The bulk of college students are excited to move away from home while they gain an education. They think it’s going to be all fine and dandy, living away from supervision and having the chance to fully be their own person. But living away from home can put a student in a deep dark place that is adulthood, where individuals drown in responsibility. There are a few commonly heard complaints from college students that I hope to offer a different voice of concern.
1. Sharing a room.
Even if a student is used to sharing a room at home, room-sharing at college is a different experience. This time around, the person sleeping a few feet away is a stranger. You dance around one another until you get to know all their habits and become predictable. There are some habits you just can’t deal with though. For me, it’s when people don’t wash their dishes and simply let them pile up all week.
2. Fending for yourself.
Nutrition is a necessity and people commonly eat three meals a day. During the day, you’re on the go and can stop somewhere for a quick bite to eat. But typically for dinner, college students want to eat something other than the (below) subpar cafeteria food and are tired of eating out (or more like can’t afford to). What are they left to do? Cook. Besides some college students not knowing how to cook, I argue the time it takes to cook a meal. There are five assignments piled up on your desk and it may take 40 or so minutes to whip up dinner. So you’re left to cook microwave-friendly meals most of the time so you can still produce an A-worthy paper.
3. Incorporating laundry time into a combined hectic class and work schedule is doable, but difficult.
While you may have 30 minutes here to put your clothes in the wash and another 30 minutes there to put your clothes in the dryer, it doesn’t work out so easily as it does at home. If your laundry is taking up space in the washers and dryers for a perceived extended amount of time, people find no issue with pulling your items out of the machines and throwing them anywhere. You’re on shared-living-spaces time and you have to remember that.
4. On your way to having a breakdown and your parents won’t answer their phones.
Let’s face it, college is a world comprised of major and minor decisions. There are just some decisions in which you need a parent to be your soundboard and therapist all mixed into one. Then there’s the issue of decisions having very little time to be made, and depending on a student’s and a parent’s schedules, they may conflict. You have 15 minutes between classes to go through the decision-making process with a parent, but they’re all MIA.
