Being a university commuter can be tough. If the school is far away, making friends can be harder, arranging meetups with your friends can be harder, parking can be a nightmare, and it can be harder to fit in study time.
I am a commuter myself. I drive a 40-mile round trip five days a week to go to school. I have made a few friends, but it’s hard for me to meet up with them outside of class because I leave campus early to mid-afternoon, and they aren’t all available until mid-evening. Parking can be a disaster, so I often go to school an hour and a half early just to get parking far away. Studying can be hard because I have to carry all of my stuff with me instead of having it in a dorm room.
I have figured out how to balance some of these things, as I mentioned with finding parking.
For friends, I go early to class to hang out with them if we’re in a class together. If I happen to run into them on campus and we both have time, we’ll chat or walk with each other to our next class as far as possible.
For studying, the library seems to be empty in the morning before about 10 am. It might not be like this on all campuses of course, but I think it’s likely the same way on a lot of them, since resident students are still sleeping because they don’t have to get up as early as us commuters. Take advantage of that if you have time before a morning class. You’ll also have a seat there when the library does start to fill up.
I have mixed feelings about being a commuter. It would be so much easier to live on campus, but when I hear horror stories about roommates and neighbors in the dorms, I feel glad I live at home where my only roommate is my cat, and my room neighbors are my parents and sister. I get more direct support from my parents, it’s easier to find somewhere to study in peace, and I don’t have to miss my clingy cat. Traffic and the drive can be exhausting, but I have my own room to rest in when I get home.
Both situations have positives and negatives. Hopefully my story has helped other commuters see more pros than cons and it has given some helpful tips to make life easier. No college experience is the same, but no matter the situation, there are always ways to make it work.