Stress on the rise in college freshmen

The findings make sense, though, considering that students are taking on more debt today than ever before, with sky-rocketing tuition rates: Private school prices have just about tripled since 1985.

High unemployment rates probably add to the stress because a greater percentage of students report having parents who are unemployed compared with previous years, and they have probably heard about the scarcity of jobs for recent college graduates.

Female students, in particular, reported lower levels of emotional health, with just 46 percent saying they had a high level, compared with 59 percent of males. They were also twice as likely as their male counterparts to say they felt frequently "overwhelmed by all I had to do" when they were high-school seniors.

On the flip side, though, college freshmen reported a greater drive to achieve and felt more confident in their academic abilities. More students than ever before -- 71 percent -- rated their academic abilities as "above average" or in the "highest 10 percent," and a peak 76 percent rated their drive to achieve in the same terms.

Of course, one wonders where all those "average" students are attending college.

So how can college students better manage stress? College campuses across the nation have started initiatives to help ease anxiety and get students treated for depression and other mental health problems before grades suffer and suicidal thoughts set in.

Harvard University students and administrators met last October to discuss the stress of intense extracurricular activities. MIT offers a number of stress management classes geared toward freshmen students.

And nearly all the Boston-area schools offer some sort of stress relief when times really get tough: during final exams week.