Who Is Coming to College This Fall?

Not all college students come straight out of high school, but the majority still do. Most if the incoming freshmen were born in 2005, making them the same age as Facebook. Finding Nemo, The Lord of the Rings movies, and the iTunes Music Store are all older than these freshmen. To them, American Idol is a really old TV show that started 3 years before they were born

9-11 is ancient history. Phones have always had cameras and internet access. The # symbol is not a pound sign but a hashtag. YouTube came out before they could walk. Netflix was streaming since they were toddlers. And they were 9th graders when COVID started.

61.8% of their high school class will attend college. 45% report they are stressed out most of the time because of their studies. 70% think that anxiety and depression are crucial problems for their generation. 61% feel pressure to get good grades; 29% feel pressure to look presentable; only 4% feel pressure to use drugs and 6% feel pressured to use alcohol.

The average cost of one year of college with books and living expenses is around $36,500. In-state students pay an average of $26,000. and out of state average $44,000. In 2020, the total US student debt was $1.68 TRILLION.

Starting college is an exciting time, but for this generation especially, there is a background haze of stress, anxiety, depression, and uncertainty about the future. Will I get a job? Will I be able to pay my student loans? Will I learn the new technologies?

In the midst of all this newness, we proclaim an old, old message: “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, His mercies never come to an end. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.” Lamentations 3: 22-23.

In spite of the anxiety and uncertainty that new college students, and all of us, experience, God’s love is something that we can rely upon—steadfast and everlasting. Not stuffy and out of date but “new every morning.”     Pastor Kevin Clark THEREVKEV@ATT.NET