Problems That Can Be Faced By Family Island Students

To many Bahamian parents, it is believed that it is more convenient to send their son/daughter who’s ripe to the college world and has no experience with college life to a well-known college that is close to home, which for many living in The Bahamas is The University of the Bahamas located in Nassau. Previously known as The College of The Bahamas, on the 10th of November 2016 the University of the Bahamas was chartered by an Act of Parliament of The Commonwealth of The Bahamas. Now, with the new prestigious title, quite a bit of Bahamian parents feel more comfortable sending their child to the University, however with some of the family island students, despite them attending a university in their country, they still encounter some of the same challenges if they were to study abroad.

Some of the problems that can be faced by some Family Island students attending the University of the Bahamas are, troubles with housing, transportation as well as homesickness. When relocating to a different island, finding a nice, comfortable place to stay can be a challenge faced by some Family Island students moving to Nassau for college.

First of all, not everyone has a relative who lives in Nassau that they can depend on to provide shelter for them while they are embarking on their college journey and for some, living with someone who they know and are comfortable with is more desired than renting an apartment and having a stranger as a roommate so that they would be able to afford the rent or just living by themselves. Moreover, the financial situation of some parents can get in the way of them being able to help provide their child with a comfortable living space. Most parents more than likely would prefer if their child lived in a nice and safe neighborhood that is close to the university to lessen their worry of being away from their child, however, some parents cannot afford to rent a nice apartment in a good neighborhood. Dorm rooms, are also available for Family Island students who are in need of a place to stay but the process of getting a room can be quite a hassle, not to mention there are times when there are no dorms available at the time. Due to this, the child may feel like they need to take on a job in order to help their parents and this can affect the way he performs in his classes. This is a problem that some of the family island students encounter when attending the University of The Bahamas. Furthermore, getting to and from various destinations can be a difficult task for some Family Island students attending university in Nassau.

Although Nassau is known to be one of the smallest island in The Bahamas, it can still be a bit confusing getting around it especially if one is depending on using a “jitney” to get to where they need to go. The bus system in Nassau can be tough one to understand and therefore for some Family island students who probably have no idea of how it works, can find themselves taking an unintentional excursion around Nassau whilst trying to get to various places that they need to be. Also, for those who do not need to depend on “jitneys” to take them around and has their own car to do so, may not really know their way around Nassau and can end up getting lost and finding themselves in the not so nice areas of Nassau. Their lack of knowledge on how the bus system works as well as how to get around Nassau can also lead to them missing a lot of their classes, being late to their classes or having a bad attendance and correspondingly a lot of other problems in general that are unrelated to university. Therefore, transportation is a problem that some Family Island students can face when studying at the University of The Bahamas.

Transitioning from a quiet town to a big city can be challenging for some Family Island students and can lead to them experiencing home sickness. Majority of the family islands are extremely underdeveloped and the inhabitants are used to living a very tranquil and quiet life compared to that of Nassau. Nassau is a very populated, busy, lively and somewhat dangerous city. People are always on the go, the roads are almost always flooded with cars and you can meet a new person every day and for some family island students, this lifestyle will be completely new to them. It’s not at all like the family island life where they probably saw the same people every day, were able to walk wherever they wanted to go and not fell threatened and never had to sit in traffic. This huge transition can lead to some family island greatly missing their home and wanting to return.