Holley Withee | Contributing Writer

Just recently, I was complaining to my roommate about college and how stressed it was making me. These past few weeks, I have felt as though I have no time to do anything that I’m not required to do. If it’s not working on an assignment, it’s attending a meeting, if it’s not studying for an exam, it’s meeting with a professor. Oh yeah, and sleeping, eating, and chilling with people are important, too.

I realize that I take my class work very seriously (almost too seriously sometimes), but when I am paying as much as I am for college, I want to make sure that I’m taking every advantage of what I’m paying for. The fact is, I am paying more money than I have spent in my entire life to get a four-year education. When I really step back and think about the amount of money going into this, it seems crazy.

I think that everyone at Buena Vista University (BVU) could agree that college is stressful. Of course, people have different ways of dealing with stress, and sometimes certain aspects bother some people more than others. But either way, college is demanding of both the body and the mind. For one, it can be tough to keep up with the work and the studying that is expected. It’s also difficult to keep track of all of the dates, times, and places associated with the commitments we’ve made. Dorm life itself can be stressful at times, and sometimes we just get sick of serve food. When my mind focuses in on only the negative aspects of college, I think I must be crazy for dedicating so much time, energy, and money to it.

I know that I’m complaining a lot, but the message I want to get across is not that we should revolt or protest the amount we are expected to give of ourselves. Even though I want to pull my hair out sometimes, what I really want to do is reassure my stressed-out peers that it is totally worth it to be here. If there’s a good way to reduce stress levels in college, then by all means let it be done, but if not then I think that we can take comfort in the benefits of being here.

Countless studies have linked college education to higher pay. People who have college degrees are also more likely to have lower blood pressures and lower levels of cortisol (a stress hormone) in their occupation. We are also more likely to have stable jobs that provide health care coverage. One of the best benefits, to me at least, is that people who have college degrees are more likely to be satisfied with their jobs. So, while I’m definitely not denying that college can be a royal pain sometimes, the benefits of it are also evident. Not to mention the relationships, memories, and connections that are made at college are irreplaceable.

In the past two and a half years, I have realized that what I hate the most about college is that I only get four years of it. I can’t tell you where the time has gone, and I’m still in denial of the fact that I am over halfway done. I have also come to the realization that these four short years will follow me for the rest of my life. I’ll be paying monthly bills, and I’ll be getting phone calls from the BVU alumni office asking me to donate even more of my money. However, I’ll also have a degree to proudly display on a wall. I’ll have lifelong friends and lasting memories. And, I’ll be working at a job that I love, with people who see me as credible, because of my college education.

Graphic by Grace Bodey