What Troubles Most College Graduates?

Graduating from college is a huge accomplishment. Working hard throughout the college undergraduate curriculum is commendable. However, what happens after the commencement ceremony ends and the final piece of confetti hits the floor?

This is where post graduates find themselves in an unfamiliar situation. It may feel like the previous three summers where you go home, stop cooking and cleaning for yourself, have fun with friends, go back to your “home job” and just relax, but it isn’t. Unless grad school is on the table, undergraduate is done and it is now time for “real life”.

What post-graduate worries troubling college graduates today?

Finding a Job

This process may seem very cut and dry, but it isn’t. Job hunting has become very difficult for all jobs, let alone, entry-level jobs. The problem is how many companies are hiring versus the number of graduates applying. Thinking that by applying to many different jobs will ensure the odds of getting hired by at least one is not necessarily true. What really happens is the recent graduate applies to about 100 jobs and waits. This waiting process lasts about three to four months and it may only provide contact with 10% of the companies that were applied to.

This is discouraging to someone who is eager to start in the workforce.

Moving Back Home

Imagine living independently for four years then coming back home and being forced to give up some freedom. An example is the curfew. When living on your own, why have a curfew? Come in whenever it is convenient or, sometimes, not at all.

This all changes when moving back home. Especially without a job, a graduate is at the mercy of “the rules of the house”. Dinner at 6PM, be home by 2AM, do your chores, and my personal favorite, clean your room. This isn’t exactly how you imagined your post-graduation life.

Add to this, the lavish way you may have gone out in college. Friday, Saturday and sometimes Sunday were your days of leisure and play. Moving home, you have family responsibilities on most if not all of those days. Your four years of free rein, are over.

Debt

The word debt is one that you never thought would be in your repertoire. The unfortunately truth about school loans is debt. The four years spent gaining an education really does add up at the financial aid office.

Yes, there are those who are fortunate enough to have had financial help with their education; however, for 20-somethings, debt is a bigger fact than most would think. The stress of having to pay off student loans without a stable job brings post-graduate worries full circle.

The balance all of these new concerns, adds to the frustration post graduates face. It seems like a domino effect is at work in this situation.

Bottom line, post-graduate worries are real and justified.

Written By: Hilary Titus, Marketing Intern, Quinnipiac University