Image from twitter.com/yikkityyaks
College students have to find the humor in everything, because without it, the stresses of completing homework for each course, spending hours studying for exams, and squeezing in internships would be overwhelming. When you’re a low-income or a self-supporting student, this stress is multiplied by an even greater amount.
Money can play a factor in adding an inane amount of anxiety, as it affects every aspect of life. A student without wealth cannot comfortably pay for education in America when they also have health care, oral care, bills, food, and utilities to keep in mind. Sometimes, these bills become so taxing on the individual’s wellbeing that they cannot maintain their humor, and they instead find that they are so overwhelmed to the point that they commit suicide. Suicide rates have increased dramatically over the years, and College Degree Search supports this in stating that there are “1,100 suicides at colleges per year. That’s 7.5 per 100,000 students.”
The American government is supposed to support its people, and that is why it needs to take charge of how it handles funding for education. A college student already handles enough stress, and money should not be an additional burden. The average, from a great a number of websites, have shown that making college education free would cost about $66 billion. While that number seems extreme, we should take into consideration that the allocation of funds could have been transferred from another source, like military.
Image from nationalpriorities.com
If America really believes that the youth are the future, it should be funding education instead of military, or if anything, they should decrease the amount of money allocated to weapons. The American government should take better responsibility of its people by taking care of one problem that would mend a few others in turn. By helping college students with loans and more affordable education, suicide rates from the pressures of money and depression would decrease because individuals would have money to get actual treatment for health care, and money not spent on tuition or loans could also stimulate the economy because college students could use their money for buying new electronics, eating at local restaurants, and more.
People make jokes, create memes, post yaks, and make light of the troubles of being a college student. I hope none of you are in the discussed position, where you are put under intense amounts of stress because of a lack of funds, as no one should have to pay for college with their life. Funding education is an important issue that needs more discussion and light shed upon it. Here, at CLU, we are lucky to have such great financial aid, counseling services, and a community that looks to better itself through a number of clubs, programs, and events prepared by our own ASCLUG. However, if you or anyone you know feels like they’re running out of outlets, here’s a website that may help, with resources for thoughts of suicide:
http://disintegratedsanity.tumblr.com/post/39659914385/dealing-with-suicidal-thoughts-master-post
Suicide happens more often than you would think. College is hard as it is, and CLU is such a small community, so let’s all look out for one another!
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Note: This article is the perspective and opinion of the author and does not reflect the views of Her Campus Cal Lutheran or Her Campus Media. Thank you!