A new study has found that psychological distress is something that more than 80 per cent of university students are struggling with.

About 6500 OZ University students were polled by University of Queensland researchers and found that far outstripping the rate in the general population, 29 per cent, 83.9 per cent were mentally distressed.

More than five times higher than in the general population, 19.2 per cent, compared with 3.0 per cent, serious illness among those polled was found.

Study author Dr Helen Stallman, a clinical psychologist and researcher with the university's Schools of Medicine and Pharmacy, said, "The results were staggering. It's just enormous. It's huge."

About a third of the most seriously affected students took help from health professionals and this was of particular concern.

There were elevated distress levels among 83.9 per cent of students and mild and moderate symptoms of mental illness were shown by 64.7 per cent.

Dr Stallman said that no mental distress was shown only by 16 per cent of the sample.

She stated that as compared to university students, students continuing to live at home in a strong family network, or with a partner, rather than in share houses with other university students were better.