Introduction

College presents students with a new and exciting opportunity, but it can be overwhelming at times. The years that students spend in college can be educational and enjoyable at the same time. However, there are instances when the students will experience various forms of stress. The learning and growing opportunities presented by the college environment may result in unhealthy stress levels that tend to hinder the students’ ability to achieve academic goals and to have a favorable social life. The causes of stress among college students are quite a number. The stress is usually triggered by stimuli that are either internal or external. Either way, the effects on the students seem to be severe based on its level and importance of the causing factor (Ratanasiripong et al., 2012). Changing college lifestyles have played a huge role in this establishment. It is usually important to recognize the sources of stress among college students. This helps in preventing it from becoming debilitating or unmanageable.

Thesis Statement

There are various factors that cause stress among college students; finances and relationships can be considered among the leading causes.

Body

The major cause of stress among students is finance. Many college students tend to experience financial stress on various occasions while in school. Truth be told, college is expensive. The expenses involved are quite extensive. There is the need to buy books, pay tuition, boarding expenses, commuting expenses among others. Financial stress seems to be more acute on freshmen students. They are faced with real shock since this might be the first time they are involved with money management duties while leaving away from home (Ayres & Bristow, 2009). Even the other students encounter major financial stress regardless of the money management skills that they have gathered along the way. The expenses are becoming more expensive, so the little they have is not enough despite the efforts that they put in. Some students are lucky since they enjoy the financial support of their parents while others qualify for sufficient financial aid that helps cover immediate college costs. There are others who work while studying in order to make ends meet. The types of opportunities that are usually available for college students tend to have poor remuneration. There is always a struggle in trying to balance the low-paying job with other significant obligations (Ayres & Bristow, 2009). Students that receive financial aid also face the stress of knowing that they will have to repay a huge amount of money upon graduation.

Another leading cause of stress among college students is relationships. This encompasses all forms of relationships that involve the students. That is; friendships, families and intimate relationships. There are students that come from families that are not stable in many ways. The nature of the relationship among the family members is usually negative resulting in constant fights and arguments. This aspect is likely to cause stress among college students since they are always wondering of the most favorable way to make things better. This is combined with the friendships that the students have within the school environment. That argument with the best friend or roommate usually piles pressure.  This amounts to stress since they are the people within their social circle. When it comes to intimate relationships, this is where more stress is derived. College presents most students with the opportunity of experimenting relationships with the opposite sex. Stress is more prevalent among the students venturing into this form of relationship for the first time. Lack of experience brings a lot of insecurities that are likely to increase the stress levels (Staley, 2012). Students that have had their fair level of intimate relationships also encounter stress regardless of the experience. This is because most of the relationships are unhealthy or threatened by other external sources of stress. This is expected because teenagers and young adults are in the process of developing emotionally hence maintaining relationships can be a huge task.

These causes of stress come along with various economic effects. To begin with, finance as a major cause of stress makes students to be involved with a lot of budgeting in order to cater for all the relevant expenses. This means that there is never sufficient amount of money for any given activity that the student indulges in. There is always a deficit, which is the cause of the stress. Another economic effect is that students are forced to indulge in employment when they are not ready psychologically. There is the need to be involved in an income generating activity so as to fill the financial gaps involved. This may sound like a bad thing, but it is generally a good thing from an economic perspective. It gives the students a foundation on which they can build their economic life. The knowledge and experience that will be gathered here will go a long way in ensuring that they enjoy a prosperous economic life once they are out of college (Ratanasiripong et al., 2012).

When it comes to relationships, the economic effects seem to be more negative. Students tend to spend more for the sake of their relationships. Some relationships can be costly more so if they are one sided. This is because the individual that is fully committed will tend to spend more in doing exciting activities so as to impress the partner. This will have an effect on the person’s economic life because there are deficits being created. A student’s finances are already limited, and now they are being used in unprecedented activities. At some point, the student might find themselves in an economic turmoil. Another economic effect is that students tend to spend most of their time worrying about the relationships or making them work. While in the relationships, people tend to spend a lot of time together and somehow neglect some important duties. Some of this time should be used in some income generating activity. This would help improve the student’s economic life (Staley, 2012). This is to say that the aspect of being in a relationship affects the student’s economic life negatively.

Stress has various effects on students. Among the effects is that it makes students to become disorganized in one way or another. Their brains are not functioning at the optimal level hence most of what they are required to do will not be in order. It reaches a point where even the important things do not seem to matter. They are absorbed in their miseries to a point where they even stop living their lives. The students are disoriented in the sense that even time management becomes a problem. They end up not meeting deadlines, something that makes their college life even more difficult.

Another effect that stress has on students is that it results in poor performance. The moment a student is stressed, most the energy is spent contemplating on the issues causing the stress. This means that concentration levels in class are usually low. Grasping whatever is being taught becomes a problem. This will result to the student failing most of the exams (Staley, 2012). Some students might be active and well organized and prepared for classes hence gain the desired knowledge. However, in case they get stressed during the exam period, they are likely to register poor grades too. This is regardless of how focused they were before.

Conclusion

Stress is very prevalent among college students. The factors causing stress can either be internal or external. College life seems to be exciting, but can be overwhelming at times. Finances tend to be the major cause of stress for college students. This is because almost everything that is being done at school requires money in one way or another. Every student is under pressure to make ends meet with the little that is available. Relationships also contribute significantly to stress being experienced by students. In college, students take the opportunity to experience different forms of relationships that do not seem to work all the time. This becomes a stressor to a point where it deviates concentration from the things that matter. Both factors have negative effects on the student’s economic life. Financial stress creates the need to search for more money while relationships consume someone’s time and money. Most of this time involved with relationships would be used to indulge in some income generating activities. Stress among college students is also likely to result in disorganization and poor performance. This is because the mind is preoccupied with the insecurities resulting to stress.

References

Ayres, B., & Bristow, M. (2009). Anxiety in college students. New York: Nova Biomedical Books..

Ratanasiripong, P., Sverduk, K., Prince, J., & Hayashino, D. (2012). Biofeedback and counseling for stress and anxiety among college students. Journal of College Student Development, 53(5), 742-749.

Staley, C. (2012). Focus on college success. Boston: Cengage Learning

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