Color, Race and Money in College
Introduction
Various issues affect college life. In such situations, race, color and money play a huge role in determining how students go through life in college, particularly at the first year of enrollment. These factors couple with personal attributes, such as the socioeconomic status, mental ability, level of family involvement, academic skills, and motivation to influence how first year students cope with life in college.
Color and Race
Race and color play out together in influencing students relations. Therefore, within college, color is a considerable factor that determines how students interact. As a first year student, I feel that most friendships anchor on the color or race factors. It is common to see white students interact mainly with their white counterparts, as black students mingle with their black colleagues.
A lack of better social relations has contrived students to use color or race as a major factor in grouping. This has been common because some colleges still experience strained racial relations among students. At first year, this becomes quite demeaning when a person finds roommates with tendencies to invoke racial slurs. It shows disrespect. In spite of several attempts to deal with racial issues in colleges, the vice occasionally continues to show up when students interact. Unfortunately, racial issues are hardly new in college life. Even first year students join college knowing that such instances occur. This makes the situation worse because they orient their mind to racial stereotypes regarding various races. Because of this, there is high level of racial intolerance. Therefore, racial grouping becomes the default line for interactions and formations of friendships.
Students who have developed and grown in homogenous environments find it difficult to operate in racially heterogeneous environments offered within school setups. Such students have a higher likelihood of using racial slurs against other races because they cannot appreciate diversity. On the other hand, those from racially heterogeneous backgrounds find it easy to cope with all races. Their previous backgrounds give them a foundation to lay their behavior or conducts hen dealing with people from different races. This situation played out significantly for most first year students in Trinity College. In such situations, it became clear that upbringing plays a crucial role in determining interracial relations among first year students.
Even though some students are quick to dismiss racial stereotypes and racial intolerance, the situation becomes quite regressive to first year students when it comes to racial inclusion and acceptance. In this regard, the racial issues are highly detrimental during the first year of study. It disorients students’ social life. In light of this, most of the victims have been the people of color. Such situations create invisible walls between students of various races. This has been the main reason why first year students find it easy to fit within socially acceptable boundaries of interactions. The issue of affirmative action worsens the situation on how people from races view one another, even though it has been useful in advancing the recognition human dignity, as a critical aspect of life, irrespective of race.
The issue of race and color has prevented many first year students from feeling a sense of equality and value, as members of their colleges. This leads to isolation and exclusion of some students, particularly among the monitory groups. This creates mistrust, discomfort, fear and resentment about others. The situation can result in a continuous psychological stress and anxiety, which pose negative impact on college life, learning, and overall health and wellbeing of a student. Some new students suffer from racism in silence. Some students take racial slurs as jokes and apply them most of the time when encountering people from other races. Such trends aggravate the situations. Unfortunately, the managements of most institutions leave these jokes to go unchecked. In some cases, the issue of race and color has led to fights among students. Some students who cannot tolerate jokes find it difficult to accommodate such thoughts and resort to violence as a means for vengeance.
Money
Since joining Trinity College as a first year student, I know and understand that going to college requires big financial commitments. This means that I have to manage my money carefully. Unfortunately, at first year, I see many students still do not know how to use their money wisely. In most instances, college first year students do not know how to budget appropriately to enable them meet the numerous needs that can support their learning. Budgeting may appear obvious. However, it is surprising how several students fail to make proper estimates on the amounts they need to meet various needs. First year students just go on a spending spree only to come to their senses when they have misused a substantial amount. They cannot make simple budgets that can enable them to meet their daily educational needs, as well as those for personal upkeep.
Most students do not even think of saving part of their surplus money for future use. Money factor has played out significantly in influencing the lives of students in college. It poses enormous impact on how students interact and make friendships with one another. Students usually consider the financial background of others in choosing whom to make friends. Some students misuse their money to a point where they have to depend on payday loans. In the end, their debts spiral out of control. This brings about considerable suffering to such first years students. In view of this, improper budgeting of the limited funds by students prompts them to experience extreme cash shortage. This creates much suffering, forcing students to opt out of college.
Some students expend considerable part of their money in funding trips to foreign countries. While such trips might be useful in enabling them to explore the world and enhance their view on cultural or racial diversities, it really hurts their ability to sustain their academic programs. The students employ money on things that are unnecessary in view of their learning needs. The situation becomes worse when their parents cannot help much in meeting their financial needs at the college. Some first year students resort to huge student loans thinking that repaying will be easy once they complete their education and get a job. They fail to recognize the need to take on as much debt as they need to receive the education they want. This leads to inappropriate use of money by many first year students.
Being a first year student in Trinity College, I feel that other students do not take into account their family financial backgrounds when determining how they should use their funds. They end up falling prey to the senior students who introduce them to the consumerist culture that exists in the college. To such students, they fail to consider the broader perspective of enhancing financial probity, which ought to give a genuine sense of their financial reality. Because of this, they fail the test of ensuring financial control. This puts them in a precarious situation as time progresses. They end up in failing to acquire even course materials.
It is also common to see students form friendships based on their financial status. Those from affluent backgrounds develop close relations because of they go out together for events that others cannot manage to pay. Therefore, money can be a crucial factor in determining social lives of first years, as, in some cases, interpersonal relations rely on financial status.
Conclusion
As I have observed during my first year as a student, color, race and money immensely influence students’ lives, particularly during their first year. These factors combine to inform the external environment which a student has to contend with when seeking to achieve his or her college education. They have been responsible for influencing learning outcome of most students.