When the New Year begins, the senior class celebrates because their graduation year has finally rolled around, but it’s not all fun and games being a senior. In fact, there’s actually a lot of stress that comes with senior year that is slightly overlooked.
Application Process
College applications opened up for the class of 2026 around July, which meant it was time for a lot of seniors to begin their steps to the next chapter of their lives.
It can be very stressful for seniors when they have to gather up letters of recommendations, transcripts, and yet still figure out what they even want to major in. Throughout the application process, just waiting for a college’s admissions decision feels like a never ending sea of stress.
Students have to write essays, pay application fees, and still maybe even have to visit campuses to their prospective colleges. This can be extremely overwhelming for seniors especially since this all takes place in the heat of their final year of high school starting up.
Financials
Once a student gets accepted, commits to their college and finalizes their major comes the second most stressful part in this journey… how they are going to afford college.
You’d think that finalizing where you’re going to college would lift this huge weight off your shoulders, but it only temporarily does because a new weight falls upon you, which is financial aid/scholarships.
When seniors come back from their winter break, not only do they come back with senioritis, they all come back with stress and dread for the months to come.
It is extremely overwhelming for seniors to keep track of all the scholarships they are going to fill out, when they are due, and what each essay needs to include in it.
Students have to make time to complete all these while they are also trying to balance their normal coursework, which just becomes too much very quickly.
FAFSA is another thing that stresses students out. There are students out there like me, who are the first kid in the family in a while to go to college, and everything has changed since my siblings went. Trying to complete and understand FAFSA, as well as PHEAA grants, was an extremely stressful time for not just myself, but also my parents.
As students navigate through the rest of the admissions process, one thing they wait for are their financial aid offers from the college of their choice. It is just as stressful receiving this offer as it is waiting for it, because it could be a lot of help, or not much at all, then another weight is dropped on both the students and parents on how they are going to afford this education.
How to support seniors during this time
The months to come are going to be some of the most stressful for seniors, and they may become overwhelmed, anxious, exhausted, and possibly irritated.
To all the seniors, it’s going to be okay, you just have to trust the process, and know that all the hard work is going to pay off, and soon you’ll get to step into the next chapters of your lives, just hang in there!
To the support systems around seniors, be patient and understanding to all the emotions that seniors might express these upcoming months. The stress and financial pressure that weighs on their shoulders may seem bigger than they can handle some days; just continuously be there for them and reassure them that it’s all going to be okay!
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