The spring semester and its full-throttle move to remote instruction proved brutal for most college professors—and the summer offered little relief, as they used the time to transition their fall courses to a fully online format or to multiple formats for a range of reopening scenarios.

Today, faculty members say they’re working harder than ever to meet students’ needs through remote instruction, even if critics of the model don’t know it.

The pandemic has increased the mental strain on a generation of college students already reporting record levels of psychological challenges, state and national surveys show. California colleges have responded by moving therapy appointments online and using state grants to add services. 

But some mental health advocates say the coronavirus crisis highlights the fragility of a system that even before the pandemic was not doing enough to meet students’ needs.