We know our students are dealing with massive disruptions to their academic lives, college experiences, and summer employment, as well as increased financial stress.  What you are dealing with is no small thing.  Here are a few resources to reach out to for support.

Contact your school, and in particular the Financial Aid Office, if you have questions about:

• Finishing the term and keeping your federal and other financial aid.
• Getting paid for federal work-study jobs if the job is not currently needed or you are unable to perform it.
• Your parents cannot go to their jobs because of the coronavirus, and they don’t get paid if they don’t work. This affects your financial aid needs.
• Any other financial questions you have about your college expenses, aid package, and income.

Contact Career Services at your school if you have questions about:

• The cancellation of summer internships and other employment.
• Opportunities for virtual jobs and other online programs being created by Career Services to help students during this time.

Contact QuadJobs if you’d like one-on-one career counseling with co-founder Andra Newman.  Andra has an extensive background in recruitment and HR.  The conversation can be tailored to your specific concerns.  If interested, please email [email protected].

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QuadJobs is an online platform connecting college and graduate students to local jobs.  From Saturday night babysitting to moving a couch to helping a local business during a busy time, students find flexible jobs that fit into whatever free time they have. By streamlining the employment connection between campus and community, QuadJobs unlocks jobs particularly well-suited for students’ busy, often changing schedules.  The platform tracks every job a student takes and gathers performance reviews.  Small jobs matter—they help a student network, earn income, and build a track record of work experience.  Local employers can hire with efficiency and confidence.

• Is there a skill you’ve always hoped to pick up? There will never be a better time for guitar lessons on YouTube or learning Italian.
• Create artwork for your home. Make your space beautiful and personal.
• Start or develop a mindfulness practice. Apps like Headspace and Calm make this easier than ever.  Even if it doesn’t feel like “you’re doing it right” during meditation, observe how you feel afterwards as you go about your day.  Do you see a difference?
• Find meaningful, life-giving ways to connect with friends. When video chats start to wear thin, consider sharing music or starting a book club.  Ask a friend to be your virtual running buddy and call each other to chat as you run through your respective hometowns.
• Make a list of movies you’ve always meant to watch. You’ll never have a better time to catch up on classics like Casablanca, Citizen Kane, Bridget Jones Diary, or The Shawshank Redemption.
• Get in great shape. The Peloton app is free for 90 days.  All you need is a phone to take advantage of their library of great workouts, meditations, and yoga classes.  When we can all get together again, wouldn’t it be great to feel great?
• Learn how to cook new recipes. You may have limited access to all the groceries you’d like, but is there anything you can make that feels special and delicious?  Find a great soup recipe online.  Perfect your oatmeal chocolate chip cookies.
• Be of service. Whether it’s helping your parents clean your home, delivering groceries for an elderly neighbor, or reaching out to local organizations who are caring for those with urgent needs, helping others always makes life better.  Look for an upcoming post with more ideas on how to be of service from home!
• Celebrate all the little wins. Our hearts go out to all the college students who just had their spring semesters uprooted.  It is no small thing.  Getting up, making your bed, and getting dressed in the morning is a win.  Eating well is a win.  Not falling into self-destructive habits is a win.  Getting some fresh air is a win.  You don’t need to set the world on fire right now if that’s not where you are.  You just have to do your best.  We are proud of you every step of the way.

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QuadJobs is an online platform connecting college and graduate students to local jobs.  From Saturday night babysitting to moving a couch to helping a local business during a busy time, students find flexible jobs that fit into whatever free time they have. By streamlining the employment connection between campus and community, QuadJobs unlocks jobs particularly well-suited for students’ busy, often changing schedules.  The platform tracks every job a student takes and gathers performance reviews.  Small jobs matter—they help a student network, earn income, and build a track record of work experience.  Local employers can hire with efficiency and confidence.

As colleges move to remote learning during the Coronavirus pandemic, many students are finding it challenging to maintain motivation for schoolwork and struggling with feelings of unproductivity.  The academic workload may be the same as when they were on campus, but many of the associations related to that work have changed dramatically.  For example, perhaps you used to study at your favorite carrel in a quiet library; now you find yourself taking Zoom classes in a noisy home that you share with other family members.  To bridge this transition, it is a good idea to create a new routine and environment that helps you regain focus so that you can be motivated and productive in your new setting for learning.  In essence, you want to establish good habits which will liberate you from minor stressors (such as where to do your work) so that you can turn your time and energy to more substantive, thought-intensive activities, like academics.

A few tips for remote learning and academic work:

• Define a physical space for work and class; if you’re in tight quarters, ask for use of a space for pre-determined times.  Be creative – as weather warms, a local park can serve as a workspace.  Do not work in bed!
• Set micro-goals – break down your assignments into smaller tasks and make a schedule to do each task.
• Remain communicative with professors and make use of virtual office hours.  Remember, they are still there to help you.
• Arrange a social study group using Google Hangouts or other platform if you don’t like studying alone.  Or, find an accountability partner so you can keep each other on track.

Good habits for daily living and minimizing stress:

• Designate a wake up time each day and get dressed.
• Set aside enough time to eat, exercise, and sleep, trying to avoid erratic sleep habits.
• Minimize external stressors like social media and the news.
• Consider accessing virtual counseling if you’re struggling with mental health issues.  Counseling may be offered through your student health center.
• A good rule of thumb for each day: achieve one goal, enjoy one reward, and connect with one friend or loved one.

Tips for Zoom Class Sessions:

Before the session

• Have the meeting number/URL/password ready and available.
• Review any materials sent by the host/professor.
• Have materials ready that you’d like to share.

During the session

• Use headphones if you’re in a noisy space.
• Get comfortable using the mute/unmute feature.
• Participate in class by
  • Using the Raise Your Hand feature in the Participants panel.
  • Typing questions or comments into the Chat panel.

Avoid potential embarrassment

• Share wisely by showing only one application at a time; avoid sharing your whole screen unless you’re OK with your class seeing everything.
• Keep in mind the host may be recording the meeting.
• Be sure you’ve left the meeting before doing anything else or chatting with classmates.

 

Aileen Hefferren is the Chief Executive of Prep for Prep, an educational access, leadership development program based in New York City.  Six hundred Prep students are enrolled at colleges across the country.    

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QuadJobs is an online platform connecting college and graduate students to local jobs.  From Saturday night babysitting to moving a couch to helping a local business during a busy time, students find flexible jobs that fit into whatever free time they have. By streamlining the employment connection between campus and community, QuadJobs unlocks jobs particularly well-suited for students’ busy, often changing schedules.  The platform tracks every job a student takes and gathers performance reviews.  Small jobs matter—they help a student network, earn income, and build a track record of work experience.  Local employers can hire with efficiency and confidence.

1. Develop new habits.

COVID-19 has thrown all our old routines in the air, and habits are essential to being productive.  Wendy Wood, a professor of psychology and business at USC, suggests that creating new routines and habits for our new circumstances can help us regain stability and focus.  Pay attention to how you start each day.  What is your exercise routine?  What habits can you build to support your online academic work?  Habits are the building blocks that help us automate healthy ways of eating, working, connecting with friends, keeping our home environments clean and orderly, and even relaxing.

“Habits also allow our brains to conserve energy for bigger, more challenging decisions,” says Parenting Specialist, LCSW Cristina Young, “If we don’t have to think about micro-decisions all day long, we will have more energy to devote to more important thoughts.”

2. Be careful about the news you’re consuming.   

Mental health experts seem unanimous in their advice that we should limit our news intake these days.  And be judicious with our news sources, sticking to reputable journalism or the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

3. Get enough sleep.

Sleep regular hours if possible.  Putting your phone or other devices down several hours before bedtime can help deepen your sleep.

4. Connect with friends and loved ones.

Throw on your ear buds and go for a walk while catching up with a college friend.  Use FaceTime, Zoom, and other tools to reach out and stay in touch with those who lift your spirits.  Young suggests planning to budget at least 30 minutes a day for connecting with friends.

5. Move.

Exercise will make you feel better.  Breaking a sweat is like a booster shot of serotonin.  Throw on your sneakers, ride your bike, or do an online workout.  Peloton is currently offering 3 months free on their app, which has a library of awesome classes from weight training to yoga to running.  Some of them are short, like 10 minutes.  “Exercise is like a car wash for our brain,” says Young, “It releases a chemical, which is found (synthetically) in most anti-depressants.”

6. If possible, drill down on your specific causes of anxiety.

Is it the loss of special events, like graduation?  Is it the stress of going to school online?  Is it missing your friends?  Is it fear of getting sick or having loved ones get sick?  Sometimes just naming the central anxiety you’re feeling can help you tame it.

Young suggests reminding yourself that while this situation is uncomfortable, it is only temporary.  She adds that it might be helpful to come up with a mantra to fall back on, such as “I can do hard things” or “This, too, shall pass.” Mantras allow our brains to return to a soothing, well-trodden path that calms our central nervous system when quietly repeated. The repetition of the words is soothing, and our brain begins to associate these words with feeling quiet and still.

7. Fresh air daily.

Even short amounts of it.  Research shows that this can significantly improve depression and anxiety.  According to studies, the critical amount is 2 hours per week.  Interestingly, nature seems more important than ever to humans because the trees, the flowers, and the birds are not sick. They are continuing with their normal schedule, which is reassuring and comforting when all else seems to be off or abnormal.

8. Find accountability partner/s.

Share your plans and routines with a friend or family member who can help you stay on track.  Miss your roommate?  Plan daily Zoom chats where you can run through what you got done that day.

9. Treat yourself. 

When you’re feeling down — which is totally understandable right now — it can help to have seratonin-boosting “treats” to look forward to.  Maybe it’s as simple as watching your favorite show.  Maybe it’s a hot bath.  Maybe it’s exploring new music online and putting together an amazing playlist.  Maybe it’s making brownies from scratch and sharing them with your family.

10. Read Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport.  

Make your own cost-benefit analysis of social media in your own life.  Is it serving you and making you happy to spend time on these platforms?  Does time on social media make you feel more or less anxious?

11. How to know if you need outside help.

If you find that you are having trouble getting out of bed in the morning, if you no longer have interest in things you used to enjoy, or if you are having trouble sleeping or have lost your appetite, a red flag should go up. If you used to share your highs and lows with a friend or a romantic partner, but you are keeping everything to yourself now, a red flag should go up. If you feel hopeless about the future or helpless about how to help yourself feel better, a red flag should go up. If you find yourself thinking about hurting yourself or someone else, please seek help immediately.

12. How to find outside help. 

Start with your pediatrician, general practitioner, or gynecologist, if you know and trust that person. They usually have a good list of local referrals. Check www.psychologytoday.com to read about local clinicians and to see information about their training, background, and even see a photo. Call the counseling center that is part of your university’s health center.  Check Family Services, Catholic Charities, or Big Brother, Big Sister for sliding scale services.

 

QuadJobs would like to thank Parenting Specialist, LCSW Cristina Young, for her contributions to this post.  You can follow Cristina on Instagram @cmytherapy or visit www.cmytherapy.com.

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QuadJobs is an online platform connecting college and graduate students to local jobs.  From Saturday night babysitting to moving a couch to helping a local business during a busy time, students find flexible jobs that fit into whatever free time they have. By streamlining the employment connection between campus and community, QuadJobs unlocks jobs particularly well-suited for students’ busy, often changing schedules.  The platform tracks every job a student takes and gathers performance reviews.  Small jobs matter—they help a student network, earn income, and build a track record of work experience.  Local employers can hire with efficiency and confidence.