The decision to be a commuter in college is not one that should be taken lightly. When I chose to go to college thirty minutes away from my hometown my senior year of high school, I naively assumed everything would be perfectly fine. It felt like the natural thing to do. There were so many pros to staying at home like saving money and being able to have the comfort of my own bedroom, I did not even question it.Â
Even though I have been in college for three years, most of what I have learned about commuting has come from the past few months. Due to the pandemic, my first year and a half of college was spent online. A lot of my classes were hybrid or on Zoom when the shift back to in-person instruction happened and I struggled with going to physical classes for a while. I did not have a complete in-person schedule until this year when I began to develop a routine for when my classes are and when I come to campus.Â
When you commute to college only a few times a week, school can feel like a completely foreign environment. Finding parking is incredibly difficult. Making friends and even simply getting to know classmates is not easy, either. I personally underestimated how inconvenient it can be to do school work from your own home instead of in a school setting. As much as I love the room I spent my teenage years in, sometimes I need to leave my house and get a change of scenery in order to feel productive in my studies. Having a separation between school and home is a necessity.Â
It may sound clichĂ©, but it is true that not everyone has the same college experience. With movies and social media, it may seem like college needs to look or feel a certain way. Of course there are ways to be involved as a commuter student and plenty of other students are commuters, too. Doing little things such as going to a club meeting or attending an on campus event can make a world of difference. Â