As Loyola students rang in the new year and returned for the spring semester, they also reflected on their 2025 goals — focusing on fitness, finances and fun.

College-aged Americans are the most likely age demographic to make New Year’s resolutions, with nearly 50% of young people reporting they’d set new goals last year, according to the Pew Research Center.

For third-year accounting and finance major Anja Royko, New Year’s was a chance to reevaluate her spending habits. Royko said she overspent while studying abroad last semester and wants to save $5,000 by the end of the year.

“New Year’s definitely gave me the fresh start feeling that I needed,” Royko said.

Royko said her original goal was $10,000 but she didn’t think it was realistic. The 20-year-old said her funds will come from her current job as a restaurant hostess as well as a paid internship this summer.

Making goals too ambitious can decrease the goalsetter’s chances at actually completing their resolution, social psychologist Omid Fotuhi told The Associated Press. Instead, Fotuhi suggested starting with smaller, more reasonable goals and eventually working up to bigger aspirations.

Kaeli Sikkenga, a fourth-year entrepreneurship major, said their resolutions from past years failed because they were too rigid and felt like chores. Sikkenga said this year, they resolved to redecorate their apartment and visit six different neighborhoods in Chicago.

“I kind of realized free will is a thing and you can have fun with your resolutions,” Sikkenga said. “They don’t have to be about self-improvement or anything. It can just be something random that you want to do.”

Sikkenga, a native of Ann Arbor, MI, said they moved to Chicago before attending Loyola but they haven’t explored the city as much as they’d like. The 22-year-old said they’ve already begun researching neighborhoods and planning different layouts for their apartment to make it feel cozier.

Third-year Megan Darrow said she’d never made New Year’s resolutions before, but she was inspired when she returned for the spring and spoke with her friends about setting goals. 

Darrow, a 21-year-old psychology and criminology major, said she and her friends made a pact to complete each of their resolutions by the end of the year, which made her goals feel more attainable.

Darrow said she resolved to lift weights and exercise, volunteer more, score a summer internship, read at least 20 books and make new friends. She said she specifically plans to use her math skills to volunteer as a tutor either for children or other college students.

“If you want any sort of change in your life because you feel like things are stagnant, it’s always good to look at new opportunities and find new connections,” Darrow said. “If that sounds really challenging, then trying to get someone you know in on it is really helpful and it doesn’t make anything feel scary.”