Akins alumni share their experiences of life after high school

If you believe the images of university life you see in the movies, college is all parties, hanging out with friends and some occasional studying in between.

And if you believe all of this, you are greatly mistaken.

These cliché portrayals of college are distortions of reality that are simply fantasies. The reality is that studying takes up a majority of a college student’s time.

“The transition between high school to college is one of our main concerns and helping students understand the difference is one of our priorities,” College and Career adviser Sarah Simmons said.

Recent high school graduates often have unrealistically high expectations for how wonderful college is going to be. However, it doesn’t take long to discover that college life is more complicated than they initially thought.

In reality college students have a difficult time balancing their academic studies and their social life. If you add on a part- or full-time job to their already busy life it can become more than overwhelming.

According to Lumina Foundation research assumptions about today’s college students are wrong. According to the study, 38 percent of students who are over the age of 25 struggle with more than just their education, 58 percent work while they’re in college and 26 percent are raising a child.

Sarah Luna, an Austin Community College student and 2015 Akins graduate said her freshman year has been financially difficult.

“I’ve been paying for college out of my own pocket by myself, and right now I owe a lot of money to ACC and it sucks to have that hanging over my head,” Luna said. Students also have a hard time with college expenses such as paying for their tuition, classes and textbooks. In fact, 42 percent are close to living in poverty due to the cost of college, according to Lumina Foundation.

Tuition costs at Texas public and private universities has skyrocketed in the last decade. According to the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, the statewide average of tuition and fees in 2013 for 15 semester credit hours at public state universities was $3,951. This amount represents a 104 percent increase from 2003. Private schools such as St. Edward’s University in Austin are also experiencing similar increases in tuition costs.

Savannah Garza, a 2014 Akins graduate and St. Edwards sophomore said her tuition increases are out of control.

“Tuition is growing every year, when I got here it was $36,000 (a year) and next year it will be $40,000,” Garza said.

Of course, tuition and fees are just one component of college expenses. Housing costs are another major expense, especially if you attend college in Austin.

In 2016, the average rent in Austin for a one-bedroom apartment was $1,203 a month and for a two-bedroom apartment it’s $1,575 a month. Not including expenses for utilities, food and entertainment.

Completing college is an expensive proposition, especially considering the fact that 47 percent of college students receive little to no financial support from their parents, according to the study by the Lumina Foundation. Luna, who is taking three classes at ACC this spring, works about 30 hours a week to pay for her living expenses.

“I have my own apartment and I have to work to take care of myself,” Luna said. “It has taken a really huge pull on me.”

Moving out on your own is a huge transition, which includes buying the right essentials such as clothing, toiletries, office supplies and room storage.

Going away to college on your own can also be a difficult time emotionally because it may be the first time in a person’s life they have been away from everyone they know, including their parents and high school friends. The thought of having to live alone without depending on anyone can be stressful.

“I always have to bring pictures of my family and friends and postcards and I think decor is really important because a dorm can feel like a prison sometimes by the way it looks,” Garza said.

Despite the party lifestyle that is often portrayed in college movies, when college students actually have time to themselves they would rather just stay at home and relax.

“I have definitely become more low key,” Garza said. “It’s just too exhausting to balance going out on top of trying to get good grades and manage your sleeping schedule.”

College is a place where students learn to think for themselves and begin to find their future identities, Simmons said.

However, it can be easy to forget about the longterm benefits of college when students experience stressful situations.

Simmons said it is important to keep in mind that you are working toward earning a career that will benefit you for the rest of your life after you earn your college degree. College graduates on average earn $1 million more than high school graduates over their lifetime, according to a Georgetown University study.

Part of the challenge of college is learning to live independently, which is difficult whether you are in college or not, Simmons said.

Although college students sometimes do not see their old friends and family much, they have opportunities to meet new friends and form new relationships that they otherwise would not. Valentina Tovar, who graduated last year from Akins and now attends Texas A&M University, said she has already gained new friends and has found time to enjoy being in college.

“We go out to eat and we definitely go to a lot of football games we also go to the movies,” she said. “We mostly socialize and study, which is where we get together with our friends and study.”