@gibby, you seem to be conflating multiple things. Students are required to have health insurance. Hence significant costs for either physical or mental health issues are not covered by the college. Yes, student health services offers some support. But after a few appointments, students are referred to providers in their community and the college is not covering the cost. And students do pay a small fee at some colleges for visits to health services, and/or a fee in their semester student fees.
Learning disability services are not particularly expensive, either. For example: from what we could tell at accepted student visits, there was ONE person (on the whole campus) at University of Chicago to talk to regarding learning disability support. Now maybe that person has a couple of support staff, but it surely wasn’t evident. At my kid’s LAC, there is a dean who reviews all cases, and a staff person who works part-time on learning disability support activities. How much work is it for someone to review a student’s case, determine if the requested supports make sense, and provide a letter to profs at the beginning of each semester outlining the accommodations a student is eligible for? Typically students then just work with their profs to be allowed to take notes on a computer, get extra time on tests, record lectures, etc.
In addition, a mental health issue is not the same as a learning disability. At all. Mental health issues are depression, schizophrenia, bi-polar disorder, etc. Learning disabilities are things like ADHD, dyslexia, non-verbal learning disabilities, etc. Your post implies that they are the same. I usually find your posts quite helpful, but I am disappointed in this one.