Tuition tension? More than half of those stressed-out freshmen have loans for college, survey says

Here’s a postscript to the UCLA survey in which college freshmen gave themselves low grades for their emotional health. The big stressors for the students might be the same big stressors parents face: how to pay for college.

The survey of more than 200,000 students revealed that 4.9% said their fathers were unemployed and 8.6% said their mothers were unemployed -- two variables that could easily ratchet up the anxiety level when tuition payments are due. And more than half report having taken out loans to pay for college.

Further, more than 72% said “the chief benefit of college is that it increases one’s earning power.” Though students feel more overwhelmed than ever, the study also showed that most had a desire to achieve — something else that could create stress. Here’s the full report from the university’s Cooperative Institutional Research Program.

So maybe the answer to helping them find a healthier path is a much-needed spring break. And then it’s time to start hunting for a summer job. Yikes, that’s bound to be stressful too.

RELATED: Stress among college freshmen is easy to detect -- if you’re looking