'.Endof the year crunch brings _anxiety and unanswered questions

•With the close of another school year only a week and a half away, students are starting to tie up all the loose ends from a tedious and tiring semester. Even though everyone is itching to hit the beaches to get some color or start earning back the money they blew all year, it's hard to ignore the haunting pile of papers and projects overshadowing their dreams of summer fun.

For some, the end of the semester means big payoffs. Students are seeing the fruits of their labor in scholarships awarded and department honors being handed out. For these elite few, finals week is just a walk in the park.

As for others, finals week is a frantic rush to pull up that marginal grade. To those, it's known as "hell week."

With this week comes a heaping serving of stress and anxiety. Students are experts at finding ways to temporarily escape from the extremely difficult week. There are those who celebrate before their final even starts, by over indulging themselves in their drink of choice and procrastinating until the morning of the exam. The line at Jazzman's is always exceptionally long as some students get their caffeine fix to pull an all-nighter.

For another unlucky bunch, the stress doesn't stop when they close the books for the night. It follows them right to bed. This results in having to pop a couple Tylenol PM or some other sleep aid after endless hours of tossing and turning; anything to escape the oveIWhelmingpressure of success.

But, for one group of Cabrini students, these last few days are the culmination of their entire college career. Seniors are looking back at the goals they have accomplished and life skills they have acquired. On May 21, Cabrini will release the class of 2006 into the so-called "real world," but some are still facing major decisions about what to do with their degrees.

In corporate America and in the education field, some Cabrini alum suggest that continuing higher education immediately after college is the best road to take and graduates will reap endless benefits in their future careers.

With the ever-rising costs of tuition, especially at Cabrini, sometimes the decision becomes a little clearer. Graduates are finding it difficult to come up with the big bucks for graduate school after feeling the break at the bank from their undergraduate education. But, a masters degree or not, everyone finds their own way in their own time.

Whether it's the stress of final exams or life changing decisions, students everywhere on campus are feeling the crunch.

The Loquitur wishes the class of 2006 the best of luck with all their future endeavors and to the rest of the campus community, a happy, healthy and relaxing summer.