By Michaiah Varnes//
When you walk onto any college campus right now, you’ll hear the same phrase repeated by many students: “I’m tired.” The phrase is said half as a joke, half as a coping mechanism, but it remains completely true.
Students collapse into chairs between classes, nap in the library, yawn in meetings and walk around like they’re constantly recovering from something.
The exhaustion students are facing is obvious. Yet the stereotype persists that students are lazy, distracted or unmotivated. These stereotypes are false.
College students aren’t lazy. They’re overwhelmed, and the world they’re trying to navigate is wearing them down faster than most people realize.
Individuals within the older generations imagine college as a time of freedom, light workloads, part-time jobs and open afternoons. That version of college barely exists anymore.
Instead, students are navigating academic expectations that grow every year.
Digital learning has made classes more flexible, but it also made it easier for professors to assign more work.
Students bounce between online readings, video lectures, textbook chapters, group projects, midnight quizzes and weekly discussion posts.
When students finish one thing, another notification is waiting. “New assignment posted,” or “Reminder: ‘something’ is due tonight.”
A student’s sense of being behind never goes away because everything is online. You’re always reachable. You’re expected to respond. You wake up to a wall of notifications from professors, clubs, supervisors, and classmates, all asking for something.
Being a student in 2026 means you rarely get a moment of silence.
Students face pressure in ways that people may not even realize.
“It impacts me even though I only go to school three days a week,” sophomore Lauren Noble said. “Those days are so jam‑packed that the rest of the week I’m just studying. I think people assume we have more free time because we’re in class less, but that time is really spent completing assignments and preparing for exams.”
It’s a reminder that the hours spent outside the classroom aren’t free time; they’re the real workload.
That’s only one layer of the issue.
Many students also work, not by choice, but because they have to.
The rising grocery costs, high textbook prices and increasing tuition make working a requirement for most students as a means of survival.
The requirement to work 20-30 hours a week, on top of a full course load, comes at a price.
Late-night shifts followed by early-morning classes drain students long before they reach the classroom.
Then, ironically, students will be judged based on their level of engagement.
These factors make for intense emotional strain on students. Anxiety is high, support is thin and they are expected to handle pressure without showing it.
The depiction of college life on social media can make everyone else look put-together, adding another layer of quiet stress to those struggling.
It creates a perfect storm. Students are trying, but exhaustion makes their effort invisible.
What gets dismissed as “laziness” is often students catching up on sleep or missing class because burnout finally hits.
The real issue isn’t motivation; it’s the unrealistic pressure placed on young people who are expected to perform at full speed despite their circumstances.
Erik Messinger, assistant professor of counseling psychology, said burnout is higher than ever among students.
“Young people are facing more pressure around school, their futures and the uncertainty of what that future might look like,” he said. “There’s also a pervasive perfectionist attitude or a sense that everything has to be done exactly right.”
Messinger added that academic pressure is compounded by financial strain and work obligations.
“It all feeds into one another,” he said.
Messinger believes students often aren’t aware of available mental health resources, or they fear counseling won’t be long-term or affordable.
“The resources are often there. Students just need to know where to look or who to ask,” he said.
Messinger also wants faculty and staff to understand that students can’t simply overlook mental health challenges.
“The pressures surrounding students can actively make symptoms worse,” he said.
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