Asking for Help

You'll Face Challenges - We'll Face Them With You

We possess a diverse student population at Fairmont State.  Take a moment to look around your classroom and you'll see students representing geographic origin, ethnic backround, religious preference, gender, generations, and more.  You may find yourself struggling with challenges unique to one of those groups you belong to; additionally, you'll be facing challenges universal to college students.

Contrary to what popular culture portays, it is rare to graduate college without a few bumps along the way.  We are here to keep those bumps from becoming roadblocks. So what kind of problems might you face or be facing?

• Mental Health
  Depression, anxiety, PTSD, attention deficits, and more. Take your emotional wellness seriously – it is arguebly the most important contribution toward your success.
• Location Change and Homesickness
  Struggling to adjust after a move isn't immature or irrational. It is human! You've left familiarity behind and are faced with the unknown. While you are working to create your new "normal", don't be afraid to lean on others for support.
• Social Adjustment
  Maybe you left your friends and family behind, and opening up to new people is difficult. Maybe you were trying to escape and some peers made the same college choice, leaving you feeling the need to avoid them.  Maybe your roommate eating pickled relish and blasting polka wasn't what you expected.  Slightly less than half of the United States identifies as being introverted, and meeting people beyond a digital screen seems to get more difficult each year.  From interpersonal conflicts to social isolation, these experiences are extremely normal. 
• Academics
  Your major doesn't suite you, but changing your major seems like wasting time and effort. Or maybe you just don't know where to go when plan A fell apart.  You could be in College Algebra and simply cannot understand the material needed for the next test.  Maybe you are in Introduction to Psychology and realize your note taking and study skills definitely aren't up to par.  When a door is locked and a key doesn't work, yelling at it and using the same key more aggressively will yield the same result. Similarly, believing your academic approach simply needs more effort when it doesn't work can lead to repeated results. We have academic support available for you. Use it!
• Financial
  No doubt about it – college is expensive. Paying for classes, living arrangements, books, basic necessities, and keeping food in your belly is a financial burden, and that burden can weigh heavily on you. If you are supporting others at home, that pressure can be feel overwhelming at times.  Our Financial Aid Office works to make sure that our students are awarded every cent they are eligible for. In addition, we can help with budgeting to see what your expense will look like to help you with planning.   

The honest truth is that admitting to someone that you have a problem is one of the most difficult actions when addressing something you are struggling with. You may perceive it as displaying a weakness, or that there will be social implications.  Maybe you don't trust that you'll find help, or that everyone goes through the same issues and you need to manage it better.

Unless you are struggling to figure out what that big bright thing in the sky is, the problems you are having are likely shared by many of your peers.  You are only cheating yourself if you minimize your challenges and don't find a strategy or support to help you overcome.  "Oh, everyone rage cries after submitting a paper." You may be surprised that not everyone does.