Date of Submission

Spring 2021

Academic Program

Psychology; Psychology

Project Advisor 1

Richard Lopez

Abstract/Artist's Statement

This study was aimed at understanding the various factors that affect pressure to succeed amongst American college students, with an emphasis on the financial burden of tuition. Previous research on tuition costs demonstrates that the cost to attend university has steadily and drastically increased since the mid-1970s. Student well-being and satisfaction is considered in light of the many causes of stress in a student’s everyday life. The burden of tuition, familial pressure, and academic self-concept are discussed as dynamic factors in student pressure to succeed. Student well-being and the impact of stress on student learning is also introduced in the research. In this study I analyzed students’ pressure to succeed using a survey that was distributed over the online platform Prolific to 78 participants . Results indicated that the most highly correlated factor with overall reported pressure was tuition cost. Second to tuition, I found that parental pressure was marginally correlated with overall pressure. Lastly, there was no correlation between academic self-concept and overall reported pressure. Possible causes for these findings are discussed. I hope that this research will create further interest into possible areas that affect students’ pressure to succeed and aims at promoting equal opportunity for all students to succeed in higher education.

Open Access Agreement

Open Access

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.

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