Students struggle with love on campus
Ishmial Brown
Mesa Legend
Why do college relationships fail so often? Why do high school sweethearts leave high school looking like they’ll last forever but just happen to fall by the way side? While many married couples claim to have met in college, it is very rare to see a couple stay together for more than a semester.
This has led many to believe that college relationships simply cannot last beyond a dance at a bar and an occasional hookup. “Sex and temptation is everywhere. When I came here I thought I was pretty good looking, but not like really good looking. I was really shocked here that people that were really attractive found me attractive”. Thomas Pizzitola jokingly said. Pizzitola is a student at ASU who attempted to keep his high school relationship through college but failed.
“There’s a lot of freaks in college. In high school everyone is afraid to do freaky things because of the rumors and what everyone might think of them but college is so big that nobody cares,” he said. It is extremely common for students in long-term high school relationships to suddenly split upon entering college. According to Pizzitola, most college breakups involve cheating. “It’s sad to say that I’ve fell a victim to cheating. To tell you the truth college students aren’t ready. Half of college is partying and drinking so that automatically increases your chances of cheating. You meet so many people in college and theres a bigger variety.” Pizzitola admits that he has cheated and claims that with so much distance between him and his partner, it was almost impossible to remain committed.
This is an opinion he shares with MCC employee, Beth Bitter. Beth Bitter is a college graduate and an advising officer at MCC. Bitter recounted a tale of her old college friends. She said a classmate of hers at ASU was dating a student from U of A. According to Bitter, the lovers ultimately split, claiming that the rivalry between the two schools was too much for them to bear, however, Bitter suspects that distance was the real the issue. When giving her opinion on long distance college dating, she said, “It’s hard to stay in a relationship with someone when they’re never there. Distance is probably the biggest reason for college relationships ending.” College students seem to prefer short-term, casual relationships over long-term relationships because it allows them to focus more on their academic and career goals.
There are many students that have full-time jobs along with full-time jobs along with a full class schedule, leaving little time to seriously date someone. With a job, challenging classes, midterms ahead and finals looming, it’s hard to make the grade and maintain a healthy relationship at the same time. According to statistics, college couples usually break up around spring break, summer vacation, and right before winter break. When the semester ends, classes shift and the opportunity to meet new potential partners is sometimes all too tempting. College as viewed as a time for experimentation and being in a long term relationship is seem as major hindernce to potential one night stands and other new experiences.
And to many students, who live on a steady diet of ramen noodles, the expensive dinners, the roses and the chocolates associated with traditional dating are just too expensive. And thus, the recent “Netflix and chill” phenomenon becomes a cheap, appealing alternative Statistics on college relationships all come to a similar conclusion, one Pizzitola was brave enough to admit. “We just aren’t mature enough yet.”
