More than half of university students want to abandon their degrees due to stress. Credit:Stocksy

University students are no strangers to the psychological anxiety. A heavy workload, rising living costs, and familial separation all have an impact on emotional wellbeing.

But students' anxiety levels are now reaching unprecedented levels, manifesting—in extreme cases—in the form of suicidal ideation and self-harm. In 2017, a survey conducted by the National Youth Mental Health Foundation and the National Union of Students revealed that an alarming 83 per cent of students admitted to suffering from stress, and 35 percent of TAFE and university students had considered self-harm or suicide.

This year, new research commissioned by leading online study service Studiosity has unearthed more details as to the challenges students face, and what affect this has had on their mental health. The hope is that the nation's attention will shift towards finding solutions to improve the quality of mental health resources, and overall education.

The research, which included a survey of 1,000 Australian University students, commissioned by Studiosity and executed by a third party, reveals that a staggering 51 per cent of Australian university students have thought about abandoning their degree due to the pressures caused by isolated studying.