University of Minnesota Regents vote tomorrow (Tues) on the finalist for U-of-M president, South Carolina Provost Joan Gabel. In a public interview late last week, Gabel talked about “overwhelming” statistics on how many students suffer from mental health challenges. “We’ve been thinking of it in a crisis mindset: If it’s happening right in front of you, you treat it,” Gabel says — but she argues there needs to be better prevention. “There are great minds around the table trying to figure that out…. We should be part of that conversation, so that at this campus we could be a thought leader on driving that statistic down, meaning ensuring more and more health — body and mind — for our students,” Gabel says
Asked Friday about soaring student debt, Gabel told the regents that part of financial aid should be “really good financial training”: “A way to keep the debt… where it becomes more of a conversation around investment rather than burden…. Gives you access to an excellent education that also gives you an earning potential that makes that debt affordable.”
Gabel says the U-of-M could also help by utilizing its economies of scale and coming up with “clever ways to make sure that students can afford education.”
Here’s Regent Peggy Lucas’ question about student mental health, and Gabel’s response: