WASHINGTON — College kids are so frazzled they can't sleep or eat. Or study. Good grief, they're even anxious about spring break.

Many students in U.S. colleges are just plain stressed out, from everyday worries about grades and relationships to darker thoughts of suicide, according to a poll of undergraduates from coast to coast. The survey was conducted for the Associated Press and mtvU, a television network available at many colleges and universities.

Four in 10 students say they often feel stressed. Nearly one if five say they feel it all or most of the time.

But most are bearing it. Nearly two-thirds in the survey say they enjoy life.

Majorities cite classic stress symptoms, including trouble concentrating, sleeping and finding motivation. Most say they have also been agitated, worried, too tired to work.

"Everything is being piled on at once," said Chris Curran, a junior at the Albany College of Pharmacy in Albany, N.Y. "You just get really agitated and anxious. Then you start procrastinating, and it all piles up."

Substantial numbers are even concerned about spring break, chiefly not having enough money or not being in good enough physical shape.

One in five say they have felt too stressed to do schoolwork or be with friends. About the same number say things have been so bad in the past three months that they have seriously considered dropping out of school.

Darker still, about one in six say they have friends who in the past year have discussed committing suicide, and about one in 10 say they have seriously considered it themselves. Friends have actually tried to end their lives in that time, one in 10 say.

In this ocean of campus anxiety, 13 percent say they have been diagnosed with a mental health condition such as depression or an anxiety disorder.

Of those, two-thirds say they always or usually follow their treatment, one-tenth say they have been unable to stick to it, and the rest are not on a plan. Highlighting the perils in that, police last month said the girlfriend of Steven Kazmierczak, who fatally shot five people and then himself at Northern Illinois University, told them he had stopped taking medication.

All is not doom and gloom for today's students.

Six in 10 in the survey say they are usually hopeful and enjoy life. Half even concede they feel understood by their families.

"I enjoy college, I'm enjoying my experiences," said Emily McMahan, a University of Cincinnati junior.

Even so, the survey shows plenty of sources of stress, led by the seven in 10 students who attribute it to school work and grades. Financial problems are close behind, with relationships and dating, family problems and extracurricular activities all named by half.

College women in general have a more stressful existence than men, with 45 percent of females and 34 percent of males saying they feel pressure often. Six in 10 women and just four in 10 men cite family issues as problems, though the differences between the sexes in most other areas of stress are narrower.