The college experience is unique. For younger students, college is not only an academic experience but also a life-changing experience. The expectations students set for college education date back to early childhood and hence profoundness of experience. The case for college education becomes equally, if not more, unique for adult students. Indeed, adult students join college for reasons – and, for that matter, expectations – completely different from comparable reasons and expectations for younger students. If anything, adult college students join college for, primarily, professional reasons and, at lesser degree, for knowledge-seeking purposes, particularly for much older, retired students. In so doing, adult college students are exposed to stressors different from stress factors younger college students experience. For decades, Strayer University (SU) has embraced adult students and has been a successful and nationally accredited educational service provider. In recent years, stress has come to represent a major barrier to a more meaningful and enjoyable academic experience for adult students. The causes – and, for that matter, effects – for stress in an academic context are numerous. For current purposes, a closer analysis of causes and effects of stressors as experienced by SU adult students is performed for a more positive academic experience. This paper aims, hence, to explore major stressors and resulting effects at SU in order to help cater for more balanced, meaningful academic experience.
For adult college students at SU, stressors could be in all forms. Given how academic experience alone can stressful (in performing routine and extra activities, for example), stressors in an academic context can be caused by reasons beyond immediate academic, stressful reasons.
If anything, one major cause for stress in an academic context is shown to be maladaptive coping (Mahmoud, Staten, Hall & Lennie, 2012). By "maladaptive coping" is meant inability to adapt effectively to a given situation, resulting in not only stress but also depression and anxiety (Mahmoud, Staten, Hall & Lennie). Given current context, i.e. SU adult student experience, students experience varying degrees of stress (as is reported by university's clinic). Notably, SU students – predominantly adult and independent working professionals – experience maladaptive coping for reasons different from comparable ones experienced by younger students. Specifically, SU students are working professionals who, in working out a work-family-college balance, are under growing pressure to meet differential objectives, sometimes conflicting, and to cater for multiple stakeholders at work, home and university. Then again, SU students adopt coping strategies which vary in effectiveness in – and, for that matter, responsiveness to – unfolding, stressful events during SU learning experience. (By consulting SU clinical services, a broader picture has emerged of coping strategies SU students adopt differentially for more meaningful learning experience at SU. For more insights, a more detailed analysis of clinical services offered for students seeking counseling is provided in a separate section.)
In addition to maladaptive coping, a second, major cause is reported to lead to stress in an academic context namely, family obligations (Johnson, Schwartz & Bower, 2010). Indeed, of all adult student profiles reported in SU clinical, counseling services, female students are shown to exhibit high stress levels due to family and parenting commitments. These findings, supported by a considerable body of literature, indicate, if anything, how external stressors can impact on academic performance at SU. More clearly, if a conventional work-life balance is shown to cause high stress levels in workplace and home contexts, adding a college experience at a later phase of one's own professional life is, if anything, a highly demanding requirement a female student experiences. The image of a working female professional caring for a child in a daycare center at work becomes more powerful for an adult female student "juggling" multiple activities simultaneously for a prolonged period. By stretching endurance limits, an adult college student becomes under substantial stress possibly leading up to a "yield point".
The maladaptive coping and family commitments result in numerous, negative effects, including economic ones. One negative consequence of maladaptive coping is financial loss by dropping out of college. Indeed, dropping out or withdrawal is one direct effect a student incapable of adapting to an academic context usually experiences. By dropping out, an adult student incurs financial loss of fees paid for college. Moreover, by dropping out at an early phase of her college experience, a student could incur deeper economic consequences including, for example, loan default. The second economic effect which ensues from maladaptive coping and family commitments could be a disruption in family financial planning. Given how committed an adult college student is in different personal and professional contexts, an imbalance in college debt payment resulting from one or another stressor as discussed above could, in fact, cause a deep economic effect. More specifically, by failing to meet a financial goal of a college education (i.e. raising household income by earning a higher, college degree), an adult college student is more likely to experience medium- and long-range financial consequences. Theses consequences could, in fact, cause, in some extreme cases, familial disruptions by failing to meet mounting student debt in addition to routine family obligations.
The effects of maladaptive coping and family commitments extend to direct impacts on adult students. Notably, a stressed college student is more likely to experience negative physical effects including immune system suppression in addition to physical illness and psychological conditions such as anxiety and depression ("Stress," n.d.). (For a fuller record of physical and psychological effects of maladaptive coping and family commitment stressors, university's clinical services maintain an extensive database of comparable cases.)
In balance, college experience remains a major one, particularly for adult students, if for different reasons. The major causes of stress in an academic context, maladaptive coping and family commitments, are shown to influence how students behave during a learning experience at SU. The economic effects, mainly loan default and personal finance disruptions, are, moreover, major, negative effects which ensue from said stressors in addition to physical and psychological effects. To better avoid stressful situations on and off-campus, SU is advised to adopt a number of strategies. First, by creating more specialized stress management centers, SU can help counsel stressed students for more positive college experience. Second, by orienting new students on best coping strategies, students are better able to strike effective balance between learning experiences at SU, professional obligations at workplace and personal commitments at home. Third, by investing in alternative education offerings, particularly online learning, SU can help students identify learning experiences which best suit professional obligations and personal commitments. Finally, by marinating a healthy and long-standing relationship with students, SU can not only support students for better performance but also maintain a positive image long after graduation.
References
Johnson, L. G., Schwartz, R. A., & Bower, B. L. (2010). Managing Stress Among Adult Women Students In Community Colleges. Community College Journal of Research and Practice, 24(4), 289-300. Taylor & Francis Online. doi: 10.1080/106689200264079
Mahmoud, J. S. R., Staten, R. T., Hall, L. A., & Lennie, T. A. (2012). The Relationship among Young Adult College Students’ Depression, Anxiety, Stress, Demographics, Life Satisfaction, and Coping Styles. Issues in Mental Health Nursing, 33(3), 149-156. Taylor & Francis Online. doi: 10.3109/01612840.2011.632708
Stress. (n.d.) New York University. Retrieved from https://www.nyu.edu/life/safety-health-wellness/live-well-nyu/priority-areas/stress.html
