CAROL’S SUMMARY:
College student stress levels at college this year are at an all time high because of the economy. Parents have lost jobs and are unable to help pay for college. Many students are daunted by the bleak job prospects after graduation, and the debt they are incurring in college. Combine these factors with the normal feelings of adjustments students have during college and you have a recipe for tapped out and fully taxed advisors and counselors on college campuses. The stress also impacts faculty who teach undergraduates.
Colleges can help their staff by emphasizing coaching skills–the pro-active and specific ways in which you can help students to focus on their options and the steps they can take to further their specific goals. Coaching is
not rescuing; on the contrary, it is about showing people that they are creative, capable and resourceful so that they have the wherewithal to move through their own obstacles.
During times like this, it is helpful to remind students of the courageous people who have immigrated to this country from oppressive dictatorships, half of the world’s population who live on less than $2 a day, and the
incredible men and women who returned to the U.S. after serving in World War II who, from very little, built an economy which still sustains us today.
Even in hard times by our standards, students in the U.S. still have many advantages with which to take on current and future challenges. We are up to that task and our very best days can be ahead, and will be, if we all
become fortified–stronger and more effective– by the current economic situation.
ARTICLE
The Chronicle of Higher Education
By STEVEN BUSHONG
Rebecca Jordan has been a good student, achieving nearly a B average and working as an undergraduate student assistant in the English department at Troy University. But lately, she says, “family drama” has been keeping her up at night, sapping her motivation, and making class seem like a chore better avoided.
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