Moving on to college is one of the biggest steps one will take in their life. Seniors are getting impatient and excited to start the college life, but do they know what to expect when they get there? Triton Voice spoke to a couple of Triton Alumni who are now in college about their experience as well as advice for a college freshman.

Some choose schools closer to home while others choose to be as far away as possible. Home sickness seems to be a pretty common problem for college students who are far from home.

Kiana Rolfe, from the graduating class of 2013, is now 22 and attends Northern Essex Community College. Rolfe is happy with where her life is and NECC.

“I saved a lot money by choosing community college,” said Rolfe. “And I think there’s a stereotype about people who attend community, but in reality it’s just easier for my situation of living at home.”

Tessa Boyle, from the graduating class of 2017, is finishing off her freshman year at Plymouth State University. When asked how she felt about being 2 hours from home, Boyle responded, “I’m still not used to being far from home, but I have so many friends here that it makes up for it and I know my family is just a phone call away.”

Freshman year of college can be one of the most stressful since teenagers that have lived at home their whole lives are now moving out and living on their own. Students will often find themselves hitting obstacles they have never had to deal with. They now have the responsibilities of laundry, providing themselves with proper nutrition, budgeting and handling money, etc.

Budgeting money is definitely not a skill one can learn in a day. Temptations like clothes, restaurants, and entertainment are suddenly a problem. With nobody, like parents, to stop them one will blow through their money in the blink of an eye.

Emily Hirtle, a graduating Senior at Endicott College, has spent the past four years living away from home and despite being only about 20 minutes away, she didn’t always have her parents to help her out with money.

“So as far as budgeting goes and even making money in college finding a small part time job either on or off campus is really important and helpful in making sure that you have money to spend on other things that come up or even what you want to do with your friends,” said Hirtle. “I picked up random babysitting jobs by school, which gave me the ability to do things with my friends.”

“There are really helpful apps that can help you figure out a budget that I definitely would recommend looking into,” Hirtle also said.

“My biggest advice would be to prioritize your spending in college and think of what is most important,” Hirtle concluded.

Alyssa Lawson, who is now finishing her freshman year at Quinnipiac University in Connecticut, told Triton Voice her overall experience and gave advice for the seniors.

“My biggest advice for going into college is to understand that you’re around people that are much different than you,” explained Lawson. “At Triton, we had such a small community and grew up with similar values and ideas, but at college you can’t expect everyone to agree with you or have your back.”

“You can’t always rely on people to do what you would do in a situation and you really have to look out for yourself. I was always a perfectionist in high school and didn’t have problems with many people and I’ll admit that a lot of things went in my favor so to go to college and realize that I’m not automatically going to do well in classes and clubs and that I’m not going to be liked by people in my life was really hard to adjust to and I still have problems with because I’m just not used to it.”admitted Lawson.

“The biggest thing is to surround yourself with people who make you happy because you’re not just seeing them in your classes like high school but you spend your entire life with them there,” Lawson continued. “You become a family and you have to make sure you’re happy and comfortable with the people you choose and know that it’s okay to leave situations or people. You aren’t stuck to them like in high school.”

Going to college is a whole new way of life and one will find out through experience. Hopefully these Triton Alumni stories/advice will help guide the seniors on their journey.