As the end of the semester approaches, students feeling overwhelmed from course work have options to help lower their stress.

NMU Counseling and Consultation Services and the Academic and Career Advisement Center (ACAC) both offer services to students who are dealing with stress during their semester.

“We have walk-in hours where someone is always available to help with anything academic related,” said Lina Blair, director of orientation and assistant director of the Academic and Career Advisement Center at NMU.

The accumulation of student workload, social time restraints and financial strain can also contribute to student stress during the fall semester according to NMU Counseling and Consultation Services.

“Students get surprisingly stressed about registering for classes,” Blair said.

ACAC is available to help students pick classes that are appropriate for them and also match their learning style. Staff at the ACAC know faculty in nearly every department at NMU and therefore know the teaching styles of many instructors, Blair explained.

Blair said students also feel stressed academically from being behind in classes, midterm scores and not putting enough time into research.

“Be intentional about how you use your time between classes,” Blair said.

Taking less time to walk home between classes and staying on campus to do work is more beneficial, according to Blair.

“Break your work into chunks,” Blair said.

Time management is a key portion to controlling stressors. ACAC provides skill development resources online covering methods of time management and other strategies to best control school related stress.

Students admit they also deal with stress in a variety of ways on their own.

“I usually sleep when I am stressed,” said Cassandra Hastings, junior physics major. “I am just not in the right frame of mind to do work otherwise.”

While some students choose relaxing for stress relief, others choose to better organize what they have to do.

“I make a lot of lists when I am stressed,” said Kaitlin Kolhoff, sophomore secondary education major.

Making lists for daily tasks, learning to budget time, and allowing opportunities for play can all help to reduce stress effectively according to Counseling and Consultation Services.

For students who need assistance in managing stress, Counseling and Consultation Services provides free sessions to any NMU student during the academic year as well as self-help references available online.

Learning to adapt to stressful situations, asking for help, staying physically healthy and using time efficiently can all help manage stress, according to Counseling and Consultation Services.

As for students who need assistance with academic work, All Campus Tutoring (ACT) is available for free to any student. This service provides study groups and one-on-one tutoring on a walk-in schedule, Blair said. ACT can also help students develop more effective organizational and academic skills.

“As the semester ends, commit to it and finish the job,” Blair said.

For more on stress management and services provided by Counseling and Consultation Services and ACAC go to www.nmu.edu/counselingandconsultation or www.nmu.edu/acac.