Did you know that college education can create pressure and anxieties on students due to finances, fear of failure, and parental pressure? High School students may believe college is easy in some ways it is, but it is very different from high school. College can become stressful where you can start to feel pressured in many ways. As Alina Hansen puts in her article, “College Students Under Pressure” she states, “As a college student, I constantly find myself stressing out. Not only do I have to work to support myself while going to school, but I have to be constantly be aware of how much time I have… whether it’s writing a paper.” In making this comment, Hansen explains that having to work and going to school there is not enough time and finds herself getting stressed. Furthermore, college students are under constant pressure to succeed academically, professionally and socially. Students who work and go to college have all these pressures even having to pay for their schooling and this event can affect college students negatively.
College Education can create pressure due to finances. Today most college students are likely to be working a part time job just to pay for their schooling. As William Zinsser states in his essay “College Pressure”, “Tuition, Room and board at most private colleges now comes to at least $7,000, not counting books and fees.” In other words Zinsser states, students spend a lot of money in college. Students who can not get a scholarship or grants typically take out loans to pay for their education, meaning they will need to work 10 times harder just to pay for their schooling and other materials needed like textbooks. Zinsser also states, “Part time at college and full-time during the summer, to accumulates $5,000 in loans after four years- loans that students must start to repay within 1 year after graduation.” Zinsser points out that students have to pay back their loans within a year after graduation.
So, students who are constantly working and even others who pay their bills now have to think about paying their loans, this is the pressure that affect students. As Martha C. White puts in her article “This is College Students’ Biggest Worry” she states, “One in five students surveyed owed more than $30,000 in student debt at the time of the survey, and the same number expect to owe $50,000 or more by the time they graduate” So, by spending a lot of money due to schooling and by rising student debt is a big person’s responsibility which then becomes stressful. Additionally, college students must often weigh the pros and cons of using financial aid for school then college students then learn how to balance a checkbook, making personal financial decisions on a regular basis. Many work to pay for some or all of their tuition, books and living expenses. Balancing work and school responsibilities even more to the stress since some have other bills to pay. Finances are just one way students become pressured; however, students fear to fail their classes and not wanting to look “dumb”.
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Another way students become pressured is due to fear of failure. Fear comes in many different forms. It is the intense worry, and negative thinking when you imagine all the horrible things that could happen if you failed to achieve a goal. Students are getting the pressure to achieve getting good grades and are in constant battle to succeed as well as deal with their stress alone. Fear of failure can cause many headaches and students tend to focus more on the negative things, than achieving better grades. As Mckenna K. puts in her article “ Anxiety, Stress and Fear of Failure Students Experience Daily” she states, “The constant stress they feel due to homework is leading students to obtain damaging health issues.” She points out students getting loads of homework is causing them to gain an unfortunate health issue. In the same way, CNN studied a survey of more than 4,300 students from multiple high performing schools that said “56% of the students in the study cited homework as a primary stressor in their lives.”
In Addition, fear of failure could cause problems that affect individuals’ mental state. College students then begin to think failing as an embarrassing, not having what it takes, and even meaning letting people down. Some college students take this fear and figure out how to master it because how can you try the impossible if you’re afraid to fail or try anything new. As Angela Arzu puts in her article “The Fear Of Failure And Its Gripping Effects On College Students” she states, “Fear, in any form, does nothing more than hold me back from achieving the impossible.” In making this comment, Arzu has learned from failure and had a growth mindset with all the things involved like negative thoughts, fear of failure to having new changes. She now vows that she will “get off the wall” free of failure. Fear of failure is just one way students become pressures; however, students then become pressured by their parents.
A last way students also get pressured and anxieties is by parental pressures. Some college students do not seem to be taking a major they like but as what their parents made them choose. Parental pressure can also affect students decisions for college. Going back to Zinsser “College Pressure” he states, “I see students taking premedical courses with joyless determination… I ask a student ‘do you want to go to medical school, why are you going?’ she answers ‘My parents want me to.. They’re paying all this money.’” Parents would rather steer their children towards a career of high pay yet students would rather major in a career they like. When parents demand something more than what their children could ask for. Parents should not pressure their children on education because students may feel unsupported and it can cause emotional damage. Also, students should be given freedom to choose their future career.
In Addition, students can fail their classes if they believe their class is hard due to the fact that they do not like their major. Some college students have trouble even with their choice of major now imagining a parental choice they will be struggling. In fact, Zinsser says that, “The pressure on students is severe. They are truly torn. One part of them feels obligated to fulfill their parents’ expectations.” In making this comment Zinsser is correct. it is true that students feel obligated to fulfill their parents’ expectations but they should fulfill their own since it is their life and they are the ones who are going to school whether or not their parents are paying for schooling. However, guidance cause a big impact because parents should not be making their choice for them they will be stuck and not know what to do further in their major so freedom of deciding a career is important. Therefore, parents should motivate and give advice instead of interfering in their children’s choice. Students should not feel pressured by their parents but other than only feel supported to what they desire to do in life.
College pressure, impact students due to finances that some do not have the money to spend on other needs but schooling and having to work much harder than a student who does not work. Fear of failure affects students because some tend to drop out and not continue to go because they are not achieving the grade they desire or simply because they think the classes they are taking are hard. Along the same line, fear of failure can be linked to parents because there can be times where they become unsupportive. College students then do not have the motivation to continue their schooling so imagining coming up to parental pressure. Parental pressure is not easy, especially when they are choosing your major and paying your schooling.
As Zinsser states, “It is not easy to persuade parents that the humanities do, indeed, pay off… still many parents would rather put their money on courses that point toward a specific profession.” So by making this comment, parents only go for a major with high pay and do not consider what their child wants to do. Going back to Zinsser’s essay he states, “There is no one ‘right’ way to get ahead- that each of them is a different person, starting from a different point and bound for a different destination.” Essentially, Zinsser recognizes that students do not always start off perfect and everyone is different and their timing will come. College is not meant to be easy. You’re supposed to be challenged, not just academically but in every way, you have the opportunity to grow as a person.
