Is this the right place for me? Which classes should I take? How am I going to pay for all this? Everyone in the world goes through cognitive dissonance at least once a day. But when it comes to college students, cognitive dissonance happens more often than it should. The stress that students have to go through in order to make it through a year at a college or a university is over whelming. Determining the problem, why the college or university should be concerned, the solutions, and a short-term plan should put everything in perspective.
             Cognitive dissonance is defined as, "When people recognize inconsistency between their values or opinions and their behavior, they tend to feel an inner tension," (Lamb, Hair, and McDaniel, pg 80-81). Before a student even enters college, they are under the stress of having to choose what campus to apply for, being accepted, declare a degree, and then determine what classes to sign up for. After they get into the university then are under more stress! Determining transportation, whether to buy or rent textbooks, and mainly how to balance your time between school and work are just a few stress factors.
             As a returning and working student, I know the stress of college all too well, especially with College. The cognitive dissonance created by College is the fact that it offers only programs to be completed in a two-year cycle. For those students who must work and go to school there's always a conflict of balancing their work load with their schooling, while keeping up with the program's class rotation. A working student could easily have a conflict between the program's class schedule and their work schedule. Missing a class taught during Winter quarter could possibly mean not having another opportunity to take that class until the following year, let alone if it was a prerequisite to another class.
             College should be concerned with the students that are full-time and a...