The Effects of Financial Insecurity on the Mental Health of College Students
By: Sydni Hatley
College is a weird time for many. You are away from home for the first time but are usually still financially dependent on your parents. You can make your own decisions and don’t have adult supervision governing your every move, but for most of that time are not even old enough to legally buy a drink.
And finally, you have the freedom to do what you want, but not the funds to do it. College students are told that the four years they spend at a University will be huge in determining their career path and success, however they do not always have the funds to afford college itself, let alone the many personal expenses that come with it.
According to sciencedaily.com, “experiencing financial difficulties and worrying about debt at university increases the risk of mental health conditions such as depression and alcohol dependency”. College students stress so much about how to pay for school because, let’s face it, college is expensive! Thousands of dollars and it isn’t getting cheaper. Not everyone can afford this and that is completely understandable.
Many families struggle to pay for their kids to go to school, and many kids share the financial stresses with their parents. This stress comes from the want to help out and not see their own parents struggling, but the reality is, it is hard for a college student to raise that kind of money mostly or entirely on their own. Attending college itself is expensive and it is basically impossible to be a full-time student while working a job that makes enough to pay for it. Financial insecurity is a constant stressor, so the fact that many students must find a way to pay for that and personal, day-to-day life expenses makes it easy to understand the connection to increased depression and alcohol dependency.
The need for money and financial stability is the main reason why so many college students become personal entrepreneurs while in school. Students start their own hair businesses, paper-writing businesses, lash tech businesses, makeup businesses, and anything that can help bring in some money. Students are forced to get creative for pocket-change, and sometimes are forced to do so whether it is by legal or even illegal means.
If the cost of obtaining an education were not so expensive and catered to the middle-upper and upper classes, students would not have to do so much to make the money for their education. College itself is already stressful enough with having to compete with your classmates and get grades good enough to get you a good job. This also does not include the need to be involved on and off campus as well, so a financial stressor on a college student’s back is just one more thing to cause their mental health to deteriorate.
To assist with relieving financial stress off of college student’s backs, institutions should consider either lowering the (unnecessary) costs affiliated with the institution, or at least offer more scholarship opportunities. They should also consider allocating more of the money that is donated to the institution to scholarships that will help make school more affordable. Education should not be expensive, it should really be free, but if America wants to charge its students, it should at least make attendance more accessible for all.
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