A bereaved mother said she believes Cambridge University wanted to postpone the “issue” further after her son developed mental health problems.
Jo Ndisang said her son Jared was not given a chance to take a break when he became unwell in his third year.
He died a year later in 2019 at the age of 21, and his mother said universities should “respond compassionately to those who are struggling”.
The university said “nothing is more important” than safety and well-being.
An inquest this month found Mr Ndisang’s death “was caused by sudden cardiac death of unknown cause”, leaving his mother with remaining questions.
Ms Ndisang from London is part of the Learn Network of bereaved families aiming to prevent future deaths.
On Tuesday she will join other members to table a petition signed by more than 128,000 people at Downing Street calling for the creation of a statutory duty of care for students in higher education.
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In March 2018, Ms Ndisang said she had noticed that her son, a science student at Christ’s College, was not himself.
When he went back to the university for his exams, she said she would call him every morning and evening.
But towards the end of May he became very unwell and Ms Ndisang said she came to take him home.
She said the university then arranged for her son to see a psychiatrist and had a meeting with his tutor, at which Mr Ndisang asked if he could interrupt, a term used for a study break.
“But it wasn’t an option and they strongly encouraged Jared to graduate,” she said, and her son received an unclassified degree.
“That’s how it went and Jared didn’t want that. It was his dream to go to Cambridge and he had worked so hard. And as you can imagine, it only seemed to make the problem worse.
“So I spent the next few months trying to convince Jared, ‘Your path has changed, it’s not a problem, if you want to go back to university later, you can do that.’ However, I think Jared just couldn’t get over it.”
Ms Ndisang said “no reason was given” why the suspension was rejected, “but it was very clear that a suspension was not an option”.
“I felt like they wanted to push the ‘problem’ further,” she said.
She said she believes her son had five counseling sessions at the university.
In 2021, the university’s mental health services were found by a review it commissioned to be “ineffective,” “untargeted,” and “unsustainable,” despite being “one of the largest expenditures in supporting the mental health and well-being of people Students in the Industry” were.
Ms Ndisang believes that “a student’s mental health should be considered in every decision made on their journey to becoming a student”.
When asked what Cambridge should learn from her son’s case, she said: “Every student death has valuable lessons for university leaders.
“Every life is unique and every story is different, but there is learning and we must insist on learning.
“We cannot stop mental illness and life events that affect us all. But we can control our own actions and respond compassionately to those who are struggling.
“Mechanisms and systems must be in place. There is an obvious problem. Over 100 students in higher education die every year and we just want to know what our college leaders are doing?”
Six Cambridge University students died by suicide or suspected suicide between March and September last year.
Responding to Ms Ndisang’s comments, Cambridge Head of Student Support Natalie Acton said: “Jared will be remembered as an active and caring member of our community and our thoughts remain with his family and friends.
“Nothing is more important than the safety and well-being of our students and we recently launched a new student mental health and well-being plan, which includes faster access to counseling, increased capacity of our support services and our Reach Out campaign included to ensure students know where to go Find Help.
“Like all universities, we look for the best way to partner with trusted contacts for each student. This process must strike a balance between protecting the privacy of our students and ensuring they have the right support.”
A spokeswoman for the Department of Education said: “We expect all universities to take active steps to prevent suicides. We work closely with charities and the sector to promote and fund effective mental health support such as the free online service Student Space.
“We are committed to the well-being of students and our first-ever Master of Student Support, Edward Peck, has spoken to bereaved parents to understand where further improvements can be made.”
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