Sarah Pacht
Connector Contributor

Living in a dorm is a big part of the college experience for some students. For most people, going to college is the first time away from home, away from your pestering parents. No one can tell you what to do. You are on your own now, proving that you can be responsible (when you want to be, of course).

However, for one reason or another, a large portion of students don’t get to experience what it is like to live on campus. While there are some positive sides to being a commuter, there are also some negatives to it as well.

Many students who live on campus have complained that the buses are slow and unreliable, but nevertheless, they are there, running the same hours every day. If a commuter student’s car breaks down, the student must call up a friend/co-worker/parent/sibling to take them to school, if said person is even available to do so.

Then they have to worry about what needs to be done to repair it, who is going to repair it, how much it will cost, and where in the world they will get the money to pay for it, in addition to how they will get to and from school while the car is being repaired.

Do not forget to throw in the cost of filling up a gas tank and the outrageous cost of a parking pass.
During the winter, commuters have the added bonus of having to clear snow off their cars then having to drive to school in the snow. On-campus students simply throw on their snow boots and coat, hop on the bus and show up to class like nothing happened.

Parking is always an issue, too. On any given day, the parking lots are full of cars parked on or over the lines, parked the wrong way in a row or sticking out too far into a row to make driving down the row harder.

It only gets worse when it snows because the lines (that were loosely followed before) cannot be seen under the coating of snow, and parking becomes a free-for-all.

Students who dorm have the luxury of always having a place to nap in between classes. While the beds may not be the comfiest, and certainly nothing like one’s own bed at home, nonetheless it is a bed. Sleepy commuter students have to resort to slinking back in the most cushioned chair available and tune out the world as best as they can in order to get a quick nap in.

If you see someone with one leg draped over the arm of a chair using their textbook-filled backpack as a pillow they are probably a commuter student.

While many college students work, commuter students are likely to work more simply because they live in a community in which they have been established for some time, possibly even working at a job that they have had since high school.

They are less likely to participate in school activities and clubs because they are more tied to their jobs and the idea of earning money. Although this is not true in all cases, many commuter students may feel ostracized from the rest of the school community.

Depending on where the student lives, and with whom, studying can be a problem. It is easier for an on-campus student to head to one of the libraries or study spaces than it is for a commuter student.

If a commuter student lives in Boston, for example, chances are they are not going to head back to Lowell just to study in peace. The local library in the city or town where the commuter student lives is an option, but usually they do not have the late-night or lengthy hours of the school libraries.

Though commuting has its problems, it is not always as bad as it seems. Commuters do not have to wait for a bus, so they can come and go whenever they please.

If they do not feel like having dining hall food for lunch they can drive themselves to the closest McDonald’s, Taco Bell, or Panera. They can pick up their coffee on their drive in to school and avoid the mile-long line at Starbucks. That alone may be enough to make you consider commuting. Just try to park between the lines.