Hi,
My entire educational program is online, so I don’t need to commute for my education, but I’m thinking of commuting from San Francisco Bay Area to a CSU campus in (California) for mostly a student job and possibly other on-campus clubs, groups, etc.
Roundtrip, it would take me four (4) hours, so each way would be a 2 hr commute.
Should I do the student job and go on my 2hr commute?
What do you think?
Does the job pay well enough to cover the transportation expenses between home and campus? 4 hours is a lot of hours to spend on the road, especially if you want to be involved in campus clubs and activities.
Is the commute via train, bus, or would you be driving.
If you are taking a train or taking a bus, this is a huge commute but at least you can read, study, or do homework while you are in transit.
If you are driving, then it is going to get expensive and you cannot do anything else while you are commuting. It would take a huge chunk out of your day. If you had car trouble it could be a big problem.
It’s a student job; pays $13 an hour for up to 15hours per week. It’s not the pay that I’m after but the overall college experience. It would be driving; there is no bus or train that takes from this CSU university in California to the San Francisco Bay Area.
Man, that sounds brutal.
I know several people who took jobs with at least a 2 hours commute each way. In almost all the cases, it did not end well.
That’s a truly long distance to drive daily, and that’s assuming that nothing goes wrong-e.g. a traffic accident snarling things up.
I would advise against taking on such a commute.
You will be spending 8 to 20 extra hours per week commuting (depending on if your hours are concentrated into 2 days or spread across 5 days per week), so the job will consume 23 to 35 hours of your time including commuting. So your effective hourly rate would be $5.57 to $8.48.
You probably won’t get much on-campus experience besides the job. If you have 2 days of 7 or 8 hours, then those will be 11 or 12 hour days including commuting. If you have 5 days of 3 hours, then those will be 7 hour days including commuting. Don’t expect to have much time for on-campus experiences outside the job.
How much would gas cost vs. your job?
What kind of job would it be? If it was working at fast food or checking IDs at the gym then no. If it had to do with your major then perhaps.
How often would you have to go into campus? If you worked 4 hours but it took you 8 hours to work those 4 hours then you won’t have the time to do homework/study/read.
As far as clubs, I would consider that. If you went in once a week that would be okay. You would have to make sure that the club communicated if they cancelled any meetings.
that sounds like an awful idea. There must be another (more local) place you can work for comparable experience and money.
Thank you all! I appreciate everyone’s comments and thoughts. Right now, Fall 2020 isn’t here yet; I’m told by the campus organization that they will let me know as they know more about Fall 2020 and what that means for the work.
Don’t do it.
It’s a student job; pays $13 an hour for up to 15hours per week. It’s not the pay that I’m after but the overall college experience. It would be driving; there is no bus or train that takes from this CSU university in California to the San Francisco Bay Area.
The job is not tied to my major as the job is event chair (organizing events).
Thank you! I appreciate your comments and thoughts. Right now, Fall 2020 isn’t here yet; I’m told by the campus organization that they will let me know as they know more about Fall 2020 and what that means for the work. Please let me know if you have additional thoughts.
Hi,
My entire educational program is online, so I don’t need to commute for my education, but I’m thinking of commuting from San Francisco Bay Area to a CSU campus in (California) for mostly a student job and possibly other on-campus clubs, groups, etc.
Roundtrip, it would take me four (4) hours, so each way would be a 2 hr commute.
Should I do the student job and go on my 2hr commute?
What do you think?
I’ll say it again - it is an awful idea.
find a job that will get you similar pay and experience closer to home.