Modern College, Week 6: More Reflection and Tentative Topics

This post is part of the Modern College book project, in which we will be publicly documenting our experience writing a book on college with the help of the community.

This past week, Alex and I continued the dialogue on how to best tackle issues that plague the modern college experience.

Notable for me was a conversation with a friend on financing her higher education and now, one year out of college, the inevitable of monthly student loan payments.

As I was introduced to the nitty gritty pieces of the puzzle (like semesterly qualification and the 6-month post-grad hold out) it became clear that the financial feasibility of college in the United States is THE biggest barrier for prospective college students. Coincidentally, it is also my biggest blind spot.

Despite achieving an athletic scholarship my second and third year of college, I never experienced woes related to financing my education. I pursued sports simply because I wanted to, not because it was a way to pay for school.

Speaking with my friend, a bouquet of far-removed realities began to bubble to the surface. I was never stressed about the process of applying for FAFSA. I was never dissuaded to attend a school based on tuition. And I was never compelled to pick up a part-time job in college, for any reason aside from my manager being very attractive (I regretfully admit, but hey, I was 19).

I’ve always known my reality was rare, but things hit differently when you hear of another person’s experience firsthand. At 17, my friend was secretly submitting applications for college entrance and student loans because, as the 5th child, her parents insisted they could only afford local community college. When I was 17, I was refusing to do laundry and getting in screaming battles with my parents over curfew.

All things considered, for me, this week represented the books of research on our horizon and my personal blindspots. Financing an education is a monstrous roadblock experienced by modern college students. In order to address it, we must first understand it.

Pivoting a bit, this week, Alex and I commiserated over wanting to push out catchy sh*t. We pinpointed the caveat to composing reflective blog posts about our week: the absence of satisfaction that accompanies evergreen content.

Feeling a little antsy, we comprised a list of tentative topics to include in our book. This list is an absolute work in progress, but we decided to share version 1 in order to gain feedback into what topics might be most intriguing or impactful.

Before College:

• Deciding to go to college or not
• Alternatives to college
• College applications
• Selecting a college
• Applying for scholarships
• Moving on from high school

Early College:

• Picking a major
• Selecting dorm/apartment & roommates
• Scheduling/picking classes
• Getting involved in clubs/extracurriculars

Late College:

• Landing internships
• Landing full-time jobs
• Going to career fairs

Immediately Post-Grad:

• Moving off campus
• Getting started with personal finances (taxes, investments)
• Paying off student debt

General Topics:

• Deciding on a career/life path
• Picking a major & pivoting majors
• Maintaining a balance
• Capitalizing off opportunities while college
• Landing internships
• Getting started with personal finances (taxes, investments)
• Paying for college & student debt
• Alcohol and drugs in college
• Getting involved in the community
• Mental health in college
• Physical health in college
• Tools for Studying: Chegg, Github, WayBack Machine, Reddit, Quora
• The job search
• Alternative academic options
• The history of college

Macro Changes in Society:

• The dawn of the internet
• Infiltration of cell phones
• Youtube & other educational channels
• Online courses
• Our economy: more automation, higher population, more global
• Financial structure: high cost, high interest rates, high student debt
• Employment not as guaranteed after attending college
• Shift from industrial age to digital age
• Culture: you are more accountable for what you say and do
• Average age of people (life expectancy) & age of retirement is higher
• Benefits: social security drying up, healthcare expensive, etc.
• More connected over distances: can talk, travel and connect over distances that previously would have been unrealistic

Alex-specific:

• Choosing a major first day at SOAR
• Getting denied to College of Engineering (~3 times)
• First internship at Rockbestos
• Switching majors halfway through college
• Internships at Dell — making $ and using it at school
• Being in a relationship for 2 years of school
• Transcend — Projects/Startup companies (Winning $24K through competitions)
• Landing full-time offers before graduation

Kasey-specific:

• Division I athletics, the give and take
• Moving across the country & culture shock
• Switching majors four times
• Transferring universities twice
• Toxic relationships
• Alternative option of global campus — the good, the bad and the ugly
• Traveling the world for a year while maintaining a full academic load
• Landing a job out of college with little professional experience

We’re pumped to continue brainstorming topics and would love to get in touch with anyone open to sharing their thoughts. We know everyone’s college experience is unique, so the more feedback, the better!

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