A new national survey sheds light on the health and well-being of Mount Royal University students.
The study suggests that students at Mount Royal University (MRU) are experiencing an improved quality of life on campus, according to the results of the 2024 Canadian Campus Well-Being Survey (CCWS).
Jody Arndt, Director of Wellness Services at MRU, says these numbers are a positive reflection of the university’s initiatives currently in place. Support programs have been introduced over the years to expand resources and offerings while improving the student experiences on campus.
The CCWS is a new Canadian survey geared towards sharing data focusing on student experiences at different post-secondary institutions nationwide.
Mount Royal University’s Healthy Campus Team administered the survey between Jan. 29, 2024 and March 1, 2024.
“Historically at Mount Royal University, and really in most parts of Canada, we’ve run what’s called the NCA, the National College Health Assessment. That’s a survey that comes out of the United States. And so it doesn’t answer all the questions that are completely appealing to our population,” says Arndt.
Arndt sits on the Healthy Campus Alberta Board with members from several other post-secondary institutions in Alberta. The CCWS was developed by a team from the University of British Columbia.
Mount Royal students included in nationwide survey
The survey was distributed to 6,000 randomly selected Mount Royal University students via email with a 25 per cent response rate.
“It gives us a chance to not only see what’s going on for our students from a Canadian context, […] we’re able to take a look and see how our students are doing comparatively.
“One of the things that we have noticed, not just nationwide, but I think, we’re starting to see it kind of across North America is that students are starting to do better, post-Covid. So that’s really exciting,” says Arndt.
Along with some of the more upbeat numbers in the data, the survey notes areas with room for improvement. Food security and financial stressors remain primary areas of concern for students due to the rising cost of living and increased prices in grocery stores.
Though the most recent survey has noted a slight improvement in student responses within these categories in 2024.
Arndt and the Healthy Campus Team saw correlations of positive impact from programs that have been introduced in the last five years.
“We have the NourishU program, which is still a very new program, and that’s funded by Canadian Natural Resources. That program helps to feed students and give them the skills that they need in order to learn how to budget or grocery shop on a budget and feed themselves on a budget. So we’re right on point with that in terms of what we’re seeing in our data,” says Arndt.
Mount Royal University has also recently introduced The After Hours Peer Support Centre initiative, a student-led operation geared towards providing a safe space for those experiencing a crisis or needing help outside of the main Peer Support Centre hours.
“Our student counselling services continue to do great work in that space as well,” says Arndt.
“We’re just going to keep on looking at programming that can help to support our students moving forward. And always be checking in on the data to make sure that students are either continuing to improve or if there’s something that gets highlighted, that we can continue to improve our own programming.”
The CCWS is expected to be run every three years at Mount Royal University so that the team can review it regularly to track student progress over time.
A peek into the MRU Student Survey results:
- 39 per cent of students experience food insecurity
- 68 per cent of students drink alcohol
- 30 per cent of students use cannabis
- Of students who have engaged in sexual activity, 35 per cent use a protective contraceptive barrier always or almost always
- 45 per cent of students are lonely
- 22 per cent of students experience a great deal of financial stress due to tuition and living expenses
- 43 per cent of students experienced hunger due to financial difficulties
- 23 per cent of students have asked for help because of experiences in a dating relationship
- 71 per cent of students would be comfortable talking about personal problems to a professional
- 84 per cent of students rate their mental health as good, very good or excellent
- 60 percent agree or strongly agree with the statement: “I feel that the climate at my institution encourages free and open discussion about mental and emotional health.”
- 90 per cent of students have someone they could talk to about important decisions in their life
- 68 per cent of students rate their ability to handle unexpected and difficult problems as good, very good or excellent.
- 67 per cent of students feel like they belong at MRU
To learn more about the Healthy Campus Team and the MRU survey results, click here.
To learn more about the Canadian Campus Wellbeing Survey, click here.
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