Have you ever wondered why the majority of students in American higher institutions do not graduate? Financial crises present a myriad of issues that make life unbearable in entirely all academic institutions. It is a clear indication that following a series of budgetary inadequacies or crises in most educational institutions across the United States, students have been the most affected, with the majority of them experiencing adverse financial stress.
Others have ended up dropping out of school, and life has become more challenging for them. While education is recognized as the most form of investment for all-rounded growth and development, its proper financial planning has been a long-coming issue. With this being the concern, there is a need to devise strategies to eliminate these vices. Financial problems are among the most sensitive aspects of every society.
Several people are concerned about these issues, and so are college students. They worry more about their stay in college and mostly about how they will survive if they do not get the necessary financial support. Ideally, getting through a college education means thinking and worrying about how to afford it. A survey conducted by the Ohio state university indicated that 70 percent of students within the institution were worried about their finances (Herzog, (2018) This circumstance is not about paying tuition fees but about paying for their daily expenses.
Due to the lack of money, many students have neglected their studies because they did not have money to sustain them in school. Another research conducted by the Wisconsin hope lab shows that housing and food insecurity are prevalent among college students. The majority of them are struggling to eat, while others are homeless (Goldrick-Rab et al., 2018). These issues show that life in colleges is presented with financial challenges, making life difficult for students.
It is routinely expected of any organization, whether business or educational, to be the centerpiece of whatever concerns the organization. In addressing some of the institution’s challenges, help can arrive from diverse sources. Concerning college students’ financial challenges, the most obvious way to address the issue is by making education more affordable for students to complete their education. Various partners and volunteers can offer financial needs in colleges.
With the provision of these financial demands, students are in a position to continue with their learning. The partners and volunteers advance various dream awards and dreamscapes to meet the financial needs of students who face financial barriers while in college (French & Vigne, 2019). There is also the need to include policies that make higher education not only affordable but also attainable. This includes government interventions and practices such as eliminating taxes, especially on scholarship funds, which have significantly contributed to students’ financial problems.
Although not the only way to help, grants and scholarship aid and eliminating their taxes are a major reducer of financial stress facing students. According to Goldrick-Rab et al (2018), an academic institution would not be a complete university without financial aid. Educational facilities ensure the advancement of research and publications is advanced through the creation of adequate knowledge platforms that are relative to the growing educational need.
The provision of financial aid to colleges and individual students helps students gain financial independence, thus managing stress. Here, the aim is to create a check-in point through students’ careers and develop plans to face those challenges realistically. In support of these assertions, it is evident that the correlations between stress and degree completion among students can be addressed with financial literacy and money management tools.
With the financial advice on cost reduction being an obvious way to help address college students’ economic challenges, there is also the need to incorporate family interventions. In this regard, this initiative’s adoption can make paying for college much more manageable, even among low-income families. When children are at the kindergarten level, their parents are excited about their college futures. Things start to change when they are faced with the reality of college education when they begin incurring financial expenses for their children.
In response to this situation, parents need to start saving during their children’s early years of schooling. They should also be trained on matters concerning the financial aid system and allowing them to save more money on their children’s college education fees (French & Vigne, 2019). Seemingly, financial stress can present severe problems and nightmares to parents. Altogether, the situation can see the majority of students dropping out. Fortunately, with the availability of financial aid, measures can be put in place to help more students break out of the cycles and complete their education.
In conclusion, the attainment of education among college students should be well managed. Being an important aspect that contributes to a better future, all colleges’ education systems should be adequately financed to eliminate some of the challenges students face. The education sector stakeholders can employ various mechanisms to achieve this, ranging from financial grants and scholarship aid to savings during the early years of the child’s education before they join colleges.
References
Goldrick-Rab, S., Richardson, J., Schneider, J., Hernandez, A., & Cady, C. (2018). Still hungry and homeless in college. Wisconsin HOPE Lab.
French, D., & Vigne, S. (2019). The causes and consequences of household financial strain: A systematic review. International Review of Financial Analysis, 62, 150-156.
Herzog, S. (2018). Financial aid and college persistence: Do student loans help or hurt? Research in Higher Education, 59(3), 273-301.