With the excitement of high school’s end comes mixed emotions about college’s beginning among students who have chosen to pursue higher education.

Students who enrolled in schools in other cities or states will likely feel anxious about leaving home, but there are ways to help ease those feelings.

Senior Blair Baugher will be 4 and a half hours away next year at UK (University of Kansas), but she isn’t nervous about being away from home; she has already met other girls through Facebook groups specified for UK’s incoming freshmen, and made friends with girls who will be living in the same dorm.

“It’s comforting to know everyone is in the same boat as you,” Baugher said.

For senior Bailey Williams, it isn’t meeting people are living on her own that worries her—it’s the course load of college classes.

“I’m nervous I won’t be able to keep up,” Williams said.

To prepare herself, she has tried to familiarize herself with what she’ll be studying next year.

Familiarization is a technique senior Jordan Bielicke also plans to use to calm her pre-college nerves.

Bielicke will attend the University of Alabama at Birmingham next year, and plans to try out for its cheerleading team.

In March she’s going to attend a one-day cheerleading camp at the university, so she’ll know what to expect next year.

“I’m ready to get comfortable with the school and the team.”