5 Things The Class of 2017 Should Be Grateful For!

And with a throw of a cap, 3 years of student living are over!

Let's cheers to the university years!

To my fellow graduates, congratulations on being part of the surviving cohort of people who came out of university with nothing but holes in our pockets.

Just kidding!

Well done! We made it! We actually made it! 

3 years of hard(ish)-work has paid off and we've come out with a solid degree qualification, heaps of experience, and a whole lot of student debt... sorry, can't seem to get over the fact I'm very broke.

Most of us may still be trying to figure out what we want, but we'll eventually get there. Keep your head up, chums!

There's a lot we can be grateful for now that we've been unleashed onto the graduate job market, despite how daunting that statement seems. Here's a few things I was definitely grateful about...

1. We got our hands on maintenance grants!
   
   
   Maintenance grants weren't available to everyone, but they were incredibly helpful for thousands of students with lower-income households. Having a grant on top of the student loan meant that students got more support from the government that they didn't need to pay back, but this was discontinued for the 2016 academic year onwards. We were the lucky generation to grasp the last of this opportunity, and I think we should feel grateful about that.
   
   
2. Funding for Masters
   
   If you haven't had enough of the uni life, you're in luck! While grants were cut in 2016, funding for postgraduates courses were added, which means good news for us! You can continue studying at university without worrying as much about the cost and it'll still be there even if you decide to do a masters a few years down the line. Fab news!
   
   
3. No more student accommodation... hurrah!
   
   
   I don't know about you guys, but I'm so happy I'm out of those terrible student accommodations. My experience wasn't too bad, but having seen some students' flats and houses I'm just happy I don't need to associate with them anymore! It's no secret that student houses are nowhere near as good as they cost and this is an issue that really needs sorting.
   
   
   Why are you making students pay £400 per month for mouldy ceilings and awkward bedroom sizes? And if you expect us to pay rent, you better charge the rats and abnormally large spiders too.
   
   
4. All we've learnt from the last few years.
   
   Let's admit it, university wasn't easy at all. It's an entirely new experience for most - living away from home, being more independent, improving your transferable skills... it's a learning process and you've probably made several mistakes along the way, as we all have.
   
   The good news is that we always learn and grow from those mistakes, and at the end of the day, we've obtained uncountable amounts of new knowledge from just being around other students. We should be grateful for everything we've learnt, from meeting people from different cultures, to how to manage finances, and even to what laundry detergent to avoid in the future! 
   
   
5. Our university friends become lifelong partners in crime!
   
   This is hands-down the thing I'm most grateful for. All those amazing friends you made at university? Get ready for them to stick for life.
   
   I always wondered why it's said that the close friendships you make at university are lifelong, but now I see why. University becomes such a vital part of your growing process if you decide to go, so the people that you ride the journey with become equally as important. They were there through the all-night study sessions, the early morning post-night-out/pre-hangover takeaways, and all those times you needed an emergency 6 hour long chat session. If they were there for all of that and more, keep them close. Odds are they'll stay your true friends for life.

I recommend taking some time to reflect on the whole experience, even if only to drown out the thought of student debt with nostalgia. I hope you had a pleasant time at university as much as I did!

Mortarboard hats off to you, my fellow graduates. We're now real world adults and it's time to tick off some more achievements from our lists. We'll be victorious!

Get ready, world, school's out for the Class of 2017!

You can see what my graduation day was like in my July Vlog here on Youtube!

~ glessabella

xo.