College Complications

No matter where you go to further your education (we just all hope it's here at the U), you'll most likely wind up dealing with one or more of these three things:


Long Football Games (and so much more)

There's never anything wrong with a long football game- especially when we're victorious (read about our awesomeness), but you MUST be self-disciplined and prioritze!

You may believe yourself to be self-disciplined already- and that's great. As a senior (or junior) in high school, you're probably juggling AP classes, extracurricular activities, a job, volunteering, and not to mention friends and family. In college however, with such a different schedule (you rarely have classes one right after the other, and some can go as late as 9:30 at night), it may take a while to get into the swing of things.

There is also an over abundance of ways to spend your time. Although this is much better than having absolutely nothing to do, you have to realize that you can't do everything. Pick and choose your activities around what you can handle with your course and work load. Take into consideration study time (which is exponentially more than you've ever done in high school, believe me) and time to just breathe. Without some breaks here and there, not only will you be feeling the stress psychologically, but your health will also be experiencing the downside of an over-packed schedule.

All in all, I encourage you to get involved when you reach college- join a club or two, try out for a sport, and take the time to meet new people. Just make sure that you're not leaving that research paper and bio lab write-up until the very last minute.


Roommate Worries (and Lackthereof)

Here at the U, students have a chance to explore roommate options through a survey on the school website (available usually after the deadline for making the housing deposit). This ultimately leads to a lot of facebook searching, IMing, etc., but in the end the majority of students decide to leave it all up to fate. I personally chose to do so because college is the perfect chance to meet new people with a different perspective.

Although I met some people online who I'm now friends with here, my roommate experience has allowed me to see things in a new light (NICOLE IS AWESOME). One thing to keep in mind- in the end, you both chose to attend the same school, so chances are, you already have a lot in common. Of course it will be a bit awkward at first, but as long as you keep an open mind and open line of communication, everything will be fine.

In some cases, people do wind up switching roommates. In the end, it's not necessarily because they didn't like who they got paired up with- sometimes they feel more comfortable in another living situation (is there another, more quiet floor? is one floor closer to the drama department or the computer lab?). The most important thing is to keep an open line of communication- no one wants to hear that you're having troubles before it's too late to fix them.


Government Loans

I may be biased, but government loans are great (especially when compared to the private student loans of today...whew...)- that said, they are anything but worry free! Take responsibility for your finances- your parents won't be watching over you forever, and college is the perfect time to start dealing with things of this nature.

Like I mentioned previously, government loans are a great option if there is a bit of tuition or room & board fees that you and your parents can't cover. They have relatively low interest rates and you don't need a cosigner (although you do need to be deemed in-need of these loans by information that your school receives from your FASFA report). Student debt is plaguing our generation- if it is necessary to take out loans to further your education, make sure research all of your options.

Make sure that the financial institute of your choosing has disembersed your loans to the school- for whatever reason, things may not have gone through. Take care of it right away!
Especially in times like these, start researching student loan possibilities as soon as possible. If problems arise in the future, it could take months of smoothing out, and it's a stress that you definitly don't need as you're entering college life.

Have a great weekend!