College Chronicles: College Students Need a Break

By Chanelle Liggens

From the time you leave middle school there is one important thing that is always in the back of a student’s mind: college! Well at least it should be.

At the end of four glorious high school years comes reality. What will I major in? What am I going to do with this degree? And the biggest question of all, who’s going to pay for my college education?

The stress of senior year doesn’t compare to when you actually take your first step into that college classroom that holds up to 50 people, seeing faces from all over the country, getting accustomed to not going home every night to your family, and actually getting involved on campus.

Once your first month jitters are over and you get into a daily routine everything seems fine and college life is good, you feel super independent and start enjoying your life. Christmas comes around and you realize you don’t have money to buy anyone anything, your parents are complaining about sending you extra money every month and it seems like now you have to do something about your financial situation.

This is where the struggle becomes real.

So now you question yourself: can I still do well in school and maintain a part time job? When will I have time to study? It seems like you’re being pulled in several different directions. You want to achieve your 3.5 GPA but now you have to work everyday after school until closing in order to take care of your necessities.

I’ve been working a part time job since I was 17 and it has been hard. Arranging my class schedule to revolve around my work schedule. Working the late shifts knowing I have a five-page paper to write by the next morning. There have been times where I’ve actually asked to go home early just so I can at least try and finish my school work before sunrise. I feel like I’m going to burn out before I start my career. When do I get a break? Do I even deserve a break?  I’m starting to realize life isn’t a joke, there’s no time for play. But I often wonder why.

Why is it that at this time in our lives we have to work our butts off just to work our butts off even more for the rest of our lives to maintain a household? Drive a car? Buy health insurance? Be able to actually take care of our kids without help? There should be a law that anyone who’s attending college shouldn’t work. We should be taken care of by the nation in order to focus on being the best generation we can be. The future depends on the college generation. The next set of doctors, lawyers, congressman, school principals and teachers. If we don’t succeed then who will?

I just feel like college life should be made easier. I’m like a grown-up who has to work to pay my bills, but I’m really not because I don’t make enough to pay rent so I’m still like a child in a sense. When I try to map out my future, I see myself graduating. But I also see myself still being at my mother’s house. That is my reality.

I don’t know what the future holds, but as of now, my college chronicles are still being written. I just hope and pray that everything will work out for the best.