The challenges students have balancing family, work and school.
Hollywood has built an image that college students are all 18 year old kids, who are getting another four year free ride from their parents, without having to live at home. In the real world many college students are adults and have their own family and expenses. College students struggle in their everyday life balancing time for family, friends and jobs. Finding the time and energy to study is probably the most difficult struggle students have while in college and a common reason why students drop out. The challenges students have balancing time for their families are cooking, cleaning, and spending time with their children and husband. Cooking for a family requires time whether it is Breakfast, lunch or dinner. Students may feel that they just do not have the time to cook dinner for their family, instead they may decide to buy fast food because it is quick and convenient, which is a poor choice because it leads to unhealthy lifestyle. Poor eating habits cause problems physically and mentally. Cleaning after a family is a big job and requires time and energy that one simply does not have after working an eight hour shift. Spending time with family could be limited and may cause conflict between married couples. Students with children unintentionally neglect their responsibilities as a parents which are playing with their kids, driving them to school or games, attending birthday parties or important events like their first steps or first words because they are always busy. This could result in unstable homes or even divorce. Friendships are often lost as well because communication is unintentionally cut off. College students who work not only have the challenge of balancing time for family and friends but also have to deal with working and paying bills. Working eight hours a day five days a week is stressful enough without adding family and school to the mix. Working is an essential part of life and most people would not even be able to attend college if they did not have a job. College students also have responsibility of paying bills and holding a job is the key to financial responsibility. Making sure that all bills are paid and on time seems like a simple task, this may not always be the case. Unfortunately people have too many things going on that paying a simple bill will slip their mind and leads to late fees and penalties. This then adds more stress on a person. College should be ones first priority, realistically it is not. Students who have a family and job know that their children and spouse are their first priority and their job is second, making school their third. The reason for this is because family will always come first, and in order to support their family they must have a job, keeping their employer happy with their productivity and attendance. Once ones family is taken care and work day is over students are extremely tired and do not have the energy to do homework and sometimes attending class is a hassle. Every day could be a struggle of whether or not it is a good day to get homework done or do laundry instead. The problem is when you fall behind it is not always easy to catch up. Students often drop classes or drop out of school because they fall behind or feel overwhelmed with the work load. A strategy to help students stay current in school is proper planning. Using a daily planner could improve a person’s timing by planning out a day hour by hour. If one plans their day out hour by hour it may give them more energy as well, by setting time aside to cook and eat healthier meals. Overall students should know their support system and ask for help when they need it.