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Dr. Anne Prisco, president of Holy Family University, discusses student wellness in higher education. Factors such as the impact of COVID-19, safety concerns, and the transition to college contribute to stress and anxiety among students. Holy Family University has implemented various resources and strategies to support students, including increased mental health counseling, mindfulness exercises, and creating a sense of belonging through interactive activities. The university also addresses challenges related to food insecurity and transportation costs through food pantries and vouchers. Dr. Prisco also highlights the importance of allowing young people to learn from their own experiences and make their own decisions. Welcome back, everybody. It's your time to Ed Up on the Ed Up Experience podcast, where we make education your business. This is your special guest host, Gwena Steehan-Grande. This episode is part of a mini-series of the Ed Up Experience, where I will be talking to education leaders about student wellness. I am pleased to introduce my distinguished guest, Dr. Anne Prisco. Dr. Prisco is currently the president of Holy Family University, where she began her tenure in July 2021. Prior to that, she was the president of Philistine University. Prior to the presidency at Philistine, Dr. Prisco served in a number of higher education institutions, including as a vice president at Loyola Marymount University, a faculty member at St. John's University, and a policy researcher at NYU. Dr. Prisco holds a bachelor's degree from the University of Arizona with highest distinction, an MBA in finance from Fordham University, and a PhD in economics and education from Columbia. She is the recipient of numerous academic, leadership, and service awards, including a public policy fellowship from Columbia University, and the Top 50 Businesswomen in New Jersey, and the Wise Women Award from the National Organization for Italian American Women. Dr. Prisco, thank you so much for joining me today. Before we dive into the issue of student wellness, why don't you share with our listeners a little bit more about Holy Family University and why you chose to lead this institution two years ago. Sure. Thank you. And thank you for having me, Gwen, and bringing attention to these issues. So I always tell, you know, my line is I never left school. I basically worked at a university since the day I graduated from one. And I was at Felician University in New Jersey, Franciscan University, for eight years. And I left right around COVID to go help my family in Los Angeles. And it was during that time that I decided I really wanted, I felt I was ready to do another presidency. And I very much believed in the mission and values that drive a school like Holy Family Universities and the sisters. And, you know, we're very inclusive, right? We teach you all not because they're Catholic, because we're Catholic. And so this holistic approach to education and providing a caring, supporting environment is part of the values of the Holy Family Sisters. So high standards and then high support to get you there was a great combo. We're in Philadelphia, a great city, so not too far from my hometown of New York City where you are. Yes. And really believe in, you know, the mission of schools like this and what they're trying to achieve. We're almost half of our students are first-gen, Pell-eligible, which is a proxy for working in low-income families. But we also have lots of second- and third-generation families. So I love the mix. I love having, I think that's how we best learn from each other when we're in a diverse community. So that's why Holy Family in Philly. I'm happy to be here. I'm also the first lay president, so I'm the first non-lawyer. Wow. Yeah. So that's groundbreaking in and of itself. Yes, definitely. And you've dedicated yourself to advancing higher education and student success throughout your career. And there are numerous surveys that say that student mental health and wellness is declining, with some even calling it a crisis. So can you share some thoughts about the state of student wellness in general in higher education and what factors are contributing to stress and anxiety that students are feeling? Sure. So this has been, you know, I mean, even before COVID, it was an issue. And now it's been growing all the more. So when you think about all of the obvious reasons, students that are in college right now, that means they spent at least part of their high school during COVID. And whatever that looked like, depending on where they were going to school and whether they just basically had to stay home for the whole time or what kind of interaction they had. So COVID has definitely messed up all of us, right? We still have to figure out how to be together again. And on top of that, this whole notion of safety and security, that's really rocked our country. So, you know, when you talk to people whose kids, you know, the first day of school were taught active shooter training drills, how could we not feel, you know, safety and security is one of those basic Maslow hierarchy of needs. And if you don't feel safe and secure, it's really hard to function and be function optimally. So it's so obvious that those are some of the things that are really shaking our young people. I mean, shaking all of us, but especially the young people. Then when you add to that, college is a new environment. People are trying to get used to being in a different place, different challenges, different set of people. And it's a brew for having anxiety. So when we ask, I think that's what people say most in colleges is when they ask about mental health. They identify anxiety as sort of deleting what they're experiencing. So what we've done and where many schools across the country have done is paid very special attention to increasing the amount of resources we put in to support services for students. Right. So we had to hire more mental health counselors. We do telehealth counseling in addition to in-person counseling. So we can pretty much provide 24-7 counseling services. We do all sort of mindfulness exercises. So teaching students mindful meditation, how to eat well, taking exercise classes. And in addition to those things, right, focusing on certain groups of students, so trying to figure out different ways that students can relate to each other and create bonds. Because what we're finding is students, right, in this text generation, how do you get students to talk to each other and be comfortable communicating? Because we know that's what their employees are going to want, right? And to be a successful person, you have to be comfortable around other people. So creating a lot of small classes, lots of interactive activities where students really, you hate to say they're forced, but they have to do group work and they have to work together. And that sort of encourages them. Because when you feel like you belong, you're more likely to excel. And so that sense of belonging is something we're constantly working on. And it takes resources, but we've dedicated more resources to counselors, to academic coaches, so that students can feel more supported, either as commuter students or resident students. Oh, yeah. Even my school has put a huge emphasis on mental health, and especially after COVID. I know burnout was a big talk because kids, after coming back from being isolated for so long, the motivation just wasn't there anymore. The same motivation before quarantine was not the same after. And it really caused decline, not only in mental health, but academic performance, which then contributed more to mental health decline. And we also talk about the cost of school, too. And a lot of times with college, I think in particular, student debt is also a really big cause of stress. According to some surveys, 30 to 40 percent of students experience food insecurity. And so what strategies and resources do you think colleges are implementing to help students meet these challenges? And how has Holy Family responded? So I know Holy Family is doing this, and I know other schools do as well. So it's not unusual that in the last few years, many of us started food pantries. So we have food pantries, especially for students on weekends. And if they have family and children of their own, they can get a backpack full of some food for the weekend. We have vouchers. So we have food vouchers. We have travel vouchers. We have travel vouchers for students. They can't afford their, let's say, their MetroCard ticket. So then we can help them pay for SEPTA, which is the system here. So creating either direct support in terms of emergency funding or food is something that we definitely all had to address in terms of cost. One of the things that I wanted to ask you that I heard recently is something we don't really think about as much, about why students in your age range and college are also experiencing anxiety. And there was this notion of agency that, as young people, you are so scheduled and programmed, and that decisions are made for you. And there are all these programs about how, you know, how do you spend your time, how do you manage your relationships, everything even like bullying. Like, do you have to, if you're being bullied, are you taught to sort of learn how to manage that yourself versus your parent gets involved in it? So part of what I'm hearing is that students almost, those, because we always have the extreme. There are students who are too coddled, and then there's students who are on their own and they have no support. And if it wasn't for school, they would have no support at all, right, because they just don't get it from their family. But I thought it was interesting that this whole notion that sometimes not letting young people kind of learn by experience, and it's hard as a parent sometimes to watch your child make a mistake and get hurt, but that's indeed maybe what my generation needs to do more of so that we let you folks grow up. Yeah. Without being able to make your own decisions and control your own environment, you know. And then in this day and age, social media just takes that to a whole different level. My parents personally have given me the tools, and I think even going to a tap of school, they give you the tools to kind of deal with a lot of that yourself. And as you were talking about, of course, parents want to coddle their kids and they want to protect them from anything like that. But at the same time, I think part of growing up is realizing it on your own. A lot of kids don't understand that. If anything, I think it's all positive. So the idea that we will continually get better at doing versions of online education, and that makes education open up to a lot more people. There are people in rural areas that just can't get to a college. They can't drive that far, right. There are people who just can't possibly take classes during the normal, what we would say, even 8 o'clock in the morning until 10 o'clock at night, right, because of their family and work commitments. The key is going to be how do we deliver quality education online. That's one thing. And now with the introduction of AI, that's going to open up a whole other world of possibilities. So I look at AI as one more opportunity. It's a tool. And how do we now use this tool to help our students and also to help ourselves as faculty deliver and improve the education that we can deliver. In addition to that, we're looking at what's going on in the labor market, and we're realizing that there's lots of possibilities for people to get bites of education rather than feeling like they should go for the whole thing at one time. So the idea that you can get a certificate, you can get a two-year degree, you can go to school and start building a pathway and build your education over time is going to be something I think we just keep seeing more and more of. Because, you know, we've all heard about this demographic cliff, that your generation is a smaller generation of young people, just birth rates were lower. And so how else are we going to upskill and highly educate the population, which is what we need to do to be a successful country. So I think we're going to see more emphasis on getting adults to come back to school and finish their degrees. A lot of people start school and never finish. And there will be a lot more help financially from the government for people to do that. So we're already seeing people who want to return as adults, there will be more grant money available to them. President Biden is trying to increase the Pell Grant program and make people more eligible for that. And I do think a lot of us are very, very conscious. I mean, you know, I'm proud to say Holy Family University is one of the lowest tuitions in the state. So we're really trying to hold costs down. And, of course, we will give out generous financial aid depending on need. So those are all tactics I think that, you know, we recognize, what is it, about a third of the adult population have bachelor's degrees in this country. And it should even be higher at this point. So we continue that work to do. But I'm really optimistic. I love the idea that, you know, when I was in school, there was a very traditional way of learning. And if you weren't good at reading and writing and sitting still and concentrating, it was really hard to be a student. Now you can listen to a podcast. You can watch a bio in a live format. And you walk through a heart. You don't read a stagnant book. So I just think it's so exciting there's going to be all these different ways of engaging people who otherwise aren't traditional learners. I think that's so exciting. Because, I mean, I had one son who was a very traditional learner, as I was. I was just a good student. I liked school. I liked reading, writing, and arithmetic. I was good at it. And I enjoyed it. And then my other son would much rather be playing ball than, you know, than be in a class sitting still. Right? That was like torture. My brother and I am a standard learner. And my brother, he is so active. And he's crazy smart. But he just can't do the traditional learning. And it really just depends on the way your brain is made. And it's not something you can really control. Exactly. And so now I find my younger son will talk to me about he listens to podcasts. And he's learning so much from podcasts. If he had to sit and read that hour of conversation, he would never do it. But if he can listen to it, he'll remember it. Whereas I'm better off reading something than listening. Listening I don't absorb as much as if I read. So everyone learns differently. So I think that's what's exciting about the future. We can't limit technology in the classroom. We have to think about how do we better use it. I completely agree. And all the resources that technology has brought us for students, it's expanding learning. There's a way for everybody to learn, even people who struggle with it. Do you have any final advice for students and parents to help students be more successful, to help parents help their kids succeed? Well, first of all, for those parents out there, sometimes we do have to just let the kids figure this out. And we can't always fix it for them. And that's a lesson that it's hard sometimes. But you have to let your kids fail because that's how they're going to learn. But just generally to be really hopeful. I mean, we need your generation to do a lot for our country. And there's over 4,000 universities and colleges in this country. So there's a college for everyone. So whenever people get nervous, they'll, where am I going to go to school? Well, if you go past the five top Ivy League schools, there are a lot, a lot of really good schools. So I always tell everyone, keep your mind open, figure out what kind of environment you want to be in, and then go look for schools that fit that. Because there's a place for everyone, and there's a lot of financial aid and support out there as well. And school is still really important. No one can ever take your education away from you. So I always say go to school. Well, thank you so much. This was a great conversation, and your insights are highly valued. And I'm sure the listeners will love to hear this. Thank you. And thanks for the time. Thanks for the interview. Thank you for the time. Congratulations on all this good work that you're doing. Thank you so much. It was so nice to meet you. Thank you. Have a wonderful night. Bye-bye.
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