-Christopher Catbagan (Unsplash) Depressed Student

Chloe Richey  

April 16, 2022 

English Composition 1152  

Professor Weaver  

Academic Pressure affecting College Students Mental Health 

Introduction: 

The history of academic pressure started in the 17th century when grading systems were developed. As the schools started to develop more, requirements to be successful in life like having A’s started to pressure the students. Effects from academic pressure started to be visible in college scholars. Some adults started to pay close attention to their students and decided to make different options to reach out to the students like creating videos. Relating to Dr. Chew’s video, “I Blew the Exam, Now What?” (Dr. Chews) he distinguishes do’s and don’ts to help students whose mental health is in the state of giving up and not wanting to continue. The importance of understanding academics affecting higher ed students is that the grading system is the “quiet” cause of academic pressure, pressure from grades influences the daily life of college students, and the social support helps decrease academic stress from hurting scholars’ mental state of mind.  

Discussion:  

Grades themselves are not the main cause of the bad mental health of college students, grading systems are the main factor discouraging college students today. A grading system is the evaluation of a student’s performance on daily activities or exams. The first-ever college grading system was invented in 1785 by Yale University. During the 1780s, grades were not viewed as competition and a fair system for other students, but later in the years that all changed. When letter grades A-F were introduced in the 1940s, women, and men were competing to meet the “perfect” spot leading students to have academic pressure. According to J Randall, & Engelhard, “Taking the Stress out of Grading”, he states “Over half of our grading scale is an F, and if we assume a C grade signifies minimum attainment of course standards, then over two-thirds of our grading scale describes the insufficient performance, and only one-fifth of the scale describes academic success (A or B)” (Randall and Engelhard, 2). The indication of his article, there is so much weight on a letter grade of F and the view of a C being the bare minimum, it causes students to feel more challenged to not receive anything below A and B. This unbalance weight of the grading system would cause a higher chance of students failing more than passing.  

An example Randall and Engelhard used was “A single missed assignment caused a 22 percent decrease and a two-grade-level drop”, (Randall and Engelhard, 2). If a student started to have a grade of 95, which is an A and misses one assignment it would now cause them to have a C. This imbalance puts more pressure on students and makes it harder for that type of student to go back to an A. The message from this has students’ mental health is a part of anxiety and “seek security with learning as the casualty,” stated Mark Espinola’s article “History of College Grading System,” (Espinola, 1). Because of being cautious of the grading system, college students who continue to work in their major start to look for teachers who do not give a hard A. According to Espinola “History of College Grading System,” he states “Ideally, students searching through Rate My Professor would be looking for signals of good teaching, but many of the student comments focus on the course grading scale.” (Espinola, 1). This means that higher ed scholars focus more on the easiness of the grading scale in the next class they take. College scholars’ mental health starts to develop in way of finding an easier way out and develop persistent changes in mental health and life.  

College students’ mental health has its response to academics. One of them is ending their own life, which is suicide. In the article “Grades Are at the Center of the Student Mental Health Crisis” the author Joshua Eyler, states “Rates of anxiety, depression and even suicidal ideation have spiked dramatically, and academic stress tied to grades is a leading cause of this escalation” (Eyler, 1). He suggests that stress from grades is the cause of bad mental health effects like suicide and depression. Academic stress does not only influence students’ mental health but also forces universities and college staff to be more involved in their student life. Campus leaders from Worcester Polytechnic Institute guided students who were in need. Academic stress on students also impacted WPI to introduce programs that helped students to give their own teachers advice on revising their grading scale.  

Additionally, some frequent situations that have occurred with students who experience soaring academic stress that links to depression are “procrastination, falling behind in classes and withdrawing socially” as stated by Hayley Kraft “Mental Health and Academic Success in College” (Kraft, 1). Kraft indicates that academic stress can create different consequences for a college scholar. With the non-treatment of anxiety, college students could find it hard to focus on test-taking and remembering important things. This could lead to poor grades in school. Because of academic stress, college scholars’ crisis of mental health has increased drastically.  

College students need the availability of programs for coping with academic stress around them and people need to listen to them. With this, adults could help them feel that grades do not define who they are as a person. In the article “Coping with Academic Stress: Ambiguity and uncertainty tolerance in college students” Journal of American College Health, Urvi Paralkar and Douglas Knutson suggests that “One explanation for this positive relationship could be that when people experience negative emotions, they are more likely to seek out for social support to deal with the discomfort”, (Paralkar and Knutson, 1). Paralkar and Knutson indicate that college students who experience heavy academic stress would need help from social support. An example would be a student who failed a test would probably feel like giving up, but in their mind, they try to seek out help. Social support comes with having friends or family to talk to or even looking up videos to help you move on from it like Dr. Chew’s videos.  

Dr. Stephen L. Chew is a professor in psychology that creates videos that help scholars who are feeling the pressure from academic stress to assist students not to give up. One video he created was “How to Get the Most Out of Studying: Part 5 of 5, I Blew the Exam, Now What?”, and Dr. Chew goes on to deep details about students that failed an exam and steps to move on from there. He connects academic stress formally tests stress to college scholars on what not to do and what to do. This could be a type of social support that students may need or watch to help them feel that it’s ok to experience failure.  

In addition, in the article, “Resilience amid Academic Stress: The Moderating Impact of Social Support among Social Work Students”, Advance In Social Work (2008),  Hubbard, P., Muhlenkamp, A. F., & Brown, N and Martinelli suggest that “Student perceptions of social support have also been positively associated with health-promoting behaviors such as exercise, good nutrition, and avoidance of substance abuse”  (Hubbard and Brown, 109) indicating with social support from communities or even families have brought positive reactions to academic stress from college scholars. Some of those reactions are being able to handle stress, staying away from substance abuse, and having more self-esteem within the college scholars. Social support has a positive relationship with students’ mental health and that’s why the community should listen to help their mental health.  

Conclusions  

In conclusion, college scholars’ mental health is in a negative relationship with academic stress, mainly grades. Grades seem to have a toll on students that cause them to make them feel that anything less than an A is a failure or not good enough. The imbalanced grading system is the main reason for grades dictating students’ minds. The scholars have different ways of responding to the discouraging grades they receive leading to their deaths. There are ways we, the community, can stop letting this happen, which is having social support available. Some ways to be part of social support are help volunteering or being part of a fitness group College scholars’ mental health and academic stress need to be addressed and stopped. 

Citations  

Chew, Stephen L. “How to Get the Most out of Studying: Part 5 of 5 … – Youtube.” Youtube, Sanford University, 16 Aug. 2011, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-QVRiMkdRsU. 

Randall, J., & Engelhard, G. (2010). Examining the grading practices of teachers. Teaching and Teacher Education, 26(7), 1372–1380. https://www.ascd.org/el/articles/taking-the-stress-out-of-grading 

Espinola, Mark. “History of the College Grading Scale.” GradeHub, 19 June 2018, https://gradehub.com/blog/college-grading-scale/. 

Eyler, Joshua. “Grades Are at the Center of the Student Mental Health Crisis: Inside Higher Ed.” Just Visiting, 7 Mar. 2022, http://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/just-visiting/grades-are-center-student-mental-health-crisis. 

Kraft, Hayley. “Mental Health and Academic Success in College.” BetterYou, www.betteryou.ai/mental-health-and-academic-success-in-college/. 

Paralkar U, Knutson D. Coping with academic stress: Ambiguity and uncertainty tolerance in college students. J Am Coll Health. 2021 Sep 8:1-9. doi: 10.1080/07448481.2021.1965148. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 34494940.https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/07448481.2021.1965148 

Hubbard, P., Muhlenkamp, A. F., & Brown, N. (1984). The relationship between social support and self-care practices. Nursing Research, 33, 266-270. https://journals.iupui.edu/index.php/advancesinsocialwork/article/view/51/195 

Martinelli, A. M. (1999). An explanatory model of variables influencing health promotion behaviors in smoking and nonsmoking college students. Public Health Nursing, 16(4), 263-269. https://journals.iupui.edu/index.php/advanc

Keith Slettedahl 

Professor Weaver 

English 1102-322 

25 April 2022 

Early on in her higher ed teaching career, Jessamyn Neuhaus – author and professor of Pop Culture and Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) at SUNY Plattsburgh – was faced with an unsettling pedagogical realization: sheer love of a subject did not make of her an effective teacher. As a self-proclaimed “introverted geek,” Neuhaus found that the foundational principles of effective pedagogy, namely the ability to communicate and connect with her students, did not come naturally to her. However, in discovering that her seeming personal deficiencies could be used as pedagogical strengths, Neuhaus has developed a unique teaching and learning philosophy deeply rooted in authenticity, self-reflection, and compassion, and is a distinctive and much-needed voice for both students and teachers in higher learning today. 

In her 2019 article, “My Big Teaching Mistake: Losing Sight of Pedagogical Success,” Jessamyn Neuhaus asserts, “the classroom is a social space and effective teaching requires positive interactions” (103), and studies performed on how students learn support this assertion. James M. Lang – author, professor of English, and Director of the D’Amour Center for Teaching Excellence at Assumption College – in his 2021 book, Small Teaching, states: “Connections to the human beings around them [students] are just as important as the connections that we [teachers] foster for them in the cognitive realm” (159). For Neuhaus and other introverted scholars like her, establishing positive connections with students is much easier said than done, and it was out of this realization that much of Neuhaus’s pedagogical philosophy was born.   

One of Neuhaus’s cornerstone principles of effective pedagogy is the need for authenticity as a teacher. This contention is supported by the director of the Think Forward Quality Enhancement Plan at the University of Mississippi, Joshua R. Eyler. In his 2018 book, How Humans Learn, Eyler acknowledges that authenticity is key in implementing any pedagogical strategy and asserts that educators “need to find a strategy that meshes with our personalities in order for these benefits to be fully realized” (129). Understanding the impossibility of becoming an idealized version of the “perfect teacher” (what she refers to as the “Super Teacher” myth), Neuhaus had no choice but to “be herself,” and eventually found that her apparent personality limitations could be used as pedagogical positives (Neuhaus “Four Ways”).  

For one, Neuhaus believes that learning how to become a more effective teacher is an intellectual endeavor, therefore, perfectly suited to “egg head” scholars who love to “problematize, hypothesize, research, and reflect” (Neuhaus, “Geeky Pedagogy” 12). In addition, Neuhaus maintains that a professor’s authentic, “geeky” enthusiasm for a subject is, far from being a negative trait, an absolute essential component in effectively presenting material to students, and thus, must be celebrated rather than repressed (“Geeky Pedagogy” 12). In How Humans Learn, Eyler concurs: “enthusiasm is one of the most underestimated teaching tools at our disposal” (128). Through embracing her authentic self, Neuhaus finds that she feels more confident in implementing connection engendering strategies such as making eye-contact with students, engaging in small talk before class, and asking questions that don’t pertain to classwork, all of which build personal rapport and approachability- two key components of effective teaching (“My Big” 103).  

Another foundational pedagogical strategy of Neuhaus’s is the practice of self-reflection and introspection. Educator and researcher Dr. Harriet Schwartz, in her 2019 book Connected Teaching: Relationship, Power, and Mattering in Higher Education, proposes “that knowing ourselves is as important as understanding the content of our disciplines” (xiii). Because Neuhaus asserts that “learning is not a static process” and effective pedagogy is an exercise in “learning and re-learning,” she believes a continued practice of self-reflection is essential in maintaining authenticity and measuring the state of one’s pedagogical efficacy within shifting teaching contexts (“My Big” 100).  

One of Neuhaus’s reflective practice strategies is making sure to not just focus on her pedagogical mistakes, but to also acknowledge what she is doing well. She contends that because many educators (scholars who are highly trained at critique) are better at finding problems than seeing positives, intentionally recognizing pedagogical “victories” is a crucial component in maintaining happiness and confidence in the classroom (“My Big” 101). Another reflective method that Neuhaus promotes is the practice of consistent engagement with an energetic community of one’s peers (“Four Ways”). Neuhaus believes that connecting with other academics is essential to recognizing one’s own strengths and weaknesses and emphasizes the importance of educators honestly sharing their pedagogical failures with one another, thus creating a welcoming peer environment where teachers can make mistakes, get feedback, and receive support for improvement (Neuhaus “Super Teacher”). In addition, Neuhaus views the cultivation of gratitude (“an inner attitude that leads to an expression of thanks”) as a vital part of an educator’s reflective practice (“Geeky Pedagogy” 114). Citing psychological and educational studies that demonstrate its positive impact on one’s quality of life, Neuhaus views the incorporation of gratitude into a reflective pedagogy as an indispensable component for improving teaching efficacy and student learning, while “decreasing student related stress and burnout” (“Geeky Pedagogy” 114). 

One more pedagogical theme that underlies all Neuhaus’s writings is the need for greater compassion in higher learning, both for students and fellow teachers. A phrase Neuhaus consistently urges educators and students to remember is: “learning is hard” (“Geeky Pedagogy” 28). Thus, she stresses the importance of treating each other with respect and kindness while empathetically considering the varying challenges that students and teachers might be facing. (“Geeky Pedagogy” 27). 

In How Humans Learn, Joshua R. Eyler states, “the single most important strategy we can use to help our students to succeed in our courses is to care about them as learners and as human beings” (129). For Neuhaus, this means that educators must first make the effort to “know who their students are,” thereby acknowledging that students are dynamic human beings with varying degrees of academic experience, motivation, and ways of learning (“Geeky Pedagogy” 35). Because of this, Neuhaus contends that there is no such thing as a “one-size-fits-all” approach to teaching, and she encourages teachers to maintain an evolving pedagogy to meet changing student needs (“Nerds Assemble”). Moreover, Neuhaus acknowledges that even though students have disparate personal histories, all students in higher ed “are under tremendous pressure,” financial or otherwise (“Geeky Pedagogy” 36), and the compassionate consideration of this fact on the part of educators is essential in conveying to students that they are cared for, which Neuhaus contends is “the most necessary component of a teacher’s pedagogy” (“Nerds Assemble”). 

In addition to the pedagogical care she extends to students, Neuhaus provides a much-needed voice of compassion for her fellow teachers, particularly those historically underrepresented in higher education. Dr. Harriet Schwartz, in her 2019 book, Connected Teaching: Relationship, Power, and Mattering in Higher Education, states: “faculty who hold marginalized identities may not be granted the legitimate power of their positions” (91). Because she realizes that these “disparate teaching realities” have an enormous impact on a teacher’s efficacy, Neuhaus repeatedly addresses these systemic inequities based on gender, race, disability, or tenure that still exist in higher ed, and in her article, “Four Ways to Fight the Super Teacher Myth,” she asserts that “pursuing justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion should be on the top of everyone’s teaching to do list” (website). 

What makes Jessamyn Neuhaus an important figure in higher education can be summed up in two words: she cares. She cares about student learning. She cares about the challenges that teachers face. She cares enough to be authentic and vulnerable in order to teach more effectively, and thus inspires her academic peers to do the same. In a scholarly community full of “experts,” Neuhaus provides a shot of much-needed humility by continually reminding her peers that “teachers will always be students,” and that effective pedagogy begins with the principles of care and connection. But even more impressive is the fact that her work is not just applicable across pedagogical disciplines, but also speaks to universal truths about the challenges of what it means to be human. Because wherever one finds his or herself, in higher ed or elsewhere, it’s important to remember: “learning is hard.” 

To Learn more about Jessamyn Neuhaus, follow her on Twitter: @GeekyPedagogy 

Or visit her website: https://geekypedagogy.com 

Works Cited 

• Eyler, Joshua R. How Humans Learn: The Science and Stories Behind Effective College Teaching.    WVU Press, 2018.
• Lang, James M. Small Teaching: Everyday Lessons from the Science of Learning. Hoboken, NJ: Jossey-Bass, a Wiley imprint, 2021.
• Neuhaus, Jessamyn. “Four Ways to Fight the Super Teacher Myth.” Website.https://onehe.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/OneHE_-Jessamyn-Neuhaus_transcript.pdf
• Neuhaus, Jessamyn. Geeky Pedagogy: A Guide for Intellectuals, Introverts, and Nerd Who Want to be Effective Teachers. West Virginia Press, 2019.
• Neuhaus, Jessamyn. “My Big Teaching Mistake: Losing Sight of Pedagogical Success.” Transformations: The Journal of Inclusive Scholarship and Pedagogy, 2019, Vol. 29  Issue 1, p99-105
• Neuhaus, Jessamyn. “Nerds Assemble Presentation.” YouTube, uploaded by Jessamyn Neuhaus, 31 May 2020. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TDZP3CMpdaU
• Neuhaus, Jessamyn. “Talk Amongst Yourselves: A SoTL Manifesto.” The Common Good: A SUNY Plattsburgh Journal on Teaching and Learning. Vol 3. 2015. https://dspace.sunyconnect.suny.edu/handle/1951/69775

PrzybylskiMajorProject4

Displayed via PowerPoint. Illustrating the topic with pictures.

Name: The Thuy Trang Nguyen

Professor: Rebecca Weaver

Course: ENGL1102

Date: 4/21/2022

INTRODUCTION

The dream of college is more often than not too big for the low-income population due to the overall cost of college. However, as in society, higher education increases the chances for success by allowing one access to better job opportunities; the middle and low-income population strive to go to college and to afford it acquire loans, scholarships, and taking up part or full-time jobs to ensure they can raise enough for their upkeep and college fees. The financial toll that college takes on individuals has stirred up the discussion on the need to make college education accessible or reduce college fees to be affordable to low and middle-income individuals.

DISCUSSION

A free college education would reduce college’s financial toll on students and their families. Students’ financial lives are characterized by acquiring student loans while in college, which raises whether college is worth the effort. As highlighted by Jeff Grabeier, “When asked how they paid for their tuition, students were most likely to say either loans or scholarships and grants” (Grabeier). The government should address the difficulty people face paying for college and ensure that the opportunity for college is accessible for everyone despite their income and social class. Thanks to social stratification, the rich have more access to the most exemplary education programs. In contrast, the poor can only access the bare minimum, thus ensuring that the rich remain rich by acquiring the best jobs after the best education. In contrast, the poor maintain a cycle of missing opportunities for the cost. Making college accessible would provide a sense of equality as all one would need to acquire a college education is the academic achievement that qualifies them for college and will. This would ease the financial stress on students, that is Grabeier highlights in the statement, “Financial problems lead some students to make difficult choices, the survey found. Nearly three out of 10 students said they reduced their class load because of the money they owed, while 16 percent took a break from their college or university and 13 percent transferred to another institution” (Grabeier). Sara Goldrick mentions that the economics of college display a rise in college tuition, which is contrary to what society needs, as college tuition was already too expensive for the majority of the population. She highlights that one in ten students endure homelessness during college. A free college education would solve many of these problems students face as the little money they can raise would be directed to their upkeep and personal needs that would ensure the students can acquire a college education without the financial stress.

A free college education would ensure that young people can attain their dreams despite their socioeconomic backgrounds. Dreams are shattered too by the inability of young people to afford college tuition. To build a society that can motivate young people to be ambitious and chase their dreams, the government should ensure that college education is free. This is not to mean that free college would solve every financial problem students face, as small expenses such as housing and food can threaten students’ college careers. Financial stress presents itself in worry about general personal finances, catering for monthly payments, and debts from student loans and credit cards (Lim et al.)

Karen Weese highlights that “To a middle-income kid from a neighborhood with two cars in every garage, it may be incomprehensible that something costing less than a few burritos at Chipotle could derail a person’s college education. But for many young people across the country — growing up in homes where there’s little left after paying rent and utilities — the challenge is painfully familiar” The number one reason that low-income students drop out is financial. And often it’s a little thing, that a middle- or higher-income family wouldn’t even think twice about.” (Weese). These facts depict that raising the college tuition is a meager first step in attaining a college education as the other expenses are not as affordable for the low-income students. This is especially noted by Chris Metzler, who identifies that “A lot of people think if you give a kid a scholarship, now the kid’s set, they’ve got everything they need,” (Weese), which is an erroneous assumption as students require more than just paid tuition fee to survive in college.

Listening to the stories of low-income college students, one gathers that financial anxiety is predominant among them. With the tuition rates rising faster than inflation, financial stress and anxiety are not new to students. The money that low-income students save up to use while in college is rarely enough, and they end up depleting the capital before the semester’s completion. As students cannot increase their income or reduce expenses, they end up acquiring debt here and there. Financial anxiety causes the development of poor mental health in students and poor physical health as the amount of pressure they put on their bodies juggling academic work. Their part-time jobs take a toll on the students’ health. “schools cannot simply showcase smiling black and brown faces in their glossy brochures and students wearing shirts blaring “First Gen and Proud” in curated videos and then abdicate responsibility for the problems from home that a more diverse class may bring with them to campus. Does this entail going beyond providing tuition, room, and board? Yes. It requires colleges and universities to question what they take for granted, their students, and the institutions themselves.” (Jack) Schools should understand that when an individual comes from a low-income background, financial aid is not enough for them to succeed. This is especially highlighted by Anthony Jack in his description of his college struggles, like in the statement, “During one rough patch, I stayed home from school for a few days when we couldn’t afford all the supplies needed to carry out my science-fair experiment on bulb voltage and battery life. I developed my hypotheses, outlined my proposed methods without the materials, and had everything ready to go when we could afford the supplies” (Jack). Low-income college students should be provided with adequate access to all resources essential to their academic achievement. The primary factors such as housing and food are catered for as affording this is quite cumbersome for them to do independently.

Ultimately, a free college education would partially solve the problem of high college funds, as students would still have so much more to pay to ensure their smooth learning.  

Work Cited

Abraham Jack, Anthony. “I Was A Low-Income College Student. Classes Weren’T The Hard Part.”. The New York Times, 2019, I Was a Low-Income College Student. Classes Weren’t the Hard Part. – The New York Times (nytimes.com) .  Accessed 29 Mar. 2022.

Goldrick-Rab, Sara, “College is creating poverty” uploaded by TED, May 2019, https://www.ted.com/talks/sara_goldrick_rab_college_is_creating_poverty . Accessed 17 April 2022.

Grabeier, Jeff. “70 Percent Of College Students Stressed About Finances”. 70 Percent Of College Students Stressed About Finances, 2022, https://news.osu.edu/70-percent-of-college-students-stressed-about-finances/. Accessed 29 Mar. 2022.

Lim, HanNa et al. “Financial Stress, Self-Efficacy, And Financial Help-Seeking Behavior Of College Students”. Journal Of Financial Counseling And Planning, vol 25, no. 2, 2014, pp. 148-160., Accessed 29 Mar. 2022.

Weese, Karen. “When A Sudden, Small Expense Threatens An Entire College Career”. The Washington Post, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2022/01/30/college-poverty-expense-cost-dropout/ . Accessed 29 Mar. 2022.

Podcast Link

Laila A. Thurman

Professor Weaver

English 1102

21 April 2022

The Impact On-Campus and Off-Campus Living Arrangements Have on Student Success

When students are accepted into the college of their dreams and are preparing to confirm their acceptance, there’s a certain process they go through. They cancel their other applications, call their parents to celebrate, check their financial aid package and begin to excitedly complete their next steps process.

Eventually, they’ll get to a screen that asks a simple, straightforward question, “Will you be living on campus; select yes or no.”

It’s an easy question to answer for some. But, for others, a bit more thought must be put into it before they can decide.

Some common questions run through their mind, such as:

How do the dorms look? Are they modern enough?

If they live off-campus, will their home be a reasonable distance away?

If they live on campus, will RAs be as big of an issue as they’re made out to be?

So many questions, so many outcomes, all hinging on one ‘yes or no’ question.

For being such an important consideration for college students, housing is rarely thought about outside of the aesthetics of Greek Life or the dread of a communal bathroom. But why is that? How can something so important be handled with such a blasé attitude? Don’t students know just how deeply housing can affect their college experience? How deeply it can affect their success?

The answer is they don’t.

At least, they don’t have a deep level of understanding. Most students will choose their housing option based on surface-level information. They don’t consider how the environment they live in will affect the environment school will become.

Currently, there are plenty of housing offices that help on-campus (i.e., residential) students make the best of their college experience.

Here are some examples of this:

They’re provided with Residential Assistants, also known as RAs, whose jobs are to optimize their living experience. Solving issues that pop up between roommates and checking the living spaces of students to make sure they’re being responsible and staying safe.

They’re also placed in prime locations that are near school amenities and services such as dining halls, school buildings, faculty offices, and recreation centers.

Residential students are cared for in a way off-campus (i.e., commuter) students have not seen since the 1970s.

After the 1913 Gott v. Berea College case. Which opened the door for colleges to stand in loco parentis” or in the place of a parent.  Colleges experienced a shift in responsibility. They were given the power to involve themselves with student welfare outside of the classroom, and as this responsibility evolved, most colleges became institutions that strived to literally “be a better parent.”

Off-campus housing offices were created, and housing staff worked with students, city and state officials, and locals to find the best places for off-campus students to live. According to Kate Rousmaniere, author of the article, “What Happened to Your College Town: The Changing Relationship Between Higher Education and College Towns,” the goal of these offices was to “designate and maintain appropriate housing lists which would indicate to students that the listed property had passed health and safety inspections and university provisions.”

This level of care and involvement from universities in the goings-on of commuter students has not been seen in the decades since off-campus housing offices lost power. Currently, on-campus housing has become the most popular living arrangement, and in the eyes of students and universities alike, on-campus living is the only way to receive a fulfilling college education.

America has become enamored with the idea of the dorm.

America has become bewitched by the thought of Greek Living.

America has become addicted to the idea that the only way for students to take advantage of their education is for them to live on-campus.

Students who live off-campus are often accused of being less serious about their studies and less willing to pursue higher education. They are also seen as less valuable members of their college communities, and oftentimes, they face ridicule from the very institutions that make their college experience as unengaging as it is.

While it is true that most of the issues that arise with students who live off-campus result in lower grades, less engagement with their universities, less dedication to their classes, and lower retention rates, these results are not solely the fault of commuter students. The lack of attention being placed on off-campus housing has damaged the way these students receive their education.

College is not just about going to classes and getting a passing grade, though that is a major part of it, college is about the experience it can give to students. Study abroad programs, movie nights, concerts, playing bingo, all of these different socialization opportunities are very important ways colleges help their students succeed.

After all, when a feeling of community is present, students are more likely to remain at a university to pursue higher education.

To really understand the role housing has on students’ college success, we must begin by focusing on ‘good housing, ‘i.e., On-campus living arrangements.

At most universities, living on-campus looks a little something like this.

Let’s assume that our hypothetical student is taking the standard 12 credit hours per semester.

Two classes each day, one in the morning and one in the afternoon.

Between classes, they give themself several hours to return to their dorm and relax while completing homework. If they run into an issue, it’s no problem. They can just drop by the tutoring center or ask a classmate who happens to live down the hall.

Once they complete their work, they could nap or go to the recreation center and work out.

A few hours later, before they go to their next class, they head to the dining hall, which just so happens to be less than five minutes away from where they live.

They eat a full meal, prepared by the staff, of course, before heading to their second class.

By the time their day completes, they’ll have taken advantage of several different amenities and services provided by the university. All of which are easy to use and locate as a residential student.

According to Ryan Bronkema and Nicolas Bowman, authors of A Residential Paradox?: Residence Hall Attributes and College Student Outcomes, living on campus is one of the most important college experiences. Living in a dorm or suite or even a university apartment can contribute to a wide range of learning, cognitive, attitudinal, educational, and psychosocial attainment outcomes.

In layman’s terms, living on-campus results in a more well-rounded student. There’s a sense of belonging and integration that has been thought to lead to greater educational attainment. However, this doesn’t mean that residential students get higher grades than commuter students. Instead, greater educational attainment refers to residential students having a larger percentage of their population who attend a majority of their classes, make connections with their professors and other faculty members, and complete the courses they enroll in while continuing to pursue higher education.

Now, it’s time to explore what off-campus living looks like.

Once again, let’s assume that during the school year, our hypothetical student takes the standard 12 credit hours a semester.

They have to take two classes a day, but the way these classes must be organized is a bit less forgiving.

Instead of these classes being spread out over the morning and the afternoon, our hypothetical student has to put the classes closer together in order to avoid traffic and make time to study while at school.

Before leaving, they must consider the time it takes to get to school in the morning on top of the time it will take them to walk to their class. If they drive, they must consider how heavy traffic is. If they use public transport, they have to run on a very tight schedule to make sure they catch their bus or train at the exact right time. And, if they use rideshare apps like Uber and Lyft, they’ll have to hope that 1.) they have enough money to pay for the driving costs and 2.) that the estimated time on the app is actually the amount of time it will take for that driver to arrive.

Once they arrive, they’ll head to their first class of the day, and once that class ends, they’ll give themselves around 30 minutes to find a place to sit and relax and try to do some homework before leaving for their second class.

By the time this student finishes their classes, they’ll head to the dining hall to microwave their lunch or buy something from the vending machine. 

After they finish lunch, they’ll head to the library or another quiet area and begin to study and try to complete their homework. If they think the work is hard, they’ll go to the tutoring center after they’re completely finished with the work they can complete on their own. They don’t want to lose their good spot.

Once they finish, they walk all the way to the tutor, only to find a long line of students already there. And once they check the time, they realize they have to leave in the next few minutes before traffic gets too overwhelming and leaves them stuck on the highway for an hour or two.

By the time their day completes, they’ll have taken advantage of very few amenities and services offered at the university, but not for lack of trying. Amenities like libraries or dining halls are easy to enjoy and locate as a commuter student, but it can be hard to fit your school schedule around your life schedule when you have to factor in the extra time actually commuting to and from campus will take up.

As you can see from the average day of a commuter student, it is harder to reach greater educational attainment.

Unlike residential students, commuters don’t have their entire life stationed on campus. There is no bed to nap in when they’re waiting for their next class; for some, there is no dining hall to look forward to. There is no classmate down the hall to rely on. But most importantly, there is no time to truly relax while on-campus.

Unlike residential students, commuters see their school as just that, a school.

It’s not home.

It’s not a comfy place to nap.

It’s not the place to shower and change into their favorite pajamas.

It’s just a place to learn, and sometimes, it’s a place where random events take place.

Through no fault of their own, and for better or worse, these students lack the ability to take advantage of certain college benefits. Living off-campus makes it difficult to wait things out and to be there when important activities pop up. There’s a level of planning that goes into every interaction commuter students have with their campus, and that can make it difficult to go beyond the bare minimum, especially when that bare minimum is already so difficult for some to commit to.

The experiences that college students have depends on them and their school. There is no one size fits all experience that describes all types of students, and what has been described is only meant to create an idea of what these two types of housing options could offer the students who experience them.

In the end, living either on or off-campus contributes to student success in more ways than just getting eight hours of sleep vs. none at all. Full range meal plans, access to schools’ resources, quick commutes from home to class, along with several other benefits, are offered almost exclusively to students in on-campus housing. And even when commuters get the option to use these resources, their involvement is almost always an afterthought.

Having access to all of these things with little fanfare means that students who live on campus have an already obvious advantage over students who don’t. And, despite going to the same universities and paying for the same level courses, it’s no secret that these institutions are more focused on residential students than they are on commuters. Sure, the resulting difference is less likely to present itself in Grade Point Averages, but GPAs are only one part of why students are labeled as successful. The advantage of residential students is more than just grades; it’s the access they have to the full college experience.

Works Cited 

Rousmaniere, Kate. “What Happened to Your College Town: The Changing Relationship of Higher Education and College Towns, 1940-2000.” History of Education Quarterly, 2021, pp. 320–340., https://doi.org/10.1017/heq.2021.31.

Henning, Gavin. “Is in Consortio Cum Parentibus the New in Loco Parentis?” NASPA Journal, vol. 44, no. 3, 2007, pp. 538–560., https://doi.org/10.2202/1949-6605.1835.

Alfano, Halley J., and Nina B. Eduljee. “Differences in Work, Levels of Involvement, and Academic Performance between Residential and Commuter Students.” College Student Journal, 3 Nov. 2014.

Bronkema, Ryan, and Nicholas A. Bowman. “A Residential Paradox?: Residence Hall Attributes and College Student Outcomes.” Journal of College Student Development, vol. 58, no. 4, May 2017, pp. 624–630., https://doi.org/10.1353/csd.2017.0047.

Debora Mekonnen 

English 1102 

Professor, Rebecca Weaver, PhD 

April 21, 2022 

Introduction 

Anxiety is a feeling of uneasiness, such as worry or fear, and depending on the person, it can be mild or even severe. Anxiety in college is said to be the most common, recurring issue in college students at a traditional 4-year university. This issue should be talked about because if ignored, it can hinder individuals, leaving them feeling like there is something wrong with them. Instead, coming to terms and finding ways to cope could be a better method. The first step to improving anxiety is recognition, not shying away, or avoiding the topic whilst facing it head on. This matters because by helping oneself, they can, in time, become the best version of themselves.  

Discussion 

Although anxiety among college students may not be the most focused on, it is indeed one of the most common. According to Nicole J. LeBlanc, MA, and PhD Luana Marques, the sharpest increase in anxiety occurs during the initial transition to college. College students, leaving everything they know behind, with a brand-new start, tend to leave some feeling lost. They start to face new challenges, whether it’s having problems with roommates, adapting to new environments, or even trying to figure out just exactly who they are. In Robertson, Sarah M. C.’s text, “Randomized Controlled Trial Assessing the Efficacy of Expressive Writing in Reducing Anxiety in First-Year College Students: The Role of Linguistic Features,” they state first-year college students are also typically in the emerging adulthood developmental phase that occurs between 18 and 25 years of age (2). Students are expected to automatically be ready for such a life-changing experience at such an early age, which in turn, makes them feel so uneasy about it all, leading them to have anxiety. 

Some students are thrown into the world, having parents assume it’s the same as spending the night at a friend’s house, and leaving them with poor advice. It leaves college students afraid of what is to come, not knowing what to expect, especially since their parents don’t leave them with the best pep talks. In “Anxiety in College Students,” Imm, Jacob’s article, it’s written that “college is a new and exciting milestone, so it is common to have anticipatory anxiety in the weeks before heading off to campus. But anticipatory anxiety can be much more serious … For some, it can be crippling, preventing you from preparing for school appropriately or even making you consider not going to school at all. (1)” This is mostly due to “home-sickness” or even could be the case of separation anxiety. This is something that recurs in oncoming first-year students. Every year there are fresh faces, but with the same struggle.  

The main types of anxiety that college students tend to face are anticipatory anxiety, separation anxiety, social anxiety, test anxiety and anxiety over peer pressure. Although they all differ, all these distinct types of anxiety have something in common, they all leave you feeling fearful. Students start to feel overwhelmed with studies, on top of everything else. Educators and parents fail to acknowledge such things, telling students that how they feel is nothing but normal and that it’s what everybody goes through when attending college. In the article “Reappraising Test Anxiety Increases Academic Performance of First-Year College Students,” Brady, Shannon T states, “first-year students would report greater emotionality, greater worry, and less knowledge of how to perform well before their first exam in a psychology course (3).”  Such information is known as well as common, but still, not spoken about enough. 

Now on ways to cope with this crippling, recurring disorder, there are quite a few. “Anxiety lives and grows precisely because people are too quick to dismiss it. Once you know better where it comes from for college students, the next step is to identify anxiety symptoms and signs so they can be addressed,” it states in Jacob Imm’s article “Anxiety in College Students. “One that is highly recommended would be to take care of your physical health. Finding ways to improve on things such as blocking out negativity, managing it, and especially to surround yourself with support. One of the biggest things to remember is that it is ok, and that there is absolutely nothing wrong with you. Many people may not/ will not understand what someone facing anxiety is going through.  

Studies in anxiety show that every year, anxiety seems to rise the most when newcomers arrive. According to the American College Health Association Fall 2018 National College Health Assessment in Nicole J. LeBlanc, MA, and PhD Luana Marques’s article “Anxiety in College: What we know and how to cope,” it is stated that “63% of college students in the US felt overwhelming anxiety in the past year (1).” It tended to rise the most during newcomers’ first semester and “remains elevated throughout the second semester. “Attending a 4-year university, being introduced to new things, something completely opposite from everything you know, is very damaging to students. Students need time to process such tremendous changes in their lives, instead they are thrown in and expected to adapt almost immediately. And this is usually thrown at students, with no help from teachers or parents.  

In conclusion, anxiety is a recurring issue in first-year college students at a traditional 4-year school. Although parents may not be able to understand their children when facing certain types of anxiety, students seeking help where they can get it is the best option. The first step is acceptance, realizing there may need to be some specialized help. Another as well is to learn and understand that there is nothing wrong with any student that may be going through anxiety. That way, maybe someday, the rising growth of anxiety towards college students could soon start to decrease.  

Citations 

• Nicole J. LeBlanc, MA, and PhD Luana Marques. “Anxiety in College: What We Know and How to Cope.” Harvard Health, 27 Aug. 2019, 
• Imm, Jacob. “Anxiety in College Students.” Anxiety in College Students | North Central College, 4 Dec. 2020 
• Robertson, Sarah M. C., et al. “Randomized Controlled Trial Assessing the Efficacy of Expressive Writing in Reducing Anxiety in First-Year College Students: The Role of Linguistic Features.” Psychology & Health, vol. 36, no. 9, Sept. 2021, pp. 1041–65. 
• Brady, Shannon T., et al. “Reappraising Test Anxiety Increases Academic Performance of First-Year College Students.” Journal of Educational Psychology, vol. 110, no. 3, Apr. 2018, pp. 395–406.