The American Dream: to own your own piece of this great big world, a nice house plopped on top of it, a loving family and career not a job. It seems this dream is unobtainable–dead even. As this country progresses, however, we have developed another dream that seems just as unobtainable. Graduating from college is a must for our generation as well as for the ones to come. This goal has progressed into a full-fledged dream for Americans due to the challenge it proves to be.

I am the first person in my family to go to college. Although I got the generic warnings like “There’s a lot of studying,” “You’ll have to pull some all-nighters,” “It’s expensive!” Those warnings were not personal, nor did they fully explain the hell that I was about to face. I did not realize how many factors were going to weigh on my shoulders as I transitioned into college, and at the end of my freshman year I understood why it was the new American Dream.

Going off to college I was so excited to get off on my own. I wanted so badly to have freedom; the freedom to not have to ask to go out, to stay up at night, to not have someone complain about the state of my room. I quickly learned that the freedom was amazing, but it could not fill the void that was waking up from naps with my Dad poking me in the face or complaining to Dad that I did not want to watch the movie he put in. I was not homesick enough to cry or call home constantly like my classmates, but I was homesick enough to slip deeper into my depression. I missed my annoying family, I missed the friends I worked so hard to get. I missed lounging on Bert’s couch (my best friend Brittany Lee) for an entire week planning our future over “Friends.” As much as I love my friends from college, they cannot compare to the Peter Pan to my Tinker Bell, the girl that I planned on living with in a house with our husbands, raising our children together. I was so busy I did not really talk to her as much as I should have, or my gay best friend Daniel–love that weirdo so darn much!

There are more than a few late nights in college where I averaged about two to three hours of sleep a night. After you lose so much sleep, your brain begins to shut down. Homework and studying became more of a chore, and simple tasks became confusing and difficult. During the weekends I would sleep pretty much all day to catch up on sleep debt. Not all students have that luxury, though. A lot of students have jobs, so when they are not in class or doing homework they are at work. There is little time for sleep in college, especially if you are not used to a college schedule.

Finances is another big rain cloud looming over this dream for many students. College is getting more and more expensive. Being charged for everything from rooming, to food, to books that you will never use again, no wonder there are jokes that colleges charge you for the sunlight. Many students do not make it to their junior year because they simply cannot afford the outrageous costs of college. Many transfer campuses or even down to a community college due to the ridiculous costs they are faced with. Even though you do not have to start paying for loans until after you graduate the fact that you are already in debt for thousands of dollars weighs heavily on your mind every day. Knowing that if you do not make it to graduation, if you do not land a high paying job right out of college, you are doomed. Our credit is literally destroyed before we even buy our first brand-new car, our first house. The stress of our debt bares down on us until all we can think of is how in the world we are not going to end up working at Walmart with a Masters in Child Psychology. The price of books is another huge stress factor; if you cannot afford to buy a book and you do not have access to a copy of the one you need you have practically already failed your class.

I could go on and on about how college is extremely challenging–and not even for the classes. It truly has deserved the title of an American Dream. This dream seems less obtainable as we progress as a nation, the percentage of students that graduate within four years is continually dwindling. If we are expected to go to college for four years just to become a photographer, we are going to need some support. We may be proud and stubborn, but we need a helping hand to get us through obtaining our dream.

Tschüss!