College students often find themselves overwhelmed with large amounts of stress pressing down on them. From the cost of education including loan debts and cost of materials, the amount of workload from each class and the responsibility of staying on top of everything, and the stress of social acceptance in a new environment. To help with this growing issue, parents and schools need to better prepare their graduates for what they will face in higher education schools by implementing college preparatory classes into senior year and colleges supplying higher numbers of academic and financial advisers. With a better understanding of what they are about to face, students can be smarter about the choices they make.
Problem:
New college students
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“Students who work more than 20 hours per week during the academic year are significantly more likely to report that financial stress has had a negative impact on their academic progress or performance and that they reduced their academic course load due to this stress” (Trombitas 7). These students are pushing back their graduation date to be able to afford the cost of living, which is counterproductive since it would be easier to pay back the loans and afford the cost of living after they graduate and have the higher paying career. This then brings up another financial worry: as the debt pile continues to grow larger every semester, in the back of many students ' minds, they start to worry that when their degree is finally complete, will the salary of their career be enough to pay back the debt they will owe?
The next stressor mentioned after financial issues is trying to adjust to the responsibility of staying on top of their own grades. Throughout elementary, middle, and high school students have had parents and teachers watching over them, pushing them towards the finish line: a high school diploma. Once students have successfully transitioned to a college schedule, many times it is a hard adjustment when realizing that there is no one telling them to complete their homework and study. They now need to
Over the past twenty-five years, college costs have accumulatively risen four-hundred percent. The percent of parents who contribute to their child’s student debt has dropped from thirty-seven percent to twenty-seven percent, compared to three years ago. Due to the lack of aid, most students have to try to balance a job and school at the same time resulting in eighty-five percent of college students working at least twenty hours a week. It has also been noted that students who work twenty hours or more a week while attending classes at the same time are less likely to graduate due to the high stress environment. Sixty-two percent of college students who drop out were responsible for their own college education. Even when students drop out, thirty percent are still faced with college debt, creating a loophole impossible to recover
Many people think college is a carefree place, full of fun and games for students. In reality ,the majority of students are bogged down in school work rushing to meet their deadlines for homework assignments projects,and even cramming study time for exams and quizzes. On top of that , college can be pretty costly. Therefore, this is normally a highly stressful period for most people in their lives. In the essay “College Pressures”, the author William Zinsser mentions how students go through so much stress and pressure from different aspects of college. He discusses the pressures that college students faced in the late 1970’s that are still happening now in today's society . Zinsser focuses on four main pressures that students face as they enter the college realm, which includes economic, parental, peer, and self-induced pressures. It's not only the pressure but In the essay “College Is a Waste of Time and Money” by Caroline Bird , the author attempts to persuade her readers that colleges are overflowing with students who don't belong there and that college education is a useless endeavor that is often forced on students. Between the money it costs, the time it takes,and all the pressures from the different aspects of college it can be pretty overwhelming to think about. The question is how could we reduces the struggle and tension that college brings upon students.
oday, society stresses the importance of postsecondary education to students due to the countless ways that an associates, bachelors, masters, or doctorate can enhance an individual future. For an individual to reach financial security in the United States’ economy it is basically mandatory that they have received a college degree. Postsecondary education will provide skills and knowledge that will prepare individuals to be successful within their career as they compete for leading positions. Overall as an individual receives a college degree they will become more likely to experience job security and financial security, and this is important to most as they hope to live a stable life. In college, students are taking as many as one hundred credit hours which contributes to most also accumulating student loan debt as they try to finance their education. Even though the completion of a postsecondary education will contribute to a graduate obtaining a respectable income it may also cause graduates to suffer from high student loan debt which will negatively impact their finances far into their adulthood. R.J. Matson created the image above to emphasize how student loan debt negatively impacts student and changes need to be made to avoid stress caused by the debt.
The transition from high school to college is a notoriously daunting experience for students entering, arguably, the most important years in their lives. Everything that a student has come to know about academics, for the most part, are to be radically challenged. Many different factors go into the change, and any particular one can be enough to overwhelm any given student into becoming an emotional wreck. Whether it be living on one's own for the first time, drastic schedule changes, or becoming socially involved, these responsibilities are just three examples, among the seeming hundreds. However, a perfect balance between these responsibilities is a major key in not allowing the stressors to take one captive.
Education requires hard work and dedication. It can prepare an individual for life in many ways although it cannot guarantee their future. Education is a gamble. In a recent study, about 44 million Americans are in student loan debts averaging over 1.5 trillion (find citation). Moreover, 45% said it was not worth it (find citation). Student loan debts have caused people to quit their job or even go part-time. Consequently, the total cost of college can equal to missing wages and advancements. With further studies, the cost of four years of missed wages from a full-time job, amount to 49,000 and 20,000 for two years (find citation). So, think about it, is it worth it? Is it worth the stress and anxiety one can obtain by not being financially stable due to student loan debts? At hand, there are many successful opportunities; it's just a matter of hard work and dedication that the individual puts in to be
Student debt can socially affect a person’s life for years after graduation. Taking out thousands of dollars in loans causes a negative effect in student’s lives. In reference to Natasha Yurk Quadlin and Daniel Rudel, who has a Ph.D. in sociology and both work at Indiana State University, student loans affect persistence and completion for undergraduates. There is a correlation between how students do in their classes, the amount of time spent on their work, and the amount of time working in a job to pay off debt. Students become so stressed that they do not complete their college courses and enter their path of a new career. (Quadlin, Rudel, 2015). When students do not perform well in their classes, they tend to want to compensate for it. However, they cannot because they have to go to their jobs, to help pay off the thousands of debt that they owe and for their everyday necessities. Due to the amount of stress that they have to handle, it affects their personal health. Katrina Walsemann, in a representative study on student loans and early adult mental health, argues that “We are speculating that part of the reason that these types of loans are so stressful is the fact that you cannot defer them, they follow you for the rest of your life until you pay them off,” (Blake, 2015). It also mentions that the students with higher levels of debt incurred, have had higher levels of depressive symptoms. A college student’s overall health is
Higher education comes at an extremely high price. The excitement of graduating college to land the six-figure job is soon destroyed when students realize how much debt they’ve obtained. Dreams of owning a house and starting a family are shattered by the money borrowed to provide and guarantee students an excellent future. Instead of waiting to land the ideal job, students work multiple jobs to help ends meet. Struggling to stay afloat, millions of students become victims of one of the major economic crisis in the United States today; Student debt.
Abstract College is a very critical time in a student's life in regards to their future. It is where choices are made into lifelong commitments that will eventually ease forthcoming obstacles. While college is important to all perspective newcomers, it does not come cheap. Increased tuition hikes has made it difficult for a majority of students to afford higher education. As a result, students who encounter financial difficulties start to accumulate debt, undergo stress, depression, anxiety and have trouble balancing school and work.
Many students have aspirations about attending the college of their dreams, but many people lack financial support and are not able to go because of high tuition payments, such as housing, and other college expenses. U.S. Student Loans Debt Statistics for 2017 indicate that “the cost of attending college is becoming a growing burden for a huge portion of Americans.” (Student Loan Hero). Students are left with the option of dropping and leaving school. Even after receiving some financial support, such as scholarships and grants, students have limited amount of money to pay off their expenses. At the start of their college career, students apply for the colleges they would like to go to, and many forget about the financial decision that is required to pay for college. “A 2010 study on more than 200,000 freshmen at four-year colleges, more students rated themselves as below average in emotional health than ever before. The financial stress of worrying about their college loans and whether they’ll find a job after college and the day to day stress of making decisions for themselves in all aspects of their lives.” (Allianz). Unfortunately, freshman students are the main group of college students that go through financial conflicts, leading to stress about how to pay for college. Some students choose to work their way through college. “Others decide they’d rather be making money working full time than pursuing a costly degree. Still others become discouraged at the prospect of incurring loan debt” (College View). According to Public Agenda, “Work is the top reason young adults give for not returning to college once they leave. More than a third (36 percent) of those who left school say that even if they had a grant that fully paid for tuition
Usually after six months of one’s graduation, students are required to repay federal and private loans with interest. Conversely, college tuition has greatly increased throughout recent decades. Written in the article “Student Loans,” “A report by the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education notes that overall, college tuition and fees in the United States rose 439 percent between 1982 and 2007. This means graduates often find themselves saddled with enormous student loan debt they may not be able to repay.” Amongst younger generations, Student loan debts has only gotten worse over the past years. The only options available for students pursuing a higher education are to get a part-time job and pay for their education out of pocket. Yet even when financial aid is added, education debt is still a burden amongst many students and young graduates. In the following article “Student Loans” the author reported “In 2011, the average graduate contended with $24,000 in student loan debt. Youth unemployment hovered near 18 percent, and of the college graduates who did find employment, many found themselves ‘underemployed’.” This further examines, the excessive amount of
The combination of inadequately paying work together with great outstanding loans limits college graduates from participating fully in society as adults. For instance, indicators of adulthood and full participation include a stable career, a long term relationship, family, a home, retirement savings, and owning material necessities such as a vehicle. When we take into account all of the burdens that tens of thousands of dollars of student loans, it is apparent that this debt impacts just about every aspect of life for graduates. One study by American Student Assistant (ASA) found that around a quarter of student loan debtors have difficulty buying daily necessities because of student loans, while over half indicated that their debt disallows them to make larger purchases like a car, and three quarters of respondents said that they were putting off savings for retirement because of their loans (Life Delayed… 3). Further, almost half reported that student debt has delayed their decision to start a family (Life Delayed…3). From the normal day to day to the largest and most important aspects of life such as starting a family, student loan debt is oppressively bearing down on graduates.
The college student population in the past decade has seen a huge shift from the traditional college student, typically 18 years old and recent high school graduate, to nontraditional college students, including: part time, independent, older adults, and parent college students. Not only are these nontraditional college students faced with the same concerns, struggles, and difficulties as traditional college students but they also have additional responsibilities and struggles that a traditional college student won’t have. In particular, the parent college student is faced with a multitude of added stressors outside of school and in today’s colleges there are approximately 3.9 million student parents which make up about 30% of the college
College pressures dominate our lives. They begin to levitate around us and slowly derail our lives. William Zinsser elaborates about the college pressures that modern generations are facing. He reveals multiple commonalities that the typical college student encounters on a daily basis. Zinsser states, “They want a map-right now-that they can follow unswervingly to career security, financial security, social security, and presumably, a prepaid grave” (12). He is spot on, the pressures demand my attention and won’t take no for an answer. So far I’ve gone head to head with these pressures every day since I started my freshman year in college. For the time that I’ve been here, my mind is overwhelmed and distraught with the amount of stress that gets piled on top of me every single day. I drown in these unrealistic expectations written in those faulty suggestion bars about how to be successful in college and college 101 tips. College pressures surround me like a dull gray cloud. It showers me with expectations and unfinished checklists. College itself is similar to carpooling to hell and back, but with no actual guarantee with a ride back.
According to Lupien, McEwan, Gunnar, and Heim (2009), going off to college involves significant adjustments to their daily routines; sleeping and eating habits, time-management skills, and stress levels will be altered in one way or another. First-year students have to adjust to the new school environment, different social settings, and new schedules, all without the help and guidance from their parents, who have been there for them for eighteen years. Over 30% of college freshman report that they feel overwhelmed (Klainberg, Ewing, & Ryan, 2010), where some students even opt to work as they juggle their class and work schedules. Some students work at a job or study harder than others, but they are all trying to get degrees so maybe one day they will have meaningful and significant lives. It is a constant struggle for everyone who is trying desperately to make him or herself into a success. And every college student wants to be involved in society in a positive manner, allowing contribution of their ideals and values to others.
With an increased demand for skilled labors, many students nowadays find themselves needing to complete some form of higher education at college to ensure their success in the workplace and their future career goals. Although freshmen students often enter college with high expectations and ambitions, many eventually drop out of college. Why does that happen? In an ever-changing and more competitive environment, the demanding expectations on college students now soar at unprecedented heights, creating stressful and unpleasant experiences for many of them as they try to keep up with all the burdens inflicted upon them. In their writings, Dr. Christine B. Whelan, Ta-Nehisi Coates, Alan Schwartz, and Nisha Ramachandran explore and illustrate some of the stress-creating challenges that freshmen struggle with today. Even though many factors contribute to the huge list of problems for first-year students, many of the problems that create stress for college freshmen fall under the categories of academic factors, (what adverb to add) teachers, and personal-life conflicts.