Rethink the pressures of higher education
I was a college dropout.
January 2013, I received an email from the Office of Financial Aid at Central Michigan University. It was four days before the start of the spring semester. They were denying me loans.
It was my own fault. My GPA had dropped. My grades were awful. I wasn't going to classes.
I had given up. On school, on my future, on life. I didn't see a point. I was depressed, and now my prospects were being ripped away from me.
I had four days to sort out my life. I didn’t know what I was going to do for money. Two jobs could only get me so far, especially at minimum wage.
As a Millennial, I’ve been told the only way to get anywhere in the world is to have a degree. The only way to be happy is to complete college.
This is a problem with our society. Expectations of college degrees were placed on Millennials’ shoulders in pre-school, and the institutions that provide these degrees screw us when we need the most leeway. They won’t work with students when life happens. And it happens often.
Millennials, we need to question what our parents and society have taught us.
I have watched students in higher education drink themselves to sleep after a night of homework because it’s the only way they could cope with the load.
I have watched students cry for hours because they can’t deal with the pressure from their parents to complete their education.
I have watched my bubbly, vivacious friends change to angry, unhappy people because they don’t have time to socialize or relax.
We need to take a step back and rethink our plans.
Are we always going to succumb to the pressure of our parents? Are we always going to try to one-up our friends with power, money and the level of education we achieve, even if it means sacrificing our happiness?
Four days. Four days to rethink everything. One day for shock. One day for realizing I need a plan. One for sitting and crying. And the last day for realizing this was the happiest and lightest I had felt in my life.
I'm back in college now. I'm getting my degree because I know these pressures won't go away by pushing back against expectations.
However, I’m doing what I love. I write about my community. I'm getting more experience than my peers in my degree department.
I'm glad I had eight months to sort through feelings of anger and confusion without the pressure of classes on top of it. I'm glad the university gave me such a small period of time to think it over and come up with a plan.
If you ever feel overwhelmed by the pressure of higher education or by the expectations of others or by life in general. Take a step away from it all.
It felt like my life was coming apart at the seams. But it only took four days for everything to fall into place.
