Why is College so Stressful?

College, the place where more than 20 million students in the United States attend to earn a degree in a field of interest. As many students go to college with a quest to find a field that interests them and network with people outside their everyday friends on the block, most find a niche. Though it may take some extra time if you changed your major late in the process and are required to take a few extra classes, but hopefully at least you may pursue a career in something you are interested in.

College students are stressed more than ever. Regardless if you go to a community college or a university, young or older, or work while in school or not, YOU’RE STRESSED. We question ourselves. Am I taking too many classes? Should I work while I’m in school? Am I not studying enough?…
All questions I have asked myself in a journey to feel less stressed. But maybe that is what college is supposed to feel like, many may say, but I don’t think so.

Factors of Stress: 
• Load of school work
• Time (In more ways but one)
• Money
• Grades
• Etc.. The list may as well go on for a mile.

Work load: There is 168 hours in a week and hopefully we spend at least 56 of those hours sleeping, giving us an average of 8 hours of sleep per night. The average student takes about 15 credit hours (5 classes) and should be in class for about 15 hours per week + about 3 hours of study time should be scheduled per hour in class per week adding up to 45 hours per week just for studying. Like the other 80% of college students I also work part-time 15 hours per week. Leaving us just 37 hours in the entire week to do things like hang out, do laundry, go to the gym, have dinner, and everything else that isn’t studying. That’s not enough time at all! After all of this, we reflect on our self and ask “what are we doing wrong?” and “why are we stressed?” But it’s not us. It’s the system that is wrong and it causing more mental issues in more students than ever. Not saying the work is too challenging but there news to be a way where we can learn as much as we can with less time consumption. This system needs to improve one way or another before the problem progresses even more, like it has been for years.

Money: As I said earlier, most college students work. Well here is most likely the reason beside needing some spending money. Tuition prices have rose 72% in the past decade and text book prices rising more than three times faster. Well someone needs to pay for all of this. For many, this is where student loans come in. Another system that needs changing. The United States current student loan debt at $1.2 trillion and an average $33,000 per student. Plus, with the unemployment rate rising as well. Something isn’t working out here.

Grades: I will leave this as the last topic to talk about. Though this may not be a large problem for to many people, it surely a cause of stress. That is students trying to maintain current grades, earns higher grades, and deal with the bad ones they currently have all at once. But sure enough, another major issue I believe is a problem in college is the grading scale (grading scale listed below)and how assignments are weighed in your grade. I am not saying we need to change it dramatically, but in such way to accommodate students where one bad test won’t drop your grade to a D and have you stressed for the rest of the semester.

Back in the day, you always see movies about students having in college and having a good time hanging out. But now time has changed. There are still parties but you attend one and before you know it 10 hours later you have a biology mid-term you need to dedicate the rest of your life to. There are some long term changes that need to be made in our current educational college system and they need to happen fast to prevent further issues. Most importantly stress in students and mental health. Luckily more and more school are adding mental health centers and programs to help student cope with their current situations.

Grading scale (US):
90–100% = A
 80–89% = B
 70–79% = C
 60–69% = D
 0–59% = F

Grading Scale just about everywhere else in world (Average):
85–100% = A
70–84% = B
55–69% = C
40–54% = D
0–39% = F

Stay tuned for more.
- Alex Krueger

TL;DR

The way the current college system works needs many changes. The current work load and time necessary to be a student is challenging. College is getting more expensive and the unemployment rate is rising. I believe our national grading scale needs some changes, not in such way where everyone passes, but where at least everyone has a surviving chance.

If you are a college student feeling stressed. This link may help. http://www.bestcolleges.com/resources/top-5-mental-health-problems-facing-college-students/