Running head:COLLEGE & STRESS

College & Stress

Andre Paige
Strayer University
Julia Intawiwat
August 24, 2014

COLLEGE & STRESS

Graduating high school feels like a little step close to becoming an free adult, able to
make your own decisions, although entering college becoming a fulltime student seems like
thats when the stress really come into play. There are major causes and effects of stress for
college student. Its not an easy road to get to your goals that youre wanting to accomplish.
People go through stress on a daily basis. It all depends on how you can handle it.
The major cause of stress on college student today is the need to pay their college tuition.
Financial stress is helping push student anxiety to record levels. Student loans have soared to $1
trillion and isnt stopping not time soon. In 2001, 5.6% of college-bound students expected to use
$10,000 or more in loans the first year (Kadlec, Dan 2012). Fifth-teen percent of students works
fulltime while 74% respondents work during the school year. Some students put in 21.1 hours of
work per week leaving them less time working on their school work outside of the classroom.
A second leading cause is depression. According to ACHA (American College Health
Association, in 2011 a nationwide survey of college students attending a two and four-year
institutions found about 30 percent of college student reported feeling so depressed that it was
difficult to function at some time in the past year (Saringo-Rodriguez, John 2011). National
Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) says many student who attends college struggles with
depression doesnt seek any help. Either they dont know of any resources or believe there isnt
any treatment that wont work for them.
There are two often contributing causes to stress such as physical and social. Social stress
can be a problem for freshman who are new to college. Theyll be facing challenges involving
leaving home, being away from support of family members. Also college students have trouble
balancing friends and school work. The most common to lead to significant stress is adult
COLLEGE & STRESS

relationships. Physical stress is another contributor to college students. Many college student are
unaware of the many symptoms that can occur being stressed. Students will have aches and pains
such as headaches, chest pains or back pain. Also gastrointestinal issues like upset stomach,
nausea, vomiting or diarrhea.
Economic stress could cause actual stressful situations like losing a home or job,
especially a major change to family income and budget. Going through economic stress as you
can see can cause college tuition not being paid because of jobless families or families losing
homes. There are also symptoms dealing with economic stress. Trouble sleeping and severe
anxiety or even panic attacks could be a burden to pay for college. The costs could become more
difficult or overwhelming. Another effect on the economy is 7% of the college students have
trouble getting loans from their banks. Also 57% of students are somewhat worried they wont
find a job after graduation.
Other people can also be affected by stress college kids as well. Usually while students
are attending their two year or four year school to receive their education, their parents be
supporting their tuition. If their child was to decide to drop out, that would definitely disappoint
the parents. Also, staff members who works at the school will also be affected. Theyre the one
who mostly have to call or email the student just to make sure the student is staying on top of
their responsibilities like attending their classes or checking to see if they need help with their
work.
There is a lot of stress college students are going to experience while in college. The only
key to getting through college when theres stress in the way is the ability to control it. Theres a
lot of ways to control your stress such as communication, working out, going out when its
COLLEGE & STRESS

available. The focus should always stay on completing your classes and achieve your goal. Soon
youll cross over that river (long journey) and graduate knowing stress didnt get you down.
















COLLEGE & STRESS

REFERENCES
Kadlec, Dan (2012 , July 31) Back to school: Top 5 things that stress college students. Retrieved
from back-to-school-top-five-things-that-stress-college-students
Saringo-Rodriguez, John (2013, November 21) how depression affects academic progress.
Retrieved from studies-show-depression-affects-academic-progress-causes-stress-and-chemical-
imbalance
Economic Stress.
Rhttp://brown.edu/Student_Services/Health_Services/Health_Education/common_college_health
_issues/economic_stress.phpetrieved from