Many college students are too busy for relationships, already have a set group of friends or just are not interested in romantic relationships. Students should consider choosing to be single during college in order to maximize limited free time and have more opportunities for personal growth.
Over half of adults ages 18 to 34 have no steady partner, according to The Washington Post. This is a choice that makes a lot of sense for students who want to maximize the opportunities available to them during college, on both academic and personal levels.
When students date the same person throughout their college career, certain opportunities are missed out on. It is not a secret that there are certain sacrifices that people make to be in relationships. People sacrifice alone time, time with friends, money and sometimes even hobbies to spend time with their partner. Most of these sacrifices should not have to be made.
Unfortunately, personal growth is often the biggest compromise students make when being in a committed relationship during college. College is usually a time to grow as a person and discover one’s personal identity. The mistake many college students make is intertwining their own identity with someone else. When these relationships end, these individuals are often left with a fractured identity.
Although some college relationships last, many do not. It is important to establish a unique identity so that it is possible to become a strong and independent person regardless of relationship status.
College students only have about 3.9 hours a day for leisure activities, according to a study done by the New England Board of Higher Education. Adding a romantic partner to the mix can make it difficult to balance that with friends, alone time and extracurricular activities.
It is important to nurture and spend time working on romantic relationships for them to succeed. When looking at the lives of college students, time is usually a scarce resource. Balancing school, work, sleep, friends and a romantic relationship can be very difficult — if not impossible.
“Even though having a relationship is important to me, going to Disney and having this experience was more important to me,” junior media and entertainment major and Disney College Program participant Abby Yake said.
The main goal of college is to graduate with good grades to make sure there is a job waiting after graduation. It is important to keep one’s personal goals a priority and not let romantic relationships get in the way of schoolwork and graduating. No one wants to fail a class because they spent too much time with a partner instead of focusing on school, especially because many of those relationships are likely to end anyway.
On top of time, students are also sacrificing a good portion of money on dates and gifts. A relationship can cost students a lot of money. When someone is single, they are not spending money on either of these things and can instead save it or spend it on their own needs.
College is not the best time and place to hold a relationship, as it prevents students from focusing on and fulfilling all of the necessary requirements needed to graduate. By holding off on romantic relationships until graduation, students are putting themselves in the position to get the most out of college for themselves.
