Why US college students are worried about money and jobs

Colleges and universities across the United States are under extreme pressure, financially and politically. Their students are feeling stressed out, too.

- Alyce McFadden

Students are juggling not just homework, but often jobs and families as well. Artificial intelligence (AI) is changing how they study and how they are taught. Seniors worry about being sent into an uncertain world after graduation. On top of everything else, students fret about the political turmoil swirling around them. And some are lonely.

The New York Times travelled to campuses around the country and spoke in phone interviews with over 60 students, including undergraduates and graduate students. At community colleges, public universities and private colleges, students talked about how changes happening in higher education and in society more broadly are affecting them.

Many said there’s a lot to love about college: kindhearted professors and new friends, having access to healthcare, the thrill of learning every day. Most said they had no doubt their degree would be worth the cost of tuition.

Here’s what is on their minds:

AFFORDING TUITION AND EXPENSES

A four-year degree can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, a giant financial investment. Some elite universities have recently advertised beefed-up financial aid. The Trump administration is demanding that schools freeze their tuition.

But tuition is only a piece of the affordability puzzle for students. Housing, everyday necessities and the cost of caring for children also weigh on many.

Mr Chris Martin, a radiology student at Valencia, a community college in Orlando, Florida, said college is expensive and difficult. “I have a baby right now,” he said, “and it’s hard to balance family life with how much you have to study for everything.”

Ms Ameera John, 20, saves money by living with her mother in Brooklyn, but her commute to LaGuardia Community College in Queens takes an hour. Sometimes she is late and professors aren't always sympathetic.

“I'm trying to do my best,” she said. “It’s really stressful.”