Evaluating The Role Of National Rankings For College Mental Health

The College Football Playoff selection committee is gearing up to release its first national ranking of 2025, according to a report on CBSSports.com. This news comes amidst ongoing debates about the use of rankings in college football, with concerns raised about the flaws in the system by SI.com at the start of the 2025 season. However, the concept of rankings extends beyond sports and into higher education, where publications also issue national rankings for campus counseling centers.

In 2024, Forbes.com reported on concerns raised by the executive board of the Association for University and College Counseling Center Directors (AUCCCD) regarding mental health rankings. These concerns included the implications of comparing all schools systematically, the lack of standardization in measurement, and the promotion of value based on external lists. These issues remain relevant in the context of the 2025 national rankings for Best Student Support and Counseling Services, where only two schools in the top 25 had a full-time enrollment of over 10,000 students.

A recent article on Research.com highlighted the benefits of a standards-based grading system, emphasizing the focus on mastery, feedback for improvement, and progress tracking over time. These benefits can also be applied to the assessment of campus counseling centers, where a grading system based on standards could provide more meaningful insights than subjective rankings.

National rankings often rely on subjective perceptions, as seen in surveys conducted by organizations like the Princeton Review. However, the lack of objectified standards poses a challenge in accurately evaluating counseling centers. The AUCCCD conducts an annual survey among directors of counseling centers to establish benchmark standards, including wait times for services, range of offerings, staffing levels, and impact on academic outcomes. These objective measures offer a more comprehensive view of center operations.

Unlike collegiate athletic teams, counseling centers are not in competition with each other. Directors often collaborate and share best practices, focusing on meeting the mental health needs of their specific campus communities. While student feedback is crucial, most centers already collect this data internally to improve services. There are concerns that external mental health rankings may not be generated by mental health professionals and could be driven by publicity motives.

Just as the role of national rankings in college football has evolved, it may be time to reconsider the role of national mental health rankings. By shifting towards a standards-based evaluation system and focusing on objective measures of center performance, we can better serve the mental health needs of students on college campuses.