Are Students Prepared for Daily Life After College?
Illustration by Noelle Mitcham
Article by Jayden Forsyth
NEWBERG, Ore. – As students enter college, a majority of them are also reaching adulthood. While they legally become adults at 18 years old, college acts as a buffer zone between assisted adulthood and independence.
Once the college social framework, campus amenities and housing are gone, graduates are on their own with taxes, living space repairs, auto maintenance and more–whether they’re ready or not.
For many students at George Fox University (GFU), the thought of “adulting” doesn’t seem so bad, perhaps because college has already given them a taste of adult life. Results collected from an anonymous poll reflect this.
Out of 193 students who participated in the survey, 59% indicated that they felt ready to live and do adult things on their own after college, including managing finances and taxes, cooking for themselves and residence upkeep. The remaining 41% of students indicated they were not ready for this new experience, showing that there were still a lot of people uncertain about independence.
While the majority of students feel prepared to live on their own, they won’t truly know what it will be like until after they graduate. Fortunately, Nathan Rowe, a junior GFU student, has some tips to help.
“I would say that time management is a really huge part of life that we get to partly experience in college,” said Rowe. “Start with your calendar. Trying to vaguely stick to the schedule is really important.”
“For household chores, set up a list. If you see something needing done, it’s best just to do it while it’s on your mind,” Rowe added. He said that being intentional is the main and best method to approaching adult responsibilities.
Rowe lives in a house on campus and does most of the cleaning and upkeep, as well as handling his own taxes. “I’m still trying to figure [adulting] out for myself. Scheduling things out, intentionally giving yourself time to decompress, is really important,” he said.
Ethan Lex, a recent graduate of GFU, is living his first year as an adult outside of college. “Things are going well,” said Lex. “I feel prepared by George Fox character-wise and I feel prepared emotionally and spiritually to go into the real world as a human trying to do good.”
“I live in a trailer covered in pine needles and I need to fix the oil on my car,” said Lex. “I’m still learning to do new things; boring things that can be useful and integrated spiritually. They don’t just have to be boring.”
Lex had this to offer as parting advice: “It’s important to stay uncomfortable. I think it’s easy to get into your situation and stay there for a long while because it’s easy but…it’s good to embrace a 5% amount of discomfort every day.”
For Rowe, who is nearing the end of his college journey and for Lex, who is just starting his independent adult journey, GFU has helped prepare both for adulthood challenges–spiritually and practically.
