Emotional support at UTA on par with larger universities

UT Arlington student, Alicia Azcona no longer lives on campus. She began freshman year in a dorm room as many first year college students do.  But Azcona soon fled campus to take courses online because of an anxiety disorder.

At home she had the comfort of her family and the security of her best friend, Cricket, who happened to be feline. Her cat provided the emotional support needed to help her accomplish her educational goals. 

According to an annual report from the Center for Collegiate Mental Health, since 2010 there has been an upward tick in depression, generalized anxiety and social anxiety among college students. These conditions are all treated with various medications, which often lead to dependence.

Current academic ecology can be rife with addiction, and subsequently, adverse effects of prescription drugs. But increasing numbers of students have turned to an alternative type of treatment: the emotional support animal. 

Over recent years, a trend has emerged among college students like Azcona. They are succumbing to anxiety and depression as they face the increased demand of academia. 

In fact, the Center for Collegiate Mental Health reported that anxiety plagues 48.2% of college students who seek treatment at university counseling centers. This figure does not account for the high number of students not seeking out treatment.  Stress and Depression also factor in at 39.1% and 34.5%, respectively. 

Service Animals vs. Emotional Support Animals

According to the Americans with Disabilities Act service animals are defined as those “individually trained to do work or perform tasks for the benefit of an individual with a disability, including a physical, sensory, psychiatric, intellectual, or other mental disability.”

An emotional support animal differs says UT Arlington nursing junior JJ Johnston. She shares an apartment on campus with two roommates and one is a dachshund named Milo, Johnston’s emotional support animal. 

“ESAs are different from service animals,” Johnston said.  “ESAs are not trained to do any specific task other than just their being there…they are basically a prescription.”

But they are a prescription that patients can’t take just anywhere. While comfort animals cannot be denied residence under the Fair Housing Act, they are not permitted in public spaces such as classrooms and other campus buildings, unlike service animals.

Trends

Nationally there has been an exponential trend in the number of these animals registered within the last five years. According to an article at insidehighered.com, Washington State University’s Meredyth Goodwin, disability access center director said she gets 60 to 75 requests for comfort animals per year compared to only two or three in 2011. 

Across college campuses, this type of therapy has begun to rear its furry head, aiding in the treatment of anxious and stress-afflicted co-eds. North Texas is no exception. Fielding these requests has become frequent at large and small universities.

Anna Shaw, assistant director in the Office of Access and Learning Accommodation at Baylor University says the presence of animals on campus has become so commonplace that students call her to report seeing an animal which may or may not be an approved emotional support or service animal.

“I’ve given myself the title of ‘Paw Patrol’,” she said. 

Shaw said that since 2016 she has received approximately 108 requests or inquiries for comfort animals and have 60 currently registered.

The University of Texas at Arlington is a fraction of Baylor’s size. There the number of non-human residents is roughly one-third that of Baylor.

UTA currently houses 20 occupants with emotional support animals. Since 2010, it has been home to 61 of these animals. For the first five years of the decade, 21 students resided with them in campus residences. That number nearly doubled in the last three and a half years. And while the trend may not seem as obvious, the data shows it does exist. 

In the Office for Student with Disabilities, specialist Tiffany Riddick is responsible for evaluating support animal requests. She says she has also noticed an uptick in these types of requests even at Florida State University where she worked previously.

“I think it started to pick up when people started to realize it was something you could do,” Riddick said. “When [people] started to see more service animals, I think a lot more people started asking questions about emotional support animals.”

One of those questions is how to gain approval for a comfort animal.  Each university’s disability office follows certain procedures to ensure legitimacy of requests. Riddick maintains that it’s not very hard if applicants have the correct paperwork. 

Johnston and Milo agree. She says she doesn’t think it was too difficult and that the UTA process is set up fairly.

“That’s the only experience I’ve had so it makes it a little nicer that they were, you know, caring and thoughtful,” Johnston said of the housing and disabilities offices on campus. 

Cutting Corners

However, thoughtfulness should not be mistaken for weakness when trying to skirt the system. Online “pay to register” sites have started popping up all over the internet. At esaregistration.org, a pet owner can purchase an “Ultimate ESA Lifetime VIP Kit” for $150. The kit includes a listing in their database, ESA vest and harness and a certificate to download and print. 

Azcona says students hoping to use this “official” certificate to gain approval for their family pet may be disappointed. 

“I have seen people try to use it to take their pets into stores or restaurants because they think it’s cute,” she said. “I’ve also seen people do the ‘pay for an ESA’ bit to get their dog approved for their house or apartment. I met a guy who paid tons of money and the complex denied him.”

Riddick and Shaw confirm that an online certificate would be cause for denial. At both universities, it is required that a licensed mental health professional complete school specific paperwork with detailed diagnosis and treatment plans, as well as reason for recommending an emotional support animal. 

But faulty paperwork is not the only reason a request might be denied. Although there are no legal size, breed or species restrictions under the ADA, public facilities must draw the line somewhere. 

Odd Companions

Shaw says some of the stranger animals would have to be denied for practical or safety purposes. She has denied requests for a large fish because the tank was too big and a pair of flying squirrels. 

“One squirrel was a companion for the other,” Shaw said. “So, it was an emotional support animal for an emotional support animal!” 

She also knew of a request at Texas Tech for domesticated racoon that was turned down. Riddick says the strangest request she received and denied was for a Komodo dragon. 

Overall, the most common animals that students might run into are dogs, cats, guinea pigs and an occasional rabbit or ferret. 

There are some students who believe that requesting outlandish pets and trying to buy the approval online completely degrade the validity of emotional support animals. 

“People who try to do that really invalidate those of us who need them,” Azcona said “I have social anxiety and depression and I need my animals to help me get out of bed and calm down after a stressful day.”

Ironically, the psychological issue that leads Azcona to depend on Cricket and withdraw from others also places her in the center of a growing community at UTA turning to their own four-legged friends for support.