When senior Meesh Morris first started classes four years ago, she was enthusiastic with a hard work ethic regarding her academics.

“When I was a freshman and when I first got here, I was really excited to do homework and to be in college and everything, and now I really hate doing homework,” Morris said.

Morris is ‘suffering’ from what is widely known as senioritis; this involves stress, laziness and the loss of willpower to complete final tasks in the daily lives of University seniors.

Craig Vickio, psychologist at the Counseling Center, said most students who report suffering from senioritis appear to mean they are feeling burnt out or very tired.

However, Vickio said many students are likely to attach different meanings to this term, even though they may complain about long periods of stress.

“For instance, they realize that they are approaching the end of a chapter of their lives and may experience a variety of feelings about this,” Vickio said. “Some students are ready to move on to new things and, in fact, may already have moved on in a psychological sense, with them feeling like they no longer belong in school.”

Morris said her mind is already set on graduating this spring and doesn’t understand why she still has to go strong the last few weeks of her college career.

“I’m definitely burnt out from pushing myself all four years through school, but I think the closer that I get to graduation the more that I realize I don’t really want to do this anymore,” Morris said. “I’m just brain fried.”

A lot of the stress that stems from senioritis comes from meeting the academic demands that students’ schedules require out of them, Vickio said.

“This can result in their not believing that they can afford the time to engage in self-care activities,” Vickio said. “One key to overcoming senioritis involves making efforts to strike up a balance in your life. This can include a balance between stability and change as well as a balance between productivity and self-care.”

Faith Yingling, Director of Wellness at the Student Recreation Center, said senioritis is very individualistic and is something that is dealt with differently for each person.

“I think there are definitely some students that are just burnt out, to where they have just gotten to a point where they’ve had so much to do, like writing papers, and are just ready to be done,” Yingling said. “I’ve also seen students that are very focused and are very organized. Everything is circumstantial for students, and it’s hard to stay focused when you’re almost at the finish line.”

Morris said she is ready for the peace of mind after graduation after the long years of trying to stay focused on her academics.

“It’s just a lot of information that we’re expected in school, in general,” Morris said. “I think that I’ve been focusing so hard all four years that my brain just needs a break.”