Freshman year can be an exciting time for students transitioning from high school to college. But for some, living independently, making friends and taking steps toward a future career come with some unique challenges.
Decision-making
According to Rich Yoakum, director of counseling and wellness at Samford University, learning to navigate college life often requires freshmen to utilize decision-making and problem-solving skills without parental support for the first time.
Every student adjusts in their own unique way, he noted. Transitional stressors like juggling a heavy course load or managing financial pressures can affect a student’s appetite, sleep schedule and motivation. Some students grapple with difficulty going to class and maintaining focus, while others suffer from panic attacks or trouble sleeping.
In response, students sometimes avoid responsibilities or attack feelings of uncertainty or adjustment by being overly responsible, Yoakum said.
“They’ll start to feel isolated [and], as they start to increase feeling either depressed or anxious, they can isolate from their friends or from others,” he added.
At the University of Mobile Student Success Center, Shanoa Reed, student success coordinator for first- and second-year programs, sees students every year who want to leave college after the initial excitement of being on campus diminishes. Homesickness is completely normal, she said, and fades in time.
Homesickness
For example, one student came to Reed seeking help in her third week of classes. Homesick and missing her family, she planned to withdraw. Reed talked with her about ways to manage homesickness and recommended she get involved on campus or invite a friend out for coffee each time she felt lonely. That student overcame her homesickness and is returning this fall as a peer mentor, to help other students going through the same thing.
The coronavirus pandemic magnified many common stressors for incoming freshmen. High school seniors who missed rite-of-passage traditions — like senior prom and graduation ceremonies — anticipated a traditional college transition. But pandemic-related restrictions altered how freshman year played out for many.
“Our incoming freshmen had an abrupt end to their high school experience, and many lacked the closure that typical senior year activities provide, making homesickness a more common issue,” Reed noted. “It was also more difficult to make new friends with social distancing guidelines in place, impacting their ability to find community and connect to the university.”
While students learn to navigate college life, parents also can struggle with the transition, missing their child and feeling unsure about how best to parent their college student while fostering independence. Last fall, pandemic shutdowns added to the strain, causing financial hardships for some families who found themselves unable to provide support.
Samford’s campus counseling staff helped students through these difficulties by dealing with the angst brought on by financial strain and connecting them with student aid and emergency assistance services to help bridge the gap.
“[These students] learned to trust that other people wouldn’t judge or shame them for asking for help,” Yoakum said. “They provided the initiative, and they worked hard, fighting through and making it a very successful semester.”
Resources available
The University of Mobile also offers mental health resources, like one-on-one or group counseling, and addresses typical transition concerns in a first-year course. Each UM freshman is paired with an upperclassman mentor who is trained to identify transition issues and help students work through them, or connect them with counseling staff, Reed noted.
Freshmen need the support of their parents as they adjust. Mirroring the excitement they want their student to feel is a good start, Reed suggested.
Encouraging students to do simple tasks like requesting transcripts or making their own doctor’s appointments fosters the independence they will need during college, she added.
Parents can help
Parents can help prepare students for college life. Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions youth ministry strategist Scooter Kellum recommends discipling them early and teaching them to make choices that honor and glorify God.
Kellum also suggests parents help students find a local church by offering to visit with them.
“Go in and sit with your children in a church for six weeks and say, ‘Hey, we’re gonna find your church. I’m gonna go with you — your choice.’”
And churches can assist transitioning freshmen by offering to help with chores like laundry or inviting students for a homecooked meal.
Matt Daniels, campus minister at the University of North Alabama, Florence, said opportunities for service through the local church can remind students that life is bigger than “me.”
“The students I see [who] are not struggling with mental health are the ones that are plugged into and serving in the local church,” Daniels noted. “They’re engaged in the local church, and with the people of the local church.”
UM’s Knowledge for College podcast available now
Got butterflies in your stomach just thinking about college? Looking for tips for getting a great start this fall? Check out the Knowledge for College podcast from the University of Mobile.
Each weekly episode lasts 15–30 minutes and features casual conversations about life in college with university professors, students and various professionals.
Focal topics include getting involved in college, financial aid vocabulary, calling and living on campus.
Some information is specific to UM, but the episodes are designed to help the broader college audience.
More information on the Knowledge for College podcast is at umobile.edu/podcast. Find the podcast on your favorite podcast app.
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