What type of natural disaster has a greater impact on students’ mental health – chronic or acute?
Due to its location in Southwest Florida, Florida Gulf Coast University (FGCU) is no stranger to dealing with the impact of natural disasters. Since 2004, four hurricanes and several tropical storms have passed through our area, causing disruptions and temporary class cancellations. Hurricane Ian hit the area almost exactly five years after Hurricane Irma devastated islands in the Caribbean and vast portions of mainland Florida in 2017. Ian made landfall in Southwest Florida on September 28, 2022, as a strong category 4 hurricane, making it the 5th-strongest storm (tied with others) ever to hit the continental U.S. The hardest hit areas were coastal regions and the barrier islands on the Lee County Coast.
Just like other institutions in Southwest Florida, FGCU reacted pretty late to the approaching hurricane. It wasn’t until the afternoon of September 26 that classes were canceled for the next two days. As a rule, students had to leave the dorms, and only a small number of students were able to relocate to a university-designated shelter. This sudden and mainly unexpected development created a rather stressful situation for students, faculty, and staff. Especially out-of-state students found it difficult to arrange transportation this close to the storm's arrival. Even though the university suffered only minor damage to buildings and other infrastructure, after the storm, all classes were canceled through October 9, 2022, to give students, faculty, and staff the time to address their individual situations.
Once classes had resumed and things seemed to return to normal, I wondered if this acute disaster had a similar or different impact on our students’ mental and emotional health than the COVID-19 pandemic. I had been collecting data on our students' mental and emotional well-being before, during, and after the pandemic. The data were used to publish two articles: one called A longitudinal study of the impact of COVID-19 restrictions on students’ health behavior, mental health and emotional well-being and the second one called How Students at a University in Florida Experienced and Coped with COVID-related Restrictions.
My research found that the impact of COVID-related restrictions on students’ behaviors and habits, as well as their mental and emotional health, was less severe than one would have expected based on studies during the early stage of the pandemic. While some behaviors and habits changed during the pandemic compared to pre-COVID, the changes weren’t substantial overall. We didn’t find an increase in the proportion of respondents considering, planning, or attempting suicide during COVID-19. However, the cross-sectional data from our survey made the negative effect of the overall situation and the restrictions on students’ mental and emotional well-being evident.
About a month after FGCU had restarted classes, I invited students via email to participate in an anonymous survey that explored their mental and emotional well-being. The survey also asked about their perception of how the university and its faculty had handled the situation and how well they had supported the students. Compared with responses students submitted after COVID restrictions had been dropped, students rated the overall response of the university after Hurricane Ian less favorable. When asked, “What is your overall assessment of how FGCU handled the challenges caused by hurricane Ian this semester on a scale from 1 (terrible) ‐ 10 (couldn't have handled it any better)?” students gave FGCU an average rating of 5.9 compared with 6.7 after COVID-19. The comments students made reflect this rating, with some showing appreciation for the difficulty of the situation while others were much more critical.
Just like other institutions in Southwest Florida, FGCU reacted pretty late to the approaching hurricane. It wasn’t until the afternoon of September 26 that classes were canceled for the next two days. As a rule, students had to leave the dorms, and only a small number of students were able to relocate to a university-designated shelter. This sudden and mainly unexpected development created a rather stressful situation for students, faculty, and staff. Especially out-of-state students found it difficult to arrange transportation this close to the storm's arrival. Even though the university suffered only minor damage to buildings and other infrastructure, after the storm, all classes were canceled through October 9, 2022, to give students, faculty, and staff the time to address their individual situations.
Once classes had resumed and things seemed to return to normal, I wondered if this acute disaster had a similar or different impact on our students’ mental and emotional health than the COVID-19 pandemic. I had been collecting data on our students' mental and emotional well-being before, during, and after the pandemic. The data were used to publish two articles: one called A longitudinal study of the impact of COVID-19 restrictions on students’ health behavior, mental health and emotional well-being and the second one called How Students at a University in Florida Experienced and Coped with COVID-related Restrictions.
My research found that the impact of COVID-related restrictions on students’ behaviors and habits, as well as their mental and emotional health, was less severe than one would have expected based on studies during the early stage of the pandemic. While some behaviors and habits changed during the pandemic compared to pre-COVID, the changes weren’t substantial overall. We didn’t find an increase in the proportion of respondents considering, planning, or attempting suicide during COVID-19. However, the cross-sectional data from our survey made the negative effect of the overall situation and the restrictions on students’ mental and emotional well-being evident.
About a month after FGCU had restarted classes, I invited students via email to participate in an anonymous survey that explored their mental and emotional well-being. The survey also asked about their perception of how the university and its faculty had handled the situation and how well they had supported the students. Compared with responses students submitted after COVID restrictions had been dropped, students rated the overall response of the university after Hurricane Ian less favorable. When asked, “What is your overall assessment of how FGCU handled the challenges caused by hurricane Ian this semester on a scale from 1 (terrible) ‐ 10 (couldn't have handled it any better)?” students gave FGCU an average rating of 5.9 compared with 6.7 after COVID-19. The comments students made reflect this rating, with some showing appreciation for the difficulty of the situation while others were much more critical.
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"FGCU was very understanding in pausing classes and looking to offer relief. The way that classes made up work after class started again was hard because many classes piled on several weeks of work into one when people were still recovering from the hurricane. Mostly, though, FGCU was very understanding, kind, and thorough in taking care of their students.” (female, 20, sophomore)
“It’s clear in many of the decisions being made that true empathy and concern for student health and safety was not a high priority.” (female, 21, senior) “Felt as if fgcu didn’t really care. have people no time to get their lives back together and just sent them right back to school. and when the hurricane was coming canceled class the day before so many people had no time to prepare for the hurricane and go home.” (female, 19, sophomore) |
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“I think FGCU was extremely insensitive in handling the hurricane and going back to school as early as we did. Obviously in this area (Estero) we didn’t experience too much damage but my family in Cape Coral lost their roof, major flooding, property damage etc. and instead of helping them rebuild and be there for them I had to go to class and do homework. Very uncaring and insensitive during this time period and what we were all experiencing.” (female, 20, senior)
“For the first question, I believe FGCU should have sent out the message to cancel classes a lot earlier. I was rushed to pack up all my things and leave. But, they were good at sending messages during and after the storm.” (female, 18, freshman)
“I feel like we came back after the break very quickly but I can also understand the need to return as to not waste valuable time. I feel like the university as a whole cares about the mental well-being and academic success of students, but I have had some teachers completely go MIA and not say anything or provide course material at a reasonable time before exams.” (female, 23, senior)
“I appreciate all the preparation that FGCU did for this disaster and also the kindness and empathy that was shown for victims of the disaster.” (male, 18, freshman)
“FGCU did everything they could with the situation. The professors have been great with flexibility. I think staff and students really struggled though.” (female, 19, sophomore)
“The email sent but the president directly after Ian was insensitive, steeped in white privileged, and absolutely unempathetic to students. He had the audacity to mention the wants of taxpayers and then stated we would have Saturday classes to make up for missed time. We missed way more with Irma and had way less damage then. We work to pay for his overinflated salary. How dare he mandate Saturdays without asking for input!? The only reason he changed his time is because WE spoke out against him on social media. He completely lost all respect and shined a terrible light on FGCU. I love my professors and instructors but your management is disgusting. I will be transferring out.” (female, no age provided, graduate student)
“Not offering money back if we needed to drop made it so there was no point in dropping for me. If I fail I have to pay out of my own pocket again to retake the classes. Instead every single one of my classes just crammed all the materials into the exams and made it so I had six exams in four weeks. I learned absolutely nothing from the classes and barely passed most of the exams as well as put unnecessary stress on myself as I tried to study and work at my job simultaneously.” (female, 25, senior)
On the other hand, students gave faculty the same average rating for how much they cared for their students’ academic success (7.2 compared with 7.1 after COVID-19) and a higher rating for how much they cared for their students’ mental/emotional health (6.8 compared with 6.3 after COVID-19). Nonetheless, some student comments were fairly negative.
“One of my professors said that they did not want to accommodate or do zoom meetings or anything for people that could not attend class due to the storm while others were accommodating. She was very rude about it according to some of my classmates.” (male, 20, junior)
“I felt like the University and it's professors were not on the same page. I live in zone A, lost both of my cars, went through a very traumatic experience and getting to school meant that I had to walk 45 minutes in unsafe conditions to catch a 2.5 hours bus ride to get to school and I still had professors who were unwilling to work with me and wanted me to come in for every class; despite the university saying that professors should work with their students if they are unable to come in.” (female, 26, senior)
“Although all my professor where very flexible with turning in assignments later at no lost of points. They also added more assignments to our previous load to make up for the days lost. Making the load heavier and harder to balance due to the circumstances. I personally at the same time was dealing with a lot of things to fix and work on at home. Like insurance Realated issues and things to repair. Over all its been super overwhelming. Although it wasn't FGCUs fault or anyone's.” (female, 23, senior)
“I had great support from the university but the expectation to resume almost immediately was stressful, my professors did a great job ensuring my success but I also feel like I am not getting that same education.” (female, 22, senior)
“Professors seem quite inflexible, going against the message put out by the university, and inconsiderate of the stresses that many students have had to deal with such as loss of jobs, housing instability, lack of access to other basic necessities as well as tools needed for their majors, and illness exacerbated by said stress.” (male, 22, senior)
“I know my professors are struggling also but I’m not hearing back from them and I missed a lot of work right after Ian due to not having internet for a few weeks. I don’t feel like I will be successful and I’m less than 6 months from graduating with my DNP.” (female, 43, graduate student)
“Professors were incredible.” (female, 45, senior)
“Instructors reached out to see how all students were doing and offered extensions on assignments to assist us while we went through repairs and rebuilding after the Hurricane.” (female, 20, junior)
“A lot of my professors just crammed work instead of rearranging and I haven’t relaxed since then.” (female, 19, junior)
“I had a professor who didn’t really care and just did all our missed classes in one and still kept the exam schedule. We didn’t felt very prepared. All my other professors were amazing!” (female, 23, junior)
Unsurprisingly, 76% of students said that the disruption caused by Hurricane Ian hurt their mental/emotional health compared with 69% after COVID-19. There was no difference, though, in the share of students who felt sad or hopeless (44% vs. 45% after COVID-19) and students attempting suicide (1.0% vs. 1.2% after COVID-19). On a positive note, 90% of students felt safe on campus, up from 75% after COVID-19. Many of the narratives students wrote reflect their suffering from acute moderate-high stress levels, increased anxiety, and first signs of PTSD.
“I feel so far behind. We lost precious time that could have been used for finding a sponsor for our senior project which apparently is still our responsibility. The influx of assignments just to catch up is ridiculous. I've had no proper sleep since the storm. My depression came back like a storm and has not gone away. I want to slam my head on a wall repeatedly and the feelings of dread, stress, anxiety, depression, fear has not gone away yet.” (male, 25, senior)
“It intensified my anxiety and feelings of being overwhelmed when it came to my work. Dealing with so much stress during my first semester definitely made me crash, I feel as if things still haven’t gone back to normal and my academics have been gravely effected by this.” (female, 18, freshman)
“Destroyed my mental and emotional health to watch my family and friends go through what they did as well as my hometown (Cape Coral) on top of trying to focus on school and school work. Led to severe panic attacks and stress.” (female, 20, junior)
“I have anxiety and depression. Being kicked out of the dorm was rough. My safe place was the beach. Now looking at it is traumatizing.” (female, 21, senior)
“I was in a shooting in high-school and then covid and then the hurricane. You can imagine the impact and wanting to move out of Florida.” (female, 20, senior)
“I watched my entire town get leveled by this hurricane. I spent a week at work cleaning up the damages and it was devastating watching my boss walk around and see a lot of what he’s worked for taken from him. During the hurricane I was staying with my mom while my father worked and at one point thought the roof was getting taken and then at another point thought water was going to come in. At the point where I thought the water was getting in I realized there is a high probability that everything I had worked for in my life was gone as my house is near the beach. The 15 minute drive from my parents house to mine was the longest drive of my life. Luckily I had very minor damage. It was depressing seeing everything destroyed and it broke me for a while and even writing this I’m tearing up.” (male, 22, senior)
“I’ve felt overwhelmed and drained since the hurricane. It’s hard to return back to normal even though my home is okay, knowing about the rest of the community has brought a lot of stress.” (female, 21, senior)
“I felt very disconnected from the world for many days which took a toll. I stayed through the storm so I saw everything, and now I’m scared of every raindrop and large gust of wind.” (female, 22, graduate student)
“I'm on edge. I feel battered after the Hurricane, especially after covid disruption and just getting back to normal. Now a servings hurricane. I rent with pets. No affordable housing here is very stressful. I feel I could lose everything at any minute. I'm emotionally on high alert all the time. I have adult children. Dealing with their stressors on top of it is also adding to everything. One child is packing up to move across country and doesn't want to live in Florida anymore, is now unemployed, having anxiety and fighting depression. I've talked thru tearful conversations about how everything they knew growing up was destroyed. Another child lost a job and is homeless living with s.o. In a camper, dealing with addiction issues. Another child is out of state and out of touch at another college. Another child is going thru a breakup, exacerbated by the storm. Trying to find affordable housing. Extended family in area lost homes and are displaced and we are the local family tasked with helping them. It's overwhelming. We're sinking financially. I missed the fountain deadline for this academic yaer so no extra help there. The election in the middle of it all, no easy voting. trying to meet graduation requirement hoops overwhelming. Missed deadlines there. Can't focus on master degree applications or job search. Turned down for one application already. I just want to stop and do nothing.” (female, 57, senior)
“The things that I experienced and witnesses during the hurricane we’re terrifying. It increased my anxiety to the point where I was debilitated for the first week back at fgcu and of course the time before doing back. And professors were expecting us to just get right back to it.” (female, 21, senior)
“Mentally and emotionally exhausted from dealing with the damage, loss of power and internet for 12 days, loss of water for 5 days, and no family help with 3 young children due to my husband having to work 14 days straight as a first responder after the storm and my parents leaving until power was restored.” (female, 29, graduate student)
“Anxiety, depression, panic, hopelessness” (female, 44, graduate student)
“I have felt depressed and all over the place because of how everything resulted from the hurricane and other persons life problems. I do not feel like the same student I used to and it’s like I have lost motivation.” (male, 22, senior)
Survey participants were also invited to select up to ten words that described their emotional state from a list of thirty-nine words. Ninety percent of respondents selected ‘stressed’ (65% after COVID-19), 88% ‘overwhelmed’ (59% after COVID-19), 82% ‘tired’ (55% after COVID-19), 50% ‘fatigued’ (53% after COVID-19), and 72% ‘anxious’ (70% after COVID-19). On the other hand, more students felt ‘hopeful’ (41% vs. 32%), ‘positive’ (23% vs. 16%), ‘happy’ (23% vs. 16%), and ‘confident’ (21% vs. 14%) while fewer students felt ‘alone’ (29% vs. 48%) or ‘gloomy’ (18% vs. 10%) than after COVID-19.
Regarding our initial questions - What type of natural disaster has a greater impact on students’ mental health – chronic or acute? – there is no straightforward answer. Both were natural disasters, one with a short but severe impact, the other with a prolonged but less severe course. What is different is that COVID-19 impacted almost all students to the same degree, whereas Hurricane Ian impacted some students to an extreme degree and others only tangentially. What both have in common is that the impact on students' mental and emotional well-being depended a lot on how the university and faculty reacted and showed that they cared for students’ academic success and mental and emotional well-being. While the ratings awarded by the students were not outstanding, they nevertheless show that both the university and its faculty did a good job overall. Having gone through two hurricanes and a pandemic in five years, lessons will be learned to be even more supportive and helpful in future crises.
“For the first question, I believe FGCU should have sent out the message to cancel classes a lot earlier. I was rushed to pack up all my things and leave. But, they were good at sending messages during and after the storm.” (female, 18, freshman)
“I feel like we came back after the break very quickly but I can also understand the need to return as to not waste valuable time. I feel like the university as a whole cares about the mental well-being and academic success of students, but I have had some teachers completely go MIA and not say anything or provide course material at a reasonable time before exams.” (female, 23, senior)
“I appreciate all the preparation that FGCU did for this disaster and also the kindness and empathy that was shown for victims of the disaster.” (male, 18, freshman)
“FGCU did everything they could with the situation. The professors have been great with flexibility. I think staff and students really struggled though.” (female, 19, sophomore)
“The email sent but the president directly after Ian was insensitive, steeped in white privileged, and absolutely unempathetic to students. He had the audacity to mention the wants of taxpayers and then stated we would have Saturday classes to make up for missed time. We missed way more with Irma and had way less damage then. We work to pay for his overinflated salary. How dare he mandate Saturdays without asking for input!? The only reason he changed his time is because WE spoke out against him on social media. He completely lost all respect and shined a terrible light on FGCU. I love my professors and instructors but your management is disgusting. I will be transferring out.” (female, no age provided, graduate student)
“Not offering money back if we needed to drop made it so there was no point in dropping for me. If I fail I have to pay out of my own pocket again to retake the classes. Instead every single one of my classes just crammed all the materials into the exams and made it so I had six exams in four weeks. I learned absolutely nothing from the classes and barely passed most of the exams as well as put unnecessary stress on myself as I tried to study and work at my job simultaneously.” (female, 25, senior)
On the other hand, students gave faculty the same average rating for how much they cared for their students’ academic success (7.2 compared with 7.1 after COVID-19) and a higher rating for how much they cared for their students’ mental/emotional health (6.8 compared with 6.3 after COVID-19). Nonetheless, some student comments were fairly negative.
“One of my professors said that they did not want to accommodate or do zoom meetings or anything for people that could not attend class due to the storm while others were accommodating. She was very rude about it according to some of my classmates.” (male, 20, junior)
“I felt like the University and it's professors were not on the same page. I live in zone A, lost both of my cars, went through a very traumatic experience and getting to school meant that I had to walk 45 minutes in unsafe conditions to catch a 2.5 hours bus ride to get to school and I still had professors who were unwilling to work with me and wanted me to come in for every class; despite the university saying that professors should work with their students if they are unable to come in.” (female, 26, senior)
“Although all my professor where very flexible with turning in assignments later at no lost of points. They also added more assignments to our previous load to make up for the days lost. Making the load heavier and harder to balance due to the circumstances. I personally at the same time was dealing with a lot of things to fix and work on at home. Like insurance Realated issues and things to repair. Over all its been super overwhelming. Although it wasn't FGCUs fault or anyone's.” (female, 23, senior)
“I had great support from the university but the expectation to resume almost immediately was stressful, my professors did a great job ensuring my success but I also feel like I am not getting that same education.” (female, 22, senior)
“Professors seem quite inflexible, going against the message put out by the university, and inconsiderate of the stresses that many students have had to deal with such as loss of jobs, housing instability, lack of access to other basic necessities as well as tools needed for their majors, and illness exacerbated by said stress.” (male, 22, senior)
“I know my professors are struggling also but I’m not hearing back from them and I missed a lot of work right after Ian due to not having internet for a few weeks. I don’t feel like I will be successful and I’m less than 6 months from graduating with my DNP.” (female, 43, graduate student)
“Professors were incredible.” (female, 45, senior)
“Instructors reached out to see how all students were doing and offered extensions on assignments to assist us while we went through repairs and rebuilding after the Hurricane.” (female, 20, junior)
“A lot of my professors just crammed work instead of rearranging and I haven’t relaxed since then.” (female, 19, junior)
“I had a professor who didn’t really care and just did all our missed classes in one and still kept the exam schedule. We didn’t felt very prepared. All my other professors were amazing!” (female, 23, junior)
Unsurprisingly, 76% of students said that the disruption caused by Hurricane Ian hurt their mental/emotional health compared with 69% after COVID-19. There was no difference, though, in the share of students who felt sad or hopeless (44% vs. 45% after COVID-19) and students attempting suicide (1.0% vs. 1.2% after COVID-19). On a positive note, 90% of students felt safe on campus, up from 75% after COVID-19. Many of the narratives students wrote reflect their suffering from acute moderate-high stress levels, increased anxiety, and first signs of PTSD.
“I feel so far behind. We lost precious time that could have been used for finding a sponsor for our senior project which apparently is still our responsibility. The influx of assignments just to catch up is ridiculous. I've had no proper sleep since the storm. My depression came back like a storm and has not gone away. I want to slam my head on a wall repeatedly and the feelings of dread, stress, anxiety, depression, fear has not gone away yet.” (male, 25, senior)
“It intensified my anxiety and feelings of being overwhelmed when it came to my work. Dealing with so much stress during my first semester definitely made me crash, I feel as if things still haven’t gone back to normal and my academics have been gravely effected by this.” (female, 18, freshman)
“Destroyed my mental and emotional health to watch my family and friends go through what they did as well as my hometown (Cape Coral) on top of trying to focus on school and school work. Led to severe panic attacks and stress.” (female, 20, junior)
“I have anxiety and depression. Being kicked out of the dorm was rough. My safe place was the beach. Now looking at it is traumatizing.” (female, 21, senior)
“I was in a shooting in high-school and then covid and then the hurricane. You can imagine the impact and wanting to move out of Florida.” (female, 20, senior)
“I watched my entire town get leveled by this hurricane. I spent a week at work cleaning up the damages and it was devastating watching my boss walk around and see a lot of what he’s worked for taken from him. During the hurricane I was staying with my mom while my father worked and at one point thought the roof was getting taken and then at another point thought water was going to come in. At the point where I thought the water was getting in I realized there is a high probability that everything I had worked for in my life was gone as my house is near the beach. The 15 minute drive from my parents house to mine was the longest drive of my life. Luckily I had very minor damage. It was depressing seeing everything destroyed and it broke me for a while and even writing this I’m tearing up.” (male, 22, senior)
“I’ve felt overwhelmed and drained since the hurricane. It’s hard to return back to normal even though my home is okay, knowing about the rest of the community has brought a lot of stress.” (female, 21, senior)
“I felt very disconnected from the world for many days which took a toll. I stayed through the storm so I saw everything, and now I’m scared of every raindrop and large gust of wind.” (female, 22, graduate student)
“I'm on edge. I feel battered after the Hurricane, especially after covid disruption and just getting back to normal. Now a servings hurricane. I rent with pets. No affordable housing here is very stressful. I feel I could lose everything at any minute. I'm emotionally on high alert all the time. I have adult children. Dealing with their stressors on top of it is also adding to everything. One child is packing up to move across country and doesn't want to live in Florida anymore, is now unemployed, having anxiety and fighting depression. I've talked thru tearful conversations about how everything they knew growing up was destroyed. Another child lost a job and is homeless living with s.o. In a camper, dealing with addiction issues. Another child is out of state and out of touch at another college. Another child is going thru a breakup, exacerbated by the storm. Trying to find affordable housing. Extended family in area lost homes and are displaced and we are the local family tasked with helping them. It's overwhelming. We're sinking financially. I missed the fountain deadline for this academic yaer so no extra help there. The election in the middle of it all, no easy voting. trying to meet graduation requirement hoops overwhelming. Missed deadlines there. Can't focus on master degree applications or job search. Turned down for one application already. I just want to stop and do nothing.” (female, 57, senior)
“The things that I experienced and witnesses during the hurricane we’re terrifying. It increased my anxiety to the point where I was debilitated for the first week back at fgcu and of course the time before doing back. And professors were expecting us to just get right back to it.” (female, 21, senior)
“Mentally and emotionally exhausted from dealing with the damage, loss of power and internet for 12 days, loss of water for 5 days, and no family help with 3 young children due to my husband having to work 14 days straight as a first responder after the storm and my parents leaving until power was restored.” (female, 29, graduate student)
“Anxiety, depression, panic, hopelessness” (female, 44, graduate student)
“I have felt depressed and all over the place because of how everything resulted from the hurricane and other persons life problems. I do not feel like the same student I used to and it’s like I have lost motivation.” (male, 22, senior)
Survey participants were also invited to select up to ten words that described their emotional state from a list of thirty-nine words. Ninety percent of respondents selected ‘stressed’ (65% after COVID-19), 88% ‘overwhelmed’ (59% after COVID-19), 82% ‘tired’ (55% after COVID-19), 50% ‘fatigued’ (53% after COVID-19), and 72% ‘anxious’ (70% after COVID-19). On the other hand, more students felt ‘hopeful’ (41% vs. 32%), ‘positive’ (23% vs. 16%), ‘happy’ (23% vs. 16%), and ‘confident’ (21% vs. 14%) while fewer students felt ‘alone’ (29% vs. 48%) or ‘gloomy’ (18% vs. 10%) than after COVID-19.
Regarding our initial questions - What type of natural disaster has a greater impact on students’ mental health – chronic or acute? – there is no straightforward answer. Both were natural disasters, one with a short but severe impact, the other with a prolonged but less severe course. What is different is that COVID-19 impacted almost all students to the same degree, whereas Hurricane Ian impacted some students to an extreme degree and others only tangentially. What both have in common is that the impact on students' mental and emotional well-being depended a lot on how the university and faculty reacted and showed that they cared for students’ academic success and mental and emotional well-being. While the ratings awarded by the students were not outstanding, they nevertheless show that both the university and its faculty did a good job overall. Having gone through two hurricanes and a pandemic in five years, lessons will be learned to be even more supportive and helpful in future crises.
