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Skyler Rodenhuis

Professor Thames

ENC 1102

12 March 2021

Impacts of COVID-19 on University Students

Introduction

The research question “How are university students impacted by COVID-19?” is

important and valid to speak about, because many students are suffering due to COVID-19 in

various ways. Researchers should care about this topic, because it is a present situation we are

dealing with today and something that needs to be recognized . COVID- 19 has impacted our

lives in both negative and positive ways and it is important that it is recognized. Although, it has

mostly been negative and we have had to acclimate to the change at a rather fast rate. I am also

curious to how student’s mental health has been affected by COVID-19. According to most of

my sources, it seems students are suffering financially, emotionally and physically and their

education is also being affected. This is a significant topic to conduct research on, because it is

the world we live in today and a current problem.

COVID-19 has also impacted education and campus life for students and this is what

needs to be focused on and brought to light. For example at UCF, students are not allowed to

engage in the same activities they usually do without strict social-distancing guidelines. Many

on-campus activities are not happening like they usually do. Fall 2020 was not the same as Fall

2019. I have heard my roommates talk about their freshman year last year before the pandemic.

They spoke about how it was exciting compared to this year and this inspired me to research

more about how COVID-19 has impacted students.

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Additionally, it is known that many students do not enjoy the Zoom learning and online

education curriculum and do not even care to participate in virtual events. Many people on the

internet and in-person complain how it is more challenging and harder to get feedback from

professors versus when classes were in-person. Although virtual events and online courses

prevent the spread of COVID-19, the way it impacts students can be detrimental to their mental

health. Many times, with online and virtual events, people are not getting the same opportunities

to socialize at UCF compared to before the pandemic happened. Many students here at UCF

complain how it is hard to meet people, because after all, the only places to meet people are the

bars if you do not have in-person classes.

After reading online articles for my secondary research, it seems that a lot of students are

suffering due to the pandemic. Many students are financially stressed, because they had to move

home and their parents were struggling financially. Online courses such as science classes with

labs are definitely harder online, so this is one of the downsides of online curriculum. Since most

science classes at UCF are online, I hear many students complaining about how hard it is to get

help for these classes, how the labs can sometimes be extremely hard online and how it is hard to

get help from the professor or even a TA, and how poorly organized the material is. With these

already complicated science classes, it is harder especially online. I will also be questioning

students to see if their writing has suffered due to the pandemic. Writing papers is already hard

enough, but with it online it is especially hard. For example,

This source called “The Impact of COVID-19 on Student Experiences and Evidence:

Evidence from a Survey”, explains how many lost a job or have a difficult time finding a job,

have a delayed graduation and expect to learn less at 25. This source includes a methodology that

I will be using to conduct my research. The methodology used to collect data was a survey and
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that is what I plan to do for my research. This secondary source also collected their data from a

large university, ASU. This is a large diverse school just like UCF, so it would be similar to

participants I will be researching at UCF. Furthermore, this source also included that students

were anxious due to the uncertainty of what was going to happen next and many worried about

the lack of resources they had to complete their education. This a strong source, because it

addresses everything that needs tobe addressed when researching how COVID-19 has impacted

university students.

A second source called “Psychological Impacts from COVID-19 among University

Students: Risk Factors across Seven States in the United States,” talks about the psychological

impacts from COVID-19 among university students. In fact, mental health lines experienced

1,000% increases during the month of April, when people were under lockdown. Additionally,

many college students reported having feelings of increased anxiety and stress levels and even

depressive symptoms. This was all because the result of the uncertainty of school and classes

changing from being in-person to online. The methodologies used for research include studying

the population, and using qualitative assessment and quantitative assessment. This is an

important source, because this focuses on mental health of students which is one component of

my research.

A third source called “The Impact of COVID-19 on the Well-Being of Division III

Student Athletes,” this is a valuable source, UCF has athletics and even though we are Divison I,

our athletes still face the same struggles as a Division III athlete would face. In this article, the

athletes did not have the resources to continue their workout plans and this also caused them to

worry. I feel this is important, because sports are a big deal and a big part of campus, and if

athletes do not have resources such as a training facility to train at, this puts the team in jeopardy.
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A fourth source called “The Impact of the COVID-19 Epidemic on Mental Health of

Undergraduate Students in New Jersey, cross-sectional study,” also recognizes the topic of

mental health. This source talks about how students have reportedly stated they are suffering

academically and high levels of mental distress. High levels were a problem due to

unemployment and struggling to focus on academics. Although this source talks about mental

health, it also includes more about why online school does not accommodate all students. Some

students are not able to have access to the internet or own a laptop, so this puts these students at a

disadvantage who cannot afford it. This source also includes information specifically about how

online school is a disadvantage to some students taking science classes with lab or practicums or

art classes. These classes which are meant to be in-person are more stressful, because they are

not designed to be in an online format. This thus causes students even more stress. This is an

excellent source, because the information provided goes into detail about what is wrong with

students having to do online school.

A fifth source called “Effects of COVID-19 on College Students’ Mental Health in the

United States: Interview Survey Study,” includes in depth-statistics. For example, it states that

91% of participants felt increasingly worried about their health and their loved one’s health, 89%

of particpants struggled with concentrating on academic work due to various distractions, and

etc. Additionally, this source states how some students believe their home is a more distracting

environment to learn in and not suitable for studying. Disruption to sleep patterns was also a

topic of discussion. 86% of participants reported sleep disruptions to their sleep patterns due to

COVID-19. Students said they were waking up later or staying up later due to not having a strict

schedule. This is an important source to include, because it relates to my research. Finding

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evidence of students having sleep disruptions and unhealthy sleep schedules is something I will

addressing with my research questions.

The last source called “The Potential Impact of COVID‐19 on Student Learning and How

Schools Can Respond,” is one of the sources listed in the works cited that is different from the

other sources. This article talks about how COVID-19 has impacted student learning and how it

has changed since. This article talks about online learning resources such as Renaissance, Star

Math and Star Reading. It was believed that students fromn K-12 would be falling behind in

learning due to learning going online. It was believed that younger students skills in math would

also decline, because this was a significant learning time for them. Achievement gaps would

appear to be greatest in reading were the greatest in early grades, but impacts on math was all

across the grade levels. This is a source that needed to be listed, because even though it does not

involve university students, it addresses elementary students and this can show comparison to

how all students no matter what age are struggling due to online learning.

Methods

For my first methodology, I will be interviewing my two roommates (off-campus).

Having my roommates as participants in the research is important, because they were in school

last year when school was in-person. They recognize the transition of a normal school year last

year versus school going online. For my second methodology, I will be interviewing at least two

friends (on-campus). It is important to have research participants that are on campus, because

they experience COVID-19 guidelines firsthand. Living in dorms is so much more different than

off-campus. For my third methodology, I will be making a Google Form survey to share on

Snapchat. My Snapchat has a lot of UCF students, so this would be ideal and give me a large
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group of participants. For my fourth methodology, I will also post on Reddit my Google Doc

Survey. A variety of people are on the UCF Reddit page, so this will help my research be

diverse.

Results

Codes Interview off- Interview on-campus UCF

campus participants participant Reddit/Snapchat
survey

Mental health Trysten and Reana Zollars and Carson 61% of UCF students
both stated that their state that their mental surveyed said they
mental health has not health has not been feel depressed
been good since the great. Zollars said because of the
pandemic. with the uncertainty pandemic. 39% said
due to the pandemic they did not feel
initially, his mental depressed due to the
health was bad, but it pandemic. 85.7% also
has since improved said the pandemic has
since hearing about caused them
the vaccine. Carson emotional stress.
says that it has been
bad, because it is a
struggle to get in
touch with professors.

Grades Reana said that her Zollars states that his N/A
grades have been grades have dropped
negatively affected slightly due to the
by the pandemic. pandemic, but nothing
Trysten says the too catastrophic.
pandemic has had no Carson states that her
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effect on her grades. grades have stayed the

same for the most
part.

Virtual Events N/A Carson states that she 95.2% of UCF

does not enjoy virtual students surveyed
events and that they said they did not
should just be enjoy virtual events.
cancelled. Zollars
states that he does not
like virtua events, but
understands why they
are being done.
Additionally, both
Zollars and Carson
state that they do not
enjoy Zoom.

In-Person Trysten and Reana Carson and Zollars 66.7% of UCF

Classes/Campus prefer in-person miss having in-person students said they
classes definitely. classes. Zollars even preferred in-person
They always talk states that he misses classes.
about how it is great the traditional
meeting study classroom.
buddies and meeting
people in general.
Trysten and Reana
last yer lived in
Neptune and they
miss it, because
before the pandemic
it was much easier to
meet people.

Online Classes Trysten and Reana Carson says she has to 66.7% of UCF
both agreed that teach herself a lot of students said they did
online science classes material since online not enjoy online
are more difficult. classes and has classes. 33% said
stopped relying on her they enjoyed online
teachers. Zollars says more. 45.2% also said
online classes have a that online science
positive, and that is classes were harder.
that he can sleep in 59.5% of people said
and have a lot of free that they have not
time. struggled with writing
papers since the
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pandemic, but 40.5%

said tit was harder.

Sleep Schedule Trysten and Reana Zollar and Carson N/A

both agreed that their both state that their
sleep schedules are sleep schedules are
messed up. terrible. Carson stays
up finishing
assignments and
Zollars has gotten
used to going to bed at
3am or 4am every
night.

According to most of my participants, they have been suffering emotionally and

academically. 61% of UCF students surveyed stated that they felt depressed due to the pandemic.

This is important to be known, because its a high percentage of students. Students have said it is

hard to meet people, hard to get into contact with professors, and said that online classes are a

struggle. Zollars and Reana have said that their grades have dropped due to the pandemic.

Although Zollars and Reana have stated this, Carson and Trysten have said that their graded have

stayed the same for the most part.

Additionally, students do not enjoy virtual events. Carson says that they should just be

cancelled. 95.2% of students surveyed also thought that virtual events were not enjoyable. This is

definitely true too, because I barely see people participating in virtual events. Trysten and Reana

also said that last year, was a fun year because the in-person activities around campus such as

spirit week and being able to just experience normal college was what made college great. It can

also be concluded that 66.7% of UCF students do not enjoy online classes. This is most likely

due to Zoom and it being harder to get into contact with professors. Although these are some

negatives of online classes, Zollars states that he found new passions and has more free time due

to online classes. Lastly, most students agreed that their sleep schedules were messed up due to
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the pandemic. With a lot of time on your hands or just a lot of work, it can be difficult to sleep at

night. The stresses of school and daily life can definitely cause sleep disturbances.

Discussion

After conducting my research and gathering primary data, it appears that my hypotheses

were correct. The data from my secondary research also appear to be the same for primary

research that was conducted. According to the second source called “Psychological Impacts from

COVID-19 among University Students: Risk Factors across Seven States in the United States,”

students have stated that they feel stressed and exhuasted from the pandemic. Students surveyed

for the primary data also stated that their sleep schedules were also messed up. After I collected

my data, many students said they felt stressed as well as did not enjoy the virtual activities and

online learning aspect.

Additionally, the source called “The Potential Impact of COVID‐19 on Student Learning

and How Schools Can Respond,” compares to UCF students, because even though these students

in the secondary sources are younger children, it discusses how online learning is different and

more challenging for them due to the switch used with the online learning curriculum. This

relates to the primary data collected, because university professors have been using Zoom. Zoom

has many technological issues and students do not enjoy it according to the data collected.

Overall, all the data I have collected proves the secondary sources to be true. It proves

that students have been struggling due to online, have been emotionally stressed, and do not

enjoy not being in the traditional classroom. My insights have improved on this topic, because I

realize that students here feel all mostly the same way about the academic aspect changing due to

the pandemic. Students all over the United States are going through the same experiences and I

can conclude this after the primary data that has been collected.
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Conclusion

Overall, my findings matched my secondary sources and proved my assumptions to be

true. Even though I just interviewed and surveyed UCF students, it was still a big pool of

participants. I had almost 50 responses on my survey of students from UCF and I interviewed my

on and off-campus friends. It can be concluded that many students right now are struggling

mentally and academically.

The interviews were most helpful and insightful, because it gave me an in-depth

understanding of how people around me are dealing with the pandemic and how it has directly

affected them. For example, Zollars states how he found new passions since the lockdown, and

Carson says she did not. Many of the participants in interviews contrasted each other and that is

what made collecting data interested. It was interesting to see outliers of who thought online

classes were easy and how thought that they were challenging.

This topic was definitely important to be informed on and needs to have more conclusive

research on, because it is something in present day and sometimes it seems the impact of

COVID-19 in all aspects is not thoroughly recognized. I definitely believe more surveys should

be conducted on this topic at UCF for the psychology program definitely. Additionally,

professors should be notified about how students are impacted, because it might make them

realize specific things they need to improve with their curriculum or realize that students believe

it is harder to get into contact with them. Overall, I feel other scholars can start conducting more

research on this topic by specifically making simple surveys or just interviewing people in

general and the general consensus would probably be the same. Expanding knowledge is

important on this topic, because this is a problem that could possibly be solved by professors and
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universities if they just understood how students felt and took it into consideration and made

small changes to improve college life in the classroom and outside of it.

Works Cited
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Aucejo, Esteban. The Impact of COVID-19 on Student Experiences and Expectations:

Evidence from a Survey. Cambridge, Mass.: National Bureau of Research June 2020.

https://doi.org/10.3386/w27392

Browning, Matthew H. E. M. “Psychological Impacts from COVID-19 among University

Students: Risk Factors across Seven States in the United States.” PLoS ONE, vol. 16, no.

1, Jan. 2021, pp. 1–27. EBSCOhost, https://doi.org/10.1371/.0245327

Bullard, JoAnne. “The Impact of COVID-19 on the Well-Being of Division III Student-

Athletes.” Sport Journal, Oct. 2020, p. N.PAG. EBSCOhost,

search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?

direct=true&db=eft&AN=146379233&authtype=shib&site=eds-live&scope=site.

Kecojevic A, Basch CH, Sullivan M, Davi NK (2020) The impact of the COVID-19

epidemic on mental health of undergraduate students in New Jersey, cross-sectional

study. PLoS ONE 15(9): e0239696. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal. Pone.0239696

Son, Changwon. “Effects of COVID-19 on College Students’ Mental Health in the

United States: Interview Survey Study.” Journal of Medical Internet Research, vol. 22,

no. 9, Sept. 2020, p. N.PAG. EBSCOhost, https://doi.org/10.2196/21279

Wyse, Adam E. “The Potential Impact of COVID‐19 on Student Learning and How

Schools Can Respond.” Educational Measurement: Issues & Practice, vol. 39, no. 3, Fall

2020, pp. 60–64. EBSCOhost, https://doi.org/10.1111/emip.12357

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Appendix

Research Particant Requirements

- Must be a university student (on-campus or off-campus)

- Preferably at UCF

Research Questions

Interview Questions for On-Campus Participants

How has the difference in school because of COVID-19 affected you?

How has online learning affected your grades?

Do you enjoy Zoom?

Do you enjoy online or in-person classes better?

How has your mental health been since COVID-19?

Has your sleep schedule been affected by COVID-19?

What were you expectations this year for school education this year? Were they met?

How do you feel about events being virtually?

Have you found new passions since the lockdown?

Interview Questions for Roommates

How is this school year different from last school year?

R: Meeting new people was easier.

T: Last year we were able to interact with and meet new people but this year for me at least I

haven’t met as many people. The online classes definitely took some time to get used to them.

What do you miss about last year?

R: Being on campus and going to places with big gatherings.

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T: Meeting new people and being able to walk around campus.

Are online classes harder than in-person college classes last year?

R: yes 100%

T: Depends on the subject, for me math is harder online.

Are online science classes harder compared to in-person science classes?

R: 100% yes

T: Yes

How is your sleep schedule?

R: Not okay at all

T: Fucked up.

How is your mental health since the pandemic?

R: Not okay.

T: Also fucked up.

How has online learning affected your grades?

R: Yes, very badly.

T: My grades have had no effect since the switch.

Interview Responses

Olivia Carson (interview):

1. I end up teaching myself a lot of the information and have even stopped relying on some of

my teachers to teach me.

2. My grades have been relatively the same for the most part.

3. No

4. In-person
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5. Not as good, it’s very stressful having to reach out to teachers online.

6. Bad, I stay up a lot to finish assignments.

7. I thought teachers were going to be providing more resources on getting help, my expectations

weren’t met, it is still hard to get clear answers from teachers.

8. I think it makes them boring amnd it would be better to just cancel them.

9. No

Charlie Zollars (interview):

1. I have enjoyed it more than I thought because with classes mainly being online I get to sleep

in and have a lot of free time. I do miss the traditional classroom though.

2. Online learning has dropped my grades a little bit from where they were but nothing

catastrophic.

3. Not really, no.

4. In-person classes.

5. The month of April when things were uncertain and lockdown was in full effect was really bad

for mental health. It got slowly better as things became more certain and with good news about

the vaccine.

6. My sleep schedule has changed dramatically it used to be somewhat normal now I’m used to

falling asleep at 3 or 4 am like it’s routine.

7. I did not expect to be able to do much this year but with safety guidelines in place we have

been able to do more than I thought. Academically, my needs were not met but professors are

trying their hardest.

8. I do not like it, but I understand the need. I cannot wait to put the virtual world in the rearview

mirror.
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9. Yes, I learned how to play chess and a sport called disc golf. Also going on lon g walks helped

a lot during the lockdown.

Survey Questions

Do you feel depressed because of COVID-19?

yes/no

Do you like in-person classes more than online classes?

yes/no

Do you like online classes more than in-person classes?

yes/no

Do you enjoy virtual school events?

yes/no

Are online science classes harder compared to in-person science classes?

yes/no

Is it harder to get into contact with professors?

yes/no

Have you struggled with writing papers for classes since the pandemic started?

yes/no

Has the pandemic caused you emotional stress?

yes/no

Consent Form
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This research requires participants to be a student studying at a university. Preferably UCF.

Students can be on or off-campus. For this survey or interview, participants will be answering

personal questions and their experiences and expectations about COVID-19 and/or questions that

relate to online education and virtual events. Questions answered will be used for research

purposes and should be answered honestly.

I confirm that I have read and understood all the necessary information about this COVID-19

survey and research what it entails. I understand that my data will be used for research purposes.

I understand that my participation is voluntary and that I am free to withdraw at any time.

*check box

I __________ confirm that I have read and understood all the necessary information about this

COVID-19 interview and research what it entails. I understand that my data will be used for

research purposes. I understand that my participation is voluntary and that I am free to withdraw

at any time.

I Trysten, confirm that I have read and understood all the necessary information about this

COVID-19 interview and research what it entails. I understand that my data will be used for

research purposes. I understand that my participation is voluntary and that I am free to withdraw

at any time.

I Reana, confirm that I have read and understood all the necessary information about this

COVID-19 interview and research what it entails. I understand that my data will be used for

research purposes. I understand that my participation is voluntary and that I am free to withdraw

at any time.
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I Charlie, confirm that I have read and understood all the necessary information about this

COVID-19 interview and research what it entails. I understand that my data will be used for

research purposes. I understand that my participation is voluntary and that I am free to withdraw

at any time.

I Olivia, confirm that I have read and understood all the necessary information about this

COVID-19 interview and research what it entails. I understand that my data will be used for

research purposes. I understand that my participation is voluntary and that I am free to withdraw

at any time.
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Survey Responses
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