As I walked up the stairs toward campus, I thought to myself: I hate being a commuter student. There is no simpler way of saying it. Although, what I hate more than being a commuter student is having to hear the person breathing next door through the thin dorm walls, so at least I chose my struggle. Financially, it’s a good decision — but on every other front; mental, physical, and spiritual; it’s awful.
Before I get into specifics, I must establish my absolutely scrambled sense of time. I recently got my license, which means I can get from point A to point B in no time. But before that, I was just a humble pedestrian, which made my commute to the local mall 40 minutes (by going on the bus and walking). Now that I can go to the mall within 10 minutes, I have experienced some sort of jet lag with my time perception. Moreover, this terrible sense of time applies to my schoolwork. If there is an assignment due in 48 hours, that actually means I need to finish it within the next 48 minutes. It may sound nice, but it means I am in a constant fight-or-flight mode when it comes to schoolwork. Plus, churning out work and turning it in instantly when you’re given time to make it perfect isn’t ideal. Pairing my physical and mental sense of time together, you get a really exhausted person tormented by their own temporality.Â
As to how this relates to school, I have already kind of established how it makes my schoolwork a mess. But no one told me how much of a hot mess it is to walk on campus. Imagine this: I’m in Odegaard, studying, and my class starts in five minutes. Perfect, enough time for me to head to class, right? No. Despite my calves of steel forged by my 21 years of being a pedestrian, I somehow manage to make it to class late. It is especially annoying when you enter the Quad and it is a straight line, making the journey appear short, but then the song you play to make the trek less unbearable is halfway done once you make it across. Sometimes I overcompensate and come really early, which makes me think “wow, I could have done something before coming here, wasting my time doing nothing”. Don’t get me started on the commuter parking lot. On the map, it may appear close to the rest of campus, but you would be sordidly wrong. The stairs. Oh my god, the stairs. And don’t even get me started on the lime bike and scooter menaces that drive mercilessly, not caring if they commit a hit-and-run. By the time I make it to Padelford Hall, I’m panting, praying that the person next to me doesn’t hear my exhaustion or see my red face and the sweat on my forehead. I go to the gym regularly too, so I know what a good workout feels like. Those stairs are not a good workout.Â
The $7.85 they charge you for parking there is the icing on the cake. My legs tremble from the mere mention of free parking at this point. I also grow envious of my friends from different colleges who pay little to nothing for their quarterly parking permits. Sometimes I try to think of other alternatives that will allow me to drive to campus without having to pay some greedy parking fee, but realize that any other alternative will just exacerbate the issue of long distance walking.Â
Oh, and extracurriculars. Some clubs last until 8pm, meaning I have to either wait at the bus late at night and hope no one kidnaps me, or I have to drive home. And then I have my family frantically calling me, asking if I am okay. It really takes away the whole point of college being about experiencing life as an independent adult. I’ve grown bitter every time my family calls me, which is undeserved, and makes me feel entitled and petty, but that same feeling also makes me feel like a rebellious teenager, and not an adult who needs some space after a long day.Â
Now, these problems I’ve mentioned aren’t secluded to commuter students. I don’t mean to get on my soapbox and tell everyone that commuter students face unique challenges that on-campus students will never face. I just think that commuter students are considered very low priority, and it shows through every facet of school life. It sucks that I am putting in so much effort into school and not being considered. From classes, clubs, and commuting, it feels like I am not allowed to feel exhausted without sacrificing my school and social life. And to be honest, I don’t even know if there is anything to make things better from the administrative point of view. Maybe reduce the price of parking, for one, but everything else is near impossible to shape for my convenience. Basically, I feel defeated, but I know that there are still things about being a commuter student that I like. Such as going home to a nice shower, seeing my cat, being with my little sister as she grows up, being away from campus and feeling as though the day is truly done; it is not all sunshine and rainbows, but there are things that I am grateful for. So, to any commuter students out there, I hear you, and I hope that once we graduate, we will finally get a chance to truly be our own adults. Â