Campus Connect Weekly Contest - Week 17 - Challenges As A Student On Your Campus By @wilosmith

CHALLENGES AND LIMITATIONS AS A STUDENT ON CAMPUS

As a 23 year old undergraduate in a Nigerian university, I would say that I have had a fair share of challenges that I had to not only pass through, but also to overcome in order to keep my head above water. This meant a lot because this place is a jungle and only the strong and relentless in heart can come out with their desired results.

The school system is set in place to give you no rest; literally; or at least that is exactly what it looks like!

I am a business minded individual and I try to balance my academics with my upstart; my business venture that I'm so passionate about. I totally understood the weight of my decision before I decided to begin a little online business and side hustle but nothing prepared me for how difficult handling both would be.
The academic syllabus is set in such a way there is near suffocation with the workload; thus barely leaving time for extracurricular activities.

This is a problem that seriously threatens scaling my business: I’m afraid it wouldn’t get to the heights I envisioned it until I’m out of college. It’s very demanding but I guess that is one of the prices we pay for success.
The idea is that while in college, I'd do what I love, turn it into a money generating business and have an advantage in the labour market once I graduate.

Some courses we are being necessitated to offer in college are clearly unnecessary to the program we are currently undergoing. This makes the situation even worse. Students are expected to know and memorize so many things that are not relevant to their field of study just to meet up with the “unit load” and keep them occupied, thus consuming up the little time that could be used for extracurricular activities, hobbies and other ventures of interest.

Moreover, tuition is unnecessarily high, especially in state owned universities thereby making it more likely for students to graduate with debt even without the one hundred percent chance of not getting a job; because what is the guarantee that out of the significant percentage of unemployed graduates, that you would get employed? The chances are really slim! It is estimated that close to two thirds of college graduates are in debt largely because of the student loans and debts acquired during the course of studying. This is a huge limitation especially after graduation when you have to get all those debts paid back. It could really be a setback paying off debts instead of building your life and future. Students that graduate without debts have a competitive advantage in the outside market than those weighed down with debts.
Currently, I'm struggling with some debts that I have acquired due to student loans and barely keeping my head above water.

I don't believe it is necessary for college to be so stressful. Learning doesn't necessarily have to be stressful and tiring. It can be fun too and debt free!

The campus dormitories are another problem that could give you sleepless nights if you let it. It is funny and ironical that this is meant both figuratively and literally.
Since you are allowed to do almost anything you wish in the campus dorms, some students take this too far, making so much noise far into the night even when you want to study!
The state of the accommodations are nothing to write home about; poorly furnished and poorly maintained. We as students usually come together to contribute money to pay some external cleaners to maintain the state of the dorms as the university government has failed us on all fronts by failing to maintain the infrastructure that they built themselves!

All these are quite disheartening but above anything else, I love the resilient spirit of not just myself, but my friends and the students as a whole
We want to see our dreams achieved, we want to give ourselves a great headstart in life by acquiring our education notwithstanding the challenges. I believe it is something that has come to pass and above all, I believe every challenge is here to build me up. Before I drop the pen I want to use this opportunity to thank @campusconnect for organizing this contest.