Students struggle with readmission after leaving University for mental health reasons

Sophomore Nikki McCurry didn’t expect withdrawing from the University for mental health reasons to be as taxing as it was.

When her father died in summer 2015, McCurry tried to live life like she normally would. She registered for classes and went back to school.

But within a month, McCurry realized that she couldn’t focus in classes and wanted to go home. So, on Sept. 28, she walked into Counseling and Psychological Services, talked with social worker Abby Zeveloff and signed her withdrawal paperwork.

Two months later, during Thanksgiving break, McCurry got an email from three of her professors telling her she was still enrolled and failing.

Along the way, CAPS had forgotten to send the paperwork over to the Registrar’s Office.

McCurry sent emails and put in phone calls to both CAPS and the Registrar’s Office, but she wasn’t receiving any clear answers.

“Every time I would email them, they would tell me to call them,” she said. “Every time I would call them, they would tell me to email them.”

That went on for about five days until McCurry got in the car and drove to the Registrar’s Office herself.

Once she was on campus, the process of formalizing her withdrawal took only 10 minutes.

“I just feel like for this to be such a big university, it was such an unorganized process,” she said.

McCurry’s path to come back was equally as confusing. Requirements for coming back include regular therapy, documentation confirming the therapy from the student and their health care provider, as well as a brief meeting with CAPS in-person to affirm that the student is mentally ready to return.

Each student also has to reapply to the University, which requires an $80 application fee.

When McCurry was driving to UNC for her clearance interview, she got an email from Zeveloff canceling the interview because she would be out of the office and rescheduling her interview for later over the phone.

McCurry was also told to expect a readmittance decision within a week. She applied around Christmas time, so she factored in a bit of a delay. New Year’s passed, still nothing.

The hold on her account wasn’t lifted until Jan. 6. Classes started on Jan. 11.

“I know it’s a big school with a lot of students here, but how many students withdraw in a single semester?” McCurry said.

Lack of communication

Students who talked with The Daily Tar Heel said the experience of withdrawing is easy and supportive. But there’s a clear communication breakdown between what they think they need to do and what they actually need in coming back.

Allen O’Barr, director of CAPS, said the process is fairly clear.

“I’ve never actually seen the reapplication process through the Office of Admissions, but I have not heard that it is really complicated,” he said.

In this year alone, 148 students have withdrawn from UNC — 94 in the fall and 54 so far this semester.

All of the requirements for clearance are covered in the withdrawal meeting, and he gives the students all of the information to return on a handout for future reference.

The withdrawing process is not only about leaving the University but is meant for students to learn how to come back, O’Barr said.

And sometimes, he said there are mistakes where the paperwork doesn’t go through — like with McCurry’s case — but not often.

“I would bet that we withdraw hundreds of people a semester, and my guess would be that it happens less than one percent of the time, but that it does happen,” he said.

Follow-up

Senior Sarah Pannenberg said she just wished that she had more support from CAPS when she came back to campus.

She withdrew around March 2015 and returned to the University in the fall. During the summer, she never heard from anyone to see how she was doing or what the best timeline would be to come back.

“You would think that they would send an email and say ‘Hi, we just want to check on how you’re doing,’” she said. “It’s not like they’re leaving to go abroad for a semester; they’re leaving because of a mental health problem.”

Pannenberg said she wished someone from CAPS would have sent a check-in email halfway through her time off — especially because she had told CAPS she planned on coming back in the fall.

“Yeah, they give you a sheet of paper that might have the information on it, but that’s not what you’re concerned about for health problems — you’re more concerned with getting better,” she said.

Lacking clarity

Junior James Collette has withdrawn from the University twice: once in the spring of his first year, and the second in the most recent spring semester.

Each time he withdrew he received the resources sheet from CAPS outlining what all he needed to do in order to be cleared to come back.

On Friday, he was cleared to enroll in classes for Summer Session II.

Collette said the process was much easier the second time around because he knew both the ups and downs of the system.

“It’s not really clear when you do the medical withdrawal all the certain steps,” he said. “It tells you on that sheet of paper, but it doesn’t tell you where to do it or where to start.”

Collette said the most important thing, though, is that he never felt guilty for leaving classes — CAPS always supported his decision.

“As much as I think it was a mess to go out and come back in, at CAPS they make you feel like it’s OK that you’re doing it,” he said.

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