Universities Provide Courses to Help Students Transition into Adulthood

Generation Z less well prepared for adult life

During our lives, we experience several important milestones. One of them remains the transition between adolescence and “adult life”. If this obligatory passage is the moment when we question ourselves a lot, it is also the period when we must learn a lot of “adult skills”.

This can, for example, mean learning to manage our first apartment such as cooking, washing machines or even cleaning. This transition to adult life can also rhyme with the first making of important decisions, managing a budget or understanding a pay slip or invoices.

Obviously, so much information and responsibilities that arise at once can be a source of stress for young adults, who often feel alone in a situation that, for most, seems overwhelming. According to several global observations, this trend is even more present among Generation Z, which includes people born between 1997 and 2012.

Covid among the culprits

Indeed, as reported JVTechGeneration Z seems less prepared than previous generations for adult life, in particular because of the COVID-19 health crisis. Studies, like those published in October 2024 in the journal BMC Health Services Research, had demonstrated that the Covid pandemic, and confinement, caused considerable stress among young people (15-26 years old).

Sudden upheavals in their schooling, finances and social lives aggravated pre-existing stressors at pivotal moments in their development, the researchers explained.

This phenomenon is also explained by an increased dependence on screens, as highlighted JVTech. Whether it is social networks or artificial intelligence (chatbots), solving everyday problems is easier and does not promote learning.

Adult life is now learned at university

This problem was recognized in 2025 by the National Observatory of Student Life, which highlighted that the success of students depends heavily on their living conditions, in particular financial autonomy and time and accommodation management.

In this sense, certain universities in Canada and the United States have therefore decided to set up courses to “learn to become an adult”. This is for example the case of the University of Waterloo, in Canada, which set up an online program in 2023 called “Adult 101”.

This completely free program provides students with comprehensive materials to help them learn important life skills, from housekeeping to basic nutrition to efficient grocery shopping.

Courses in financial education, career planning and maintaining social relationships are also offered by other universities, specifies JVTech.

Source: JVTech