Common Causes Of Stress Among College Students

College is a wonderful opportunity to, not only further your education, but experiment with life before it gets too serious. Having said that, college life is not without it's stressful situations. Here are a few common causes of stress amongst college students.

Possibly one of the biggest stressors for some college students is the considerable debt they will have to take on, in order to afford tuition fees, campus accommodation and textbooks. Quite often this is a source of great concern for a kid that is straight out of high school and may not be financially literate.

Whilst the debt alone is stressful, the need to service this debt can cause the student to over-extend themselves. This might mean that they have to take on a second job or work long hours as an employee and a student at the same time. This could have knock on effects with the ability to concentrate on their studies which could lead to failure of their course. This scenario would prove stressful.

Another common cause of stress is adapting to the new life they have suddenly landed into. In many ways this new found freedom can be a source of great joy and motivation, but it can also be stressful.

For many it will be the first time they have lived outside the nurturing and protective security of the family unit. Their parents will have provided for them materially and will have set down boundaries on how to live. This no longer applies in college and one of the first tasks a student undertakes is to find an identity and effectively test the rules that were set out by their parents. The uncertainty and lack of identity is a common cause of stress.

As a student becomes more established in college the stresses that affect them are related to succeeding in their educational objectives. There will be particularly stressful periods when they have to complete papers or cram for exams. Other causes of stress could be giving presentations and seminars on their subject. This could lead to spending long hours concentrating on the subject and letting other aspects of their lives slide. This loss of harmony in their lives could be stressful.

As they get to the end of their college careers, the inevitable stress of preparing for the real or adult world is apparent. Such considerations like, finding a job, preparing and taking job interviews, potentially relocating, leaving their college friends can be stressful.

While most of these concerns are well negotiated by most students, they can often create problems for some. A great way to deal with these problems is to have a support structure to help the student through these times. This structure could be part of the college, be a network of friends or be their family. The importance of being about to talk through these issues cannot be overlooked.