It’s that time of year again. You know it. It’s the time that comes at the start of the fall semester and at the end of the spring semester. These two seasons are, arguably, the best times of the year. What season is this? It’s the season of free stuff. It’s the time when college campuses across America give away free t-shirts, water bottles, pens, and more. They know we need a stress reliever, what better way to supply it than giving away free stuff, right?

If you’re anything like me, now that you’re in college, there is a real tie to stuff you get for free. If you’re lucky, you go to a school that gives away free t-shirts at sporting events. If that’s not the case, though, these two times of the academic year are the best. You’re broke. You’re trying to figure out what you’re doing with your life. You’re stressed out to the max with final papers, projects, and exams looming on the horizon. So when you go to a spring festival your college holds and you score a free t-shirt or water bottle, it instantly makes your day. We all know that free food is the prime way to get people together these days. This is especially true in college. It's just one more free thing to improve a college student's outlook on life.

People from previous generations that are separated from the system are constantly wondering why students are so addicted to free things. Well, its fro these reasons. The stress of higher education is like none other. We’re constantly working, checking to make sure all the boxes are checked to we can, eventually, graduate, while trying to graduate on time at any cost, being reminded of the next thing that needs to be done, while also trying to be a person and hang out with friends and have a good time before this chapter of life is over. When you’re trying to do all this at once, it’s incredibly easy to get overwhelmed and want to quit. Because in addition to this, many students are wondering, hoping, and praying how and when this education will be paid for. So, just like when you give a mouse a cookie, when you give a college student something free, they come back for more. It’s gratifying in that moment to claim that t-shirt and not be expected to pull out your wallet. And college students are constantly on the prowl for those moments when the stress melts away and all you feel is happiness.

So, this is college students’ connection to free things explained. There’s no stress in that moment. We’re broke, but we’re not expected to pay. And once you’re in college, you learn real quick that, in this world, you take what you can get. You live in the moment. Whether it’s the start of the fall semester, a sporting event, or the end of the spring semester, there is a tangible connection between college students and free stuff.