Pressures Of Higher Education Essay

It is a brisk day in October, and all the leaves are crackling as every college student around the country is headed to his or her library, trying to get some studying in for the next exams. Some fully understand the subject matter and will constantly pressure themselves to keep on getting better; Others do not fully understand the subject mater and are too busy thinking about how they intend to pay for this class again once they fail. Most belong somewhere in the middle, constantly contemplating why they even put the stress of higher education onto themselves. Higher education is the catalyst to advancing our society to unknown boundaries. The pressures that come along with higher education vary from relaxed to extremely exhausting. These pressures are showcased nonstop in community colleges, state universities and lastly Ivy League private universities. While community colleges have often been looked down upon as a relaxed version of actual higher education, community colleges have been proven to raise the amount of pressure and stress on the enrolled students. The levels of difficulty of the curriculums are indeed lower than those of other colleges and universities. That is not necessarily a bad thing knowing that the typical student enrolled in community college either was not fully prepared for the challenge of other colleges or universities, or they just were not financially ready to make that step up. These struggling students need more time to work on their problems. Students can pursue an Associates Degree in their major without feeling overwhelmed by the pressure of trying to get a bachelor’s degree too early, leading them into failing grades. The students that are enrolled simply because of not having the financial means to enroll into other colleges and universities tend to have a high level of stress, not because they feel stunned by the subject matter, but because of the opposite. Not feeling challenged enough can create pressure on them because they do not feel as if they are getting the education they truly deserve. Community college may come off as a pressure free area, but in reality it has its pressure provoking aspects like all other outlets of higher education. The pressures of state universities are easily visible from the outside vantage point. To start, the number of majors offered at state universities is astounding. Most people that are given that much choice tend to realize that they do not really know what they want to major in. This epiphany leads them into declaring undecided. To go along with the high number of majors, the curriculums of all these majors often are just as breathtaking in difficultly. The number of students to teacher ratio is usually staggering, which creates more pressure for a student to grasp the concepts the first time. The tuition for state universities averages around twenty thousand annually. Most full time students cannot afford this price; therefore, students are forced to rely heavily on financial aid and scholarships. When that many people are competing for the same pile of assets, some tend to get left without enough. This increases the focus on the pressure of finding enough money for every semester’s expensive needs instead of focusing on the actual classes they are paying for. Even though the average students that attend a state university tend to have more control over the pressures of higher education, they can still feel the pressure. The pressures of higher education are substantially more evident in Ivy League students, due to the utmost need to succeed. The term â€Å"Ivy League† is defined as a group of long established eastern colleges and universities having high academic and social prestige. It is not hard to understand why the Ivy League schools are in their own prestigious bubble of higher education. Every student that enrolls in these schools was once part of the highly pressured top five percent of his or her high school. These students often have a genuinely hard time with transitioning from a fairly easy curriculum into their new extremely rigorous curriculums. A smooth transition is needed in order to earn a degree from their respective schools. Without that smooth transition, the students will start to feel overwhelmed, and the pressure will overcome them. Another contributing factor of pressure in Ivy League schools is the fact that the prices of attending these schools match the arduousness . The average tuition for an Ivy League school reaches into figures above fifty thousand annually. Grants, scholarships and financial aid play a very substantial part in full time students’ lives. If they were to receive unsatisfactory grades, then they would lose everything. Being forced to find a way to pay that much for their education would pressure them into dropping out, effectively ruining every high aspiration that student once had. Even though the Ivy League students have tremendous control over pressure, the pressures of higher education like money and making perfect grades, can lead to the failure of an otherwise perfect student. It does not matter whether a student is enrolled in a basic community college, state university or an Ivy League school, students will be faced with pressured situations. For a community college student, the pressures of worrying about not being fully ready for the challenges of college, or just not having the financial means to pay for it, will present themselves. Having control over how pressure affects them, and having the means for state universities, does not guarantee you will be ready for the feeling of being lost in the crowd instead of being an individual. Even though you would assume Ivy League attendees are perfect, sometimes the pressures of having to live up to that standard can overwhelm the student. No matter the level of difficultly, pursuing higher education will always create pressure on a student; the different routes of higher education will just affect the student in their own unique ways.