Texas A&M system board of regents wants more money put into student mental health services

This podcast contains comments from the May 21, 2026 meeting of the Texas A&M system board of regents committee on academics and student affairs.The Texas A&M system board of regents wants more money put into student mental health services.Three regents made statements to that affect during a meeting of their committee on academics and student affairs (CASA) Thursday (May 21) in Kingsville.Three of the system universities vice president of student affairs made presentations to the regents.One of the three was Texas A&M's Bill Kibler.Among his remarks, was announcing the ninth Aggie student this academic year to die from suicide. That compared with five the previous year and three from two years ago.Not including the Galveston and Qatar campuses, 78,741 students are served by a counseling staff of 47. Kibler says 12 more providers need to be hired to meet a nationally considered minimum ratio of one provider for each 1,500 students.Kibler said during the 2025 fiscal year, more than 17 percent of student medical visits resulted in a mental health diagnosis.A&M provides an app called TELUS, which according to the A&M website connects students with free, confidential professional counseling available 24/7 via app, telephone and web. Kibler says during the 2025 fiscal year there were 39,468 unique digital users of the TELUS app and 25,926 repeat users.All new students are required by state law to complete mental health and suicide awareness training during their first semester. Kibler said 24,583 students were trained this year.A&M faculty and staff also undergo mental health awareness and suicide prevention training. 454 were trained this year.Kibler said A&M needs a new student health center to replace the one that has been in operation since 1972, when enrollment was 16,000. And he said there are no facilities for health care/mental services on west campus, which serves over 20,000 students each day.Click HERE to read and download presentation materials during the May 21, 2026 board of regents meeting of the committee on academic and student affairs (CASA).