Final Friday
In this Issue:
- GradGuard $3,000 no-essay scholarship opportunity
- Consider tuition insurance
- Research suggests we stop pursuing happiness, and build something stronger
By the time the Daily Deac hits your inboxes, Friday’s final exams will be finished. There are two exams on Saturday – 9 a.m. and 2 p.m. – and then all students who are not graduating (or have been given approval by Residence Life and Housing) will need to depart their residential communities by 2 p.m. Sunday. Students can find more on the spring move-out website.
Graduating students living in University housing (which includes Deacon Place) will need to be moved out by 9 a.m. Tuesday, May 19, the morning after Commencement. I can’t stress enough to the ’26s and P’26s in the Daily Deacdom to start that packing and moving process early. You do not want to leave all that to the last minute, because Commencement weekend has a ton of activities (both official and friend-group-initiated) and you don’t want to run out of time.
Good luck to all our students wrapping up finals and boxing up their things. May you all finish strong and get home safely! Here’s what I have for you as we close out the week.
GradGuard $3,000 no-essay scholarship opportunity
Yesterday I got an email from one of my friends in the Student Financial Services office that GradGuard, our tuition insurance provider, is offering a scholarship opportunity for our students. GradGuard will be awarding five students $3,000 to help with college expenses through a no-essay application process that is open until May 31. The goal of this scholarship is to encourage students to think about protecting their education and belongings while also easing financial stress.
I have looked at the application page myself and it looks pretty straightforward, it’s quick to apply, and is open to current and incoming students. Apparently winners will be announced in late June. Students can apply here.
Consider tuition insurance
Related the the above item, I also wanted to take this opportunity to mention to all our newest P’30 families that they should consider whether optional tuition insurance is something their family might need.
I just had a conversation last week with someone who works with students who have to unexpectedly leave the university and my colleague wanted to be sure we are communicating the tuition insurance option. Here are a couple of snippets from the website that touch on key points:
“From a healthcare perspective, tuition insurance offers significant peace of mind for both students and parents. Illnesses are unpredictable, and when they occur, students often struggle with their academic responsibilities, which can lead to depression, fatigue, and feeling overwhelmed. These feelings can further affect their healing process. Many students will push through their illness, worried about the financial burden, potentially leading to prolonged illness and continued academic challenges. Tuition insurance can alleviate this concern, giving students the peace of mind they need to prioritize their health and recovery.” — Cathy Higginbotham MHA, BSN, RN, Executive Director of Deacon Health
An unexpected withdrawal due to sickness or injury can mean significant financial consequences for families. Wake Forest offers an elective tuition insurance plan through GradGuard that will help minimize financial loss if a student suffers a serious illness or accident and must withdraw before the end of a semester.”
Wake Forest does not financially benefit from enrollment in GradGuard. On a personal note, I have GradGuard tuition insurance for my own student, just because I have witnessed families in the past who wished they’d purchased it before an emergency happened with their student.
There is no right or wrong, just what is right for your family – so choose what works for you.
Research suggests we stop pursuing happiness, and build something stronger
My colleagues who work with news just published a really interesting story on the research of Christian Waugh, our professor of psychology. Dr. Waugh studies emotions, stress and coping, and has some ideas on why we the pursuit of resilience—rather than happiness—is the way to go. Here’s one of the questions/answers from the story:
“Your research suggests that valuing happiness too highly can actually make us less happy. Why does the direct pursuit of happiness backfire, and what should we be aiming for instead?
One of the things that we’re told in our society is to be happy. It’s become an industry now that people want to make themselves happy but there’s sometimes a danger to that. When we pursue happiness, we think to ourselves, ‘Am I doing this well?‘ The problem is that when we’re stressed or we’re feeling negative emotions we think that maybe we’re not happy, maybe we’re not doing something right. When negative emotions happen and bad things happen, these aren’t indicators that you’re not doing well. They’re indicators that you’re just living a normal life. So the framing should not be about pursuing happiness at all costs and thinking of negative emotions as threats, but rather it should be about knowing that negative things are going to happen and staying happy despite and, sometimes, because of them. This is what resilience is and it’s a better goal to pursue.”
It was a really interesting read and I recommend it highly; see the full article.
If you’ve made it to the end of today’s Daily Deac, you know we have one item left: a meme for students still going through finals. It was hard to pick which one to offer today, so I am giving you a sampling of some of my favorites. Take what serves you.
