Volume 1 - Issue 4, November - December 2025

In recent years, Indian higher education has been facing a silent crisis: thousands of postgraduate students quietly disengage or drop out every year due to overwhelming mental health challenges. With rising academic competition, parental pressure, placement uncertainty, and limited job opportunities after master’s degrees, many students experience severe stress that turns into depression and anxiety. According to recent reports, more than one-third of Indian college students suffer from moderate to severe depressive symptoms, and nearly 40–45 % battle significant anxiety. Yet, very few reach out for help because of fear of being judged or because colleges lack proper counseling facilities.
The present study aimed to understand how depression and anxiety lead postgraduate students to seriously think about quitting their courses. It also examined two important questions: (i) whether these mental health problems first create extreme tiredness and loss of interest in studies (known as academic burnout) and then push students toward dropout thoughts, and (ii) whether the presence of supportive, trustworthy, and easily reachable campus mental health services can reduce this risk.
A simple online Google Form survey was prepared in English and shared through WhatsApp groups, email lists, and student networks of various universities. A total of 100 final-year master’s students (61 female, 39 male; average age 23.4 years) from different parts of India voluntarily completed the survey during March–April 2025. The questionnaire used short, reliable, and commonly accepted scales: PHQ-9 for depression, GAD-7 for anxiety, a student burnout scale, four direct questions on dropout intentions (e.g., “I have seriously thought of leaving my course”), and twelve questions to measure how students view their college’s mental health support (availability, ease of access, confidentiality, stigma, and trust).
Results revealed that students who scored higher on depression and anxiety also reported much stronger intentions to drop out. Academic burnout acted as the main bridge: depression and anxiety first drained students’ energy and motivation, and this exhaustion then made them want to leave their program. Most importantly, when students believed their college offered genuine, non-judgmental, and approachable counseling help, the harmful effect of burnout on dropout intentions became significantly weaker. In colleges where mental health support was perceived as poor or stigmatized, burned-out students were far more likely to plan to quit.
These findings send a clear message: depression and anxiety do not directly force students to drop out; they do so by creating burnout, but colleges can break this chain by providing mental health services that students feel safe and comfortable using. Universities must go beyond just opening a counseling room — they need to build trust, spread awareness, ensure confidentiality, and make help easily available. Only then can India reduce the growing number of talented postgraduate students who leave their education incomplete because of mental health struggles.