As part of efforts to increase mental health care across the state, Gov. JB Pritzker signed a law last month requiring public colleges and universities to have a certain number of mental health professionals available to students.
University of Illinois Springfield, one of the state’s smaller public universities, is in line with the new mandated ratio of one counselor for every 1,250 students enrolled. Bethany Bilyeu, a counselor and executive director of student support services at UIS, said the university is uniquely positioned to offer counseling services without session limits or a waitlist.
“We’ve been very blessed to not have a waitlist, so you can get in same day, same week, whatever’s convenient for you to see somebody. We don’t bill insurance,” Bilyeu said. “We have a student fee that covers health and counseling, so all students pay into that – it’s only $82.50 per semester, which is still relatively low compared to other schools.”
She said the efforts to increase access to mental health care is appreciated. “Trying to get the right level of supports at the right times in people’s lives can be difficult.”
Despite offering telehealth and having many students who commute to school, Bilyeu said most students using the counseling center’s services tend to visit with their counselor in person.
“A lot of people made that shift (to offer telehealth) during COVID, and we have just sustained it. We definitely have way more students that prefer in-person (visits). We really thought after COVID that it might end up in almost like a 50-50 world, but that does not bear out when we look at our data,” she said.
The personal connection with a mental health provider is a benefit a smaller community like UIS can offer.
“Given our size, we don’t have session limits, so you can see the same person. If you go here for undergrad and graduate school, you could end up with the same person for seven or eight years,” Bilyeu said.
Tim Moody, who has been working for the counseling center full time since 2019, said he enjoys working with students as they progress through college.
“It’s really a wonderful thing when you can spend time with a student that maybe comes in as a freshman, and you get to spend their whole college career with them. The growth is just magnificent to see,” Moody said.
He said social media is still a problem for college students, however, as communication splintered across so many different apps and platforms can complicate friendships.
“Often, their relationships are run through text messaging and Snapchat and these kinds of things, so having to try to communicate effectively is a real struggle,” he said, “I think that creates conditions for an uptick in anxiety.”
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Dilpreet Raju is a staff writer for Illinois Times and a Report for America corps member.
This article appears in September 11-17, 2025.
This law is the perfect complement to the other law regarding colleges which was recently passed, requiring the colleges to provide abortion pills to students. Now, after the mommy kills her unborn child, she will be able to get into therapy quickly to deal with the trauma of snuffing out her own baby.