FInal Podcast

The episode discusses the challenges faced by out-of-state college students. Moving away from home can be difficult, and many people are unaware of the trials that out-of-state students go through. These trials can affect their mental health and academic performance. In-state students have it easier, as they can easily travel home whenever they want. Out-of-state students deal with homesickness, higher tuition costs, time management, and adjusting to sharing a dorm room. It takes time to adjust to the change, but it's important for out-of-state students to know that they are not alone. Bringing attention to these challenges can help reduce stress for these students. Welcome back to this week's episode of Keeping Up with Ella Harry. Last week, we talked about college and the pros and cons of going to college. This week, we are going to be tackling the idea of in-state versus out-of-state college, mainly diving into the idea of out-of-state trials. And I personally have experienced this firsthand, so I will be adding my own personal stories. Moving away is hard. One second you are living in your childhood home, and the next you are moving into a foreign state for college. If you choose to take the big step to move that far away, because many kids do not, being so young and making the decision to go to a college far from your hometown can be very challenging, and many people are unaware of this. Out-of-state college students struggle with many trials that can affect their mental health, which can then affect their academic performance. As you all know, it is very normal to stay in-state for college. I go to Utah State University, and I would say the majority of the students that go there are in-state students, living at an average of two hours away from campus. Although I am part of the out-of-state community. I am from California, as many of you know, but this means that when I want to go home, I either have to drive 13 hours or I have to pay for a flight home. But in-state students have it way easier at these times. This leaves most of these in-state students being able to travel home for weekends whenever they want, if they have access to a car. But no one thinks about the out-of-state students that can't just drive home every weekend. For example, this last weekend was Easter weekend. This meant that all of the in-state students hopped in their cars on Friday after school and made the one or two hour drive home to their houses for the weekend to celebrate Easter with their families. I was one of the very few students that stayed on campus Easter weekend because it's not that easy for me to get home like the rest of everyone. People aren't aware that out-of-state students deal with many trials that in-state students don't have to worry about. There are many of these trials such as homesickness, out-of-state tuition and prices. Going to a school where you know no one, time management and even sharing the dorm room for the first time ever. When I first moved 600 miles away from home six months ago, it was such a big change for me. The first week on campus was so fun. So much was going on and I was meeting so many new people. After about a month of living on campus, I started to struggle quite a bit and everything hit me at once. I really missed my family back home and I was so busy with school and all of my responsibilities. While I was struggling and missing my family, I noticed that almost everyone around me was going home to visit their families and driving home almost every weekend. I thought to myself that this wasn't fair and that I wish that I would have chosen a school closer to home for this exact reason. I was honestly miserable and I just wanted to go home every weekend. But for me it wasn't as easy as just getting in the car and driving an hour or two home. It took me months to fully adjust to this change and there were points where I almost transferred to a school closer to home. But I am forever grateful that I pushed through because now I am so happy, no matter how far away from home I am. I don't think that in-state students realize how hard it can be for us out-of-state students to adjust and become comfortable. Out-of-state students struggle with many trials that people are unaware of and this needs to be brought to more people's attention because it is very normal for out-of-state students to struggle mentally for a long time. It is normal for them to feel alone, but they need to be aware that there are other students going through the same thing that they are going through. Transitioning to college as an out-of-state student leaves these students full of stress and can affect their academic performance tremendously. When a student gets stressed, they tend to do worse on exams and assignments. Out-of-state students are juggling many trials such as homesickness, tuition, roommates, and time management. This is leaving them to worry about many things other than just academic performance, leaving them to sometimes not worry about their grades as much because they have so many other things to stress about. Mental health is very important for college students because most of these times these students are feeling so alone. Going to college can increase stress already and adding to the trials of being an out-of-state student can increase the stress levels tremendously. Bringing this to attention can help more people become more aware of the out-of-state students. This can help out-of-state students feel less alone and less stressed because they will know they aren't the only ones going through these trials. Although there's not much to solve the issue simply because these kids decided to take the big step of moving far away from home and they need to be aware that they are going to come across these trials. But bringing it to attention can release a little bit of stress for these students.