a drying up of flowers before they can blossom and sometimes leads to destructive tendencies such as substance abuse and family quarrels.
This is not just an individual loss but a social loss, as young people can best contribute to creating a better society only when they can work in accordance with their social-spiritual urges and related creativities.
While this is certainly a big social loss if the aim is to create a better society, it appears that the capitalist system does not really mind this loss. From this system’s perspective, it is actually helpful that college graduates, burdened by debt, are quickly absorbed into the existing system without questioning it, experimenting with alternatives, or exploring less-travelled paths.
This is perhaps the reason why solutions which can permanently end this heavy indebtedness of young people are not even being sought. What is on agenda often is very partial debt relief. A one-time debt cancellation will of course provide some relief, but as long as the system remains the same, after some time the debts wll pile up once again. Clearly, systemic change is needed to avoid student indebtedness and bring about other desirable changes, but such far-reaching reforms do not appear to be on the agenda currently is needed to avoid student indebtedness and bring other desirable changes, but such far-reaching reforms do not appear to be on the agenda at present.
Partly related to economic problems but in addition having roots in a much wider crisis, there is the serious issue of large-scale mental health problems among youth. In the USA, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently summarized the situation in a single sentence: ‘Youth in the US are experiencing a mental health crisis.’. In the journal Pediatrics brought out by the Academy of American Pediatrics (AAP), an important research paper of Steven H. Woolf (October 28, 2025) tells us that in 2023 about 40% of high school students in the USA were reporting persistence sadness or helplessness, 18% had experienced major depression and 10% had attempted suicide. In the 10-19 age group, suicide rates rose by 85% between 2007 and 2017. What is happening? Given such official data, society should prioritize caring for its youth.
In Europe also the European University Association reported in 2022 that 40% of higher education students in the European Union experience mental health or well-being difficulties with around 20% facing a mental health disorder. In Ireland in the age-group 18-25 about 17% face severe or very severe depression. In France those with suicide thoughts in age-group 18-24 doubled during 2014-21.
EU HIGHER EDUCATION MENTAL HEALTH
Student Mental Health & Well-being Difficulties (2022 Data)
40%
Experience Difficulties
20%
Face Mental Health Disorder
VISUALS BY THE RIFT
A recent survey by the Class Foundation revealed that 66% of European students face financial hardship, which strongly correlates with declining mental health. However mental health problems should not be seen in terms of only economic stress and in reality these are related also to a wider social-ethical crisis about which the establishment does not wish to speak, drawing attention instead to other factors like excess of social media, which is more of a symptom than a cause.
The ethical crisis arises from societies getting increasingly distanced from true welfare objectives, and from policies of justice, peace and environment protection. Sufferings of millions of people, including those in distant places, related to wrong and aggressive policies are also a frequent manifestation of the ethical crisis.
Students are often in the middle of handling a lot of academic burden in intensely competitive conditions which can also increase stress. On the other hand there is a feeling in sensitive minds that in the middle of the ethical crisis, even academic success may not lead to a life of any great purpose and true contributions for a better world.
They have heard a lot about climate change and now feel its impacts in real life, but effective solutions appear to be far away. Policies of inequalities are also seen by students more directly in inequalities relating to education and related opportunities.
Various stresses, uncertainties and alienation from a wider purpose in life lead to large-scale prevalence of many addictions, seen at an increasingly lesser age, and with the gender gap regarding this also closing increasingly. About 73% of European students have tried alcohol and 30% practice binge drinking. Illicit drug use among teenagers in age-group 15-16 is 14%, use of non-medical pharmaceuticals is also 14%, vaping is resorted to by 22% while 14% are into online gambling. In USA 757,000 teens have alcohol use disorder. According to the National Center for Drug Abuse statistics, 42% of teenagers in 12th grade have already abused alcohol. Alcohol and related problems are higher among young adults in 18-26 age group. Problems caused by fentanyl and synthetic opioids have been very serious in recent years and drug overdose deaths have been high even for tender age groups.
Many aspects of youth distress, including overall sadness, lack of wellness, and most distressingly, suicidal thoughts and attempts, are reported at higher levels for female students. Sexual violence is also prevalent. In the USA, about 25% of undergraduate female students have experienced sexual violence.
These and several aspects of youth distress must be understood together with their inter-relationships, taking a holistic view, for real and durable solutions to emerge. Alienation, debt, economic burdens, mental health problems, social-ethical crises, lack of purpose, and addictions are all interrelated. Those genuinely committed to understanding students’ stress and distress will grasp this better than those merely seeking to exploit their pent-up feelings for narrow objectives. One can only hope that efforts in the former category receive more support and achieve greater success. As all these problems are interrelated, sincere efforts to solve them, based on true understanding, can lead to highly encouraging success.
Disclaimer:The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of The Rift.
