University of Saskatchewan students will have easier and quicker access to mental health care in the coming years thanks to a donation by a Saskatoon family.

In an effort to give back to the school they graduated from, Tim Gitzel, President and CEO of Cameco as well as his wife Bonnie, and their children Bailey and Ty, have donated $1 million to USask to create a mental health fund to help every student on campus. Right now, the university has a student-lead program titled Peer Health. Instead of waiting to see a counsellor, which takes an average of 36 days, students can talk to fellow classmates about their mental health.

Ella Guo is a student mentor at Peer Health. She says that mental health support is the difference between a great and a terrible university experience, and it has helped her through her academic career.

Jocelyn Orb, Manager of the Student Wellness Centre, says 51 per cent of students on campus reported that their mental health is poor or fair, and 54 per cent of students reported being lonely. Orb says the donation will be spent on both clinicians as well as the Peer Health program.