College is a trivial time, full of new experiences and struggles. Many college students are completely independent for the first time in their lives. Being completely free isn’t always the best for people at this age. This freedom catalyzes all new sorts of problems that high school doesn’t teach a person to handle. Such as dealing with roommates, time management, and personal debt.

Roommates are an essential part of college from day one. For most, when they start their first day of college begins their struggle with roommates. From my own personal experience, roommates are different from friendships. Living with someone and being friends with someone are two completely different things. When you start to live together, a person’s true colors show. Things slowly start to slip out and a person’s habits, personality traits, and hobbies are made evident. When you live with someone and find out who they truly are it starts to tear apart friendships making problems. In a study by Boise State “found that around 25 percent of students reported roommate issues in the preceding month, with females more likely to report experiencing a problem than males” (Research).

Although issues with roommates may seem minimal, the effects it has on a student are immense. A psychological study conducted by Duran and Zakahi (1988) “indicates poor relationships with roommates are responsible for dissatisfaction with school and lower GPA” (Research). Roommates can and do affect a college student in more ways than you can possibly imagine. The impact a roommate has on someone can affect their whole college career. Whether it be extra stress causing a bad GPA, or arguments on living situations roommates are never an easy part of college. While roommates create new stress situations college students have yet to experience; time management poses new issues.

Time management is a sink or swim skill a college student must develop, or else they will struggle to be successful. Without the able to balance time between academics, jobs, and friends a person would drown in stress. In 2008 a study conducted by the Associated Press found that “8 in 10 college students say they have sometimes or frequently experienced stress in their daily lives over the past three months. This is an increase of 20% from a survey five years ago.” With stress on the rise, and the ever rising demands for college students nowadays this statistical will surely only rise.

This ever demanding culture has led to many sleepless nights. Whether it’s from the workload placed on college students to stay afloat or the stress that comes with it, sleepless nights have become more common among students. It was found in a study conducted by Brown university that “approximately 11% of students report good sleep, while 73% report sleep problems” (Sleep). With these sleep problems on the rise and more prevalent among college students, more stress comes with it. Lack of sleep does not only put an immense amount of stress on your body’s normal cognitive and physical function, it also creates more stress because of your lack of functioning. In the sense that “Sleep deprivation in students has been linked to lower GPA’s because sleep affects concentration, memory and the ability to learn” (Sleep). With all the emphasis in the world being placed obtaining a high GPA to either land the perfect job, or get accepted into graduate school, academic excellence burdens students minds constantly. This build up of stress, and lack of sleep causing even more stress is a pivotal time for most college students. Pushing them to a breaking point, that outsiders don’t quite understand. With all this stress comes another issue that all college students face, dealing with finances.

Money runs the world, and controls what a person does every single day. It is a single piece of paper that dictates if you’re going to be able to go hangout with friends, or go to work. Finances and college students generally don’t blend well together. Almost every student who graduates college will have some form of debt. Whether it be student loan debt, credit card debt, or both. For just an undergraduate degree “the average Class of 2016 graduate has $37,172 in student loan debt, up six percent from last year” (Dickler).

Much like the increase of stress of all college students, student debt is on the rise. With the average begin at $37,172 who knows how high it will rise with the prices of all commodities on the rise. When a textbook for a class can cost up to $400 dollars, and the resale price is minimal student, student debt is almost impossible to avoid. College debt can also cause a lot of stress. “80 percent of working professionals with student loan debt said it is a source of “significant” or “very significant” stress, according to the survey of more than 3,000 Americans conducted online in May” (11 effects). Stress can be very harmful to the body and increases the lack of sleep that a person may get. “A review of 16 studies found that sleeping for less than 6 to 8 hours a night increases the risk of early death by about 12 percent” (11 effects). Not getting enough sleep affects everything in your body including your nervous system, immune system, respiratory system, etc.

College is full of new experiences, each of which that come with a new challenge involved. These challenges can either deal with personal, professional, or academic issues. All of which bring new additional stress to everyday life. College students must overcome the adversity that comes with dealing with roommates, managing time, and controlling financial issues.

Works Cited

“College Students.” The American Institute of Stress, 1 Mar. 2017, http://www.stress.org/college-students/.

Dickler, Jessica. “This Is What Keeps Millennials up at Night.” CNBC, CNBC, 17 Oct. 2017,

http://www.cnbc.com/2017/10/17/student-loans-take-a-mental-toll-on-young-people.html.

Pietrangelo, Ann, and Stephanie Watson. “11 Effects of Sleep Deprivation on Your Body.”

Healthline, Healthline Media, 5 June 2017,

Research Shows 25% of Students Experience College Roommate Problems.” Steve Brown

Apartments, Boise State, 19 Oct. 2016, stevebrownapts.com/blog/research-shows-25-students-experience-college-roommate-problems/.

“Sleep.” The Importance of Sleep, University of Michigan,

campusmindworks.org/students/self_care/sleep.asp.

“U.S. Student Loan Debt Statistics for 2018.” Student Loan Hero, Student Loan Hero,

studentloanhero.com/student-loan-debt-statistics/.

“11 Effects of Sleep Deprivation on Your Body.” Healthline, Healthline Media,

http://www.healthline.com/health/sleep-deprivation/effects-on-body#3.