Financial stress? Break even now!
Niels Bakker | maart 4, 2025
We hear more and more in our practice that students are suffering from financial stress. Costs are skyrocketing, think of higher rent and tuition fees, unaffordable groceries and ever-rising prices in bars and restaurants. All this while pressure increasing measures, such as the long study fine and higher interest on your study debt, seem to be increasing.
Personally, I also always struggled with financial pressures in my college years. This was partly because I simply did not delve into my income and expenses. Every month was another surprise. So those last years of college I borrowed heavily because my side job was too limited in terms of income. All this caused stress. I absolutely did not need that extra pressure, because the study itself gave enough pressure! Recognizable?
Stress affects your performance
Whether it is money stress or study stress, this stress affects our performance. Many students wait for that “good” pressure at the end of each study block: they actually start studying just a little too late, almost always making it just a little too much in too short a time. Good pressure (“flow” in the graph to the right) then often turns into stress, as seen in the Yerkes-Dodson graph showing the relationship between achievement and pressure. If you experience financial pressure in addition to study stress, you quickly shoot to the wrong side of this graph. And as we all know by now: too much stress not only negatively affects your performance, but unfortunately also your (mental) health.
Stress affects your mental health
Prolonged stress, whether study related, financial, or both, can have major long-term consequences. After a short period of stress, the body returns to a certain balance, or homeostasis as shown in the picture below. With chronic stress, the body does not return to it, which can cause all sorts of health problems (Selye’s General Adaptation Syndrome). In addition, the stress hormone cortisol eats away at your happiness chemicals (serotonin and oxytocin), which can leave you feeling dejected and tense.
Break even now!
I can imagine this can make you feel helpless. That’s why I’d like to give you the following two tips:
- Calculate your break-even point! Make a calculation of all your expenses and income for a month (or number of months). Do this retroactively if necessary for an honest picture. See which expenses were really unnecessary. Then budget your next month and try to make conscious choices. For instance choose 1-3 expenses you want to change next month, and choose a realistic goal. E.g. don’t say: I’m never going to drink coffee again, but e.g. I’ll get max 1 take-away coffee a week, and invest in a thermos cup that I can fill at home. Also, this way you can see what your minimum income should be with a side job (which thankfully pay a little better with the increased minimum wage).
- Take a break! Every day we experience stressors. We live in a time full of stimuli, have devices full of stimuli, and so on top of that come the stresses of studying and money matters. Take regular stimuli breaks! Walk through nature without further distractions. Sit in your room for a while before diving into a social space and do a breathing exercise*, read a book, or listen to some music. Choose what suits you, but at least try to find a screen-free way of relaxing.
Whatever the new rules may be from the government that affect the pressure you experience from studying or your financial situation, stay aware of what is in your control. Hopefully the insights above will help you a little. If the stress still remains too high, feel free to contact Wake Up Student. Our Student Psychologists are happy to help you.
*A nice tension-reducing breathing exercise is the 4-7-8. Place your hand on your chest and the other on your navel. Inhale for 4 seconds through your nose to the hand on your belly and make a ball of your belly. Hold your breath for 7 seconds and then slowly exhale through your mouth for 8 seconds. It is not bad if this is 3-5-6 at first, but try to keep the ratio. Repeat 10x until you notice your shoulders drop a bit and you experience less tension.
