Commuting 1 hour?

Student Lounge College Life
1

<p>1 hour drive too long to commute? </p>

<p>I'm applying for colleges this year and most of the colleges I'm probably applying to are ranging from a 50 minute drive to a 1 and a half hour drive. </p>

<p>My parents are planning on getting me a car so I can drive there everyday. </p>

<p>But I'm really not looking forward to it because I've always pictured my college experience to be myself living in a dorm meeting new people like that, not still living at home driving an hour to and from school.. </p>

<p>My parents say that living in a dorm is expensive, so they'd rather just buy me a car for myself and have me drive to school everyday. Only I'm not sure if I'm willing to do that. </p>

<p>My dad says I should be okay because he has to drive two hours to and from work everyday. But honestly I'm not looking forward to having to leave the house at 5:30am every morning, then drive back later. I know I'm probably being selfish, because my parents say that if I do that, it'll save A LOT of money to commute. But I just don't think I'm going to enjoy my college life like that. (Please don't lecture me on how college is just about education, because I already know.) </p>

<p>But have any of you commuted when you lived about that far away?
Is an hour drive one way to college too much? Should I aim to go to a college faraway enough to where I'll HAVE to live there? I also plan on getting myself a job too, but my parents don't want me to at the moment because all they want me to focus in is "school school school". So it's not as if I'm expecting them to pay for everything because I even WANT to get a job to pay it off myself too.</p>

<p>My mom keeps yelling at me every time I bring up the fact that I want to apply to a college that's over 100 miles away, so there's that.. This whole thing is really making me not want to go to college AT ALL. </p>

2

<p>An hour’s drive each way will crush your spirit, make homework difficult, and keep you from having a life. Avoid it any way you can.</p>

3

<p>I’d suggest dorming, unless you’d have to take out loans or something for it to happen.</p>

<p>I’ve done 40 minute commutes for summer sessions. I hated it. Summer dorms were just way too expensive, about $5000 for 8 weeks, so I would commute. Traffic is an issue, I had to build in an extra 20 minutes so I would (usually) not be late. I was losing 12+ hours a week to commuting during some summers, time that could have been spent sleeping or studying. Going to events (class, weekend review sessions, hanging out on campus) is a lot more tedious as well, since it takes an hour to get there now. If you’re in campus, it’s a 5-10 minute walk instead, much easier to attend whatever. You also have nowhere to go if you have breaks between classes.</p>

<p>It might also help to remind your parents that commuting isn’t free. You still have to pay for food and gas (or train/bus passes).</p>

<p>I would suggest living in the dorms, at least for your first year, if you can. You’ll make a lot of new friends, it’ll be a new experience. You’ll get used to being more independent and managing your own time. It might be better for academics as well, since it’ll be easier to meet up with study groups, or get support on campus.</p>

4

<p>"My mom keeps yelling at me every time I bring up the fact that I want to apply to a college that’s over 100 miles away, so there’s that… "</p>

<p>Don’t tell mom anything, just apply. I wanted my D to go away for college for the same reasons you want too. This is for you. You have to do what you feel is the right fit for you.</p>

5

<p>If you are going to rely on your parents footing the bill for college, you will have to make some concessions. I would ask your parents which colleges they would like you to apply to, why they want you to apply there and then give them your list to see if you can come to some compromise. Unless you can pay for college yourself, you will need their cooperation. If your parents want some advice or have concerns, you can tell them to private message me. I have gone through the admission process twice these past few years with my 2 sons and they are welcome to pick my brain for any information they would like… Good Luck and hang in there.
Ask your parents: Don’t you want me to go to the best possible school I can get accepted, even though it is a couple hours away???</p>

6

<p>An hour commute each way is going to be very rough, but if your parents aren’t willing to pay for a dorm, then there’s not a lot you can do, unless you can pay for it yourself. Have you tried crunching the numbers to see exactly how much the difference is? Remember to factor in gas, car maintenance, the cost of the car itself, insurance, parking permit, and meals when you’re on campus (unless you’re going to bring food everyday–keep in mind you may be on campus for 2-3 meals, depending on your schedule). Is that hour with traffic or without? If traffic is unpredictable, you’ll likely have to add extra time on top of that. Try to see if you can help bridge the gap between the cost of a dorm and the cost of commuting.</p>

<p>The most relevant thing to you is probably how commuting will interfere with your social life and ability to be involved in your school. It will be harder to do everything–join clubs, make friends, attend school events (both academic and social), etc. You’ll be tired from the commute, and it will just be harder to get to campus for spur of the moment things.</p>

<p>The most relevant thing to your parents is probably how that long of a commute will interfere with your academics. It’ll be exhausting for one, especially if you’ve never had a long commute before. It will take time away from your schoolwork, making it harder to study and do your homework. If there are resources on campus that you need to use (such as computer labs with particular software, the school library to do research, tutoring centers, etc), it will be harder to access those. It may be harder to get to office hours and study sessions. At my school, review sessions for exams were often at night and you may not want to hang around campus all day and then get back home at 9-10pm and study. Study groups may be at odd hours of the day as well. A long commute is possible, of course, as your father says, but the difference between commuting to school and commuting to work is that when you get home, you still have to study, unlike you’re father. School doesn’t stop when you get home. Also, you’ll have to get up extra early on days when you have exams and assignments due to make sure that you don’t miss them. And it’ll be especially tempting to skip class when you only have one or two in a day. It’s really easy to miss a one hour class when your commute is one hour.</p>

<p>Also, don’t forget, that when you get into later years, you’re going to want to get other experiences besides school as well. Depending on your career goals, you may want to get internships, work experience, research experience, teaching experience, etc, all of which will be easier to get if you live on or near campus.</p>

<p>That being said, your parents have no obligation to pay for your dorm. I’d recommend you try to figure out ways you could fund it yourself, at least for the first year so that you can build a friend group and get acclimated to the academic environment. Then you could look into living off campus with roommates, which may be cheaper. I find it funny that you’re parents are so okay with you commuting but are against you getting a job when you’re commute is going to be at least 10 hours/week (and probably more–don’t forget to factor in the time to even find parking; parking lots during school hours are going to be packed) when that could very well be used in a job. That time is going to take away time you would otherwise be able to study or get work experience. You’re parents may think it’s all school school school, but remind them that college is not just about school. Regardless of what you want to do after school, you’re going to need experience. The more you can get now, the easier it will be later. A long commute takes time away from that.</p>

7

<p>Add up how many hours you’d spend commuting each day. Lists the associated costs (car, gas, insurance, parking, upkeep, food at home, food purchased on campus, etc.). Then compare all that to a scenario in which you work in a job earning income for the same number of hours you would otherwise commute, and list the room & board costs. Which scenario would be best for you over four school-years? </p>

8

<p>dyiu13 above has a good idea. Calculate the costs. Parents forget that while you live at home, your food, electricity and other costs are not free for them. Most colleges we’ve looked at require freshmen to live on campus if their home is not within 30 miles of the school. After freshman year you could possibly get a room off campus for less than dorm costs.</p>

<p>How much are your parents intending to contribute to your fees? You should be able to earn $5,000 or more if you start a part time job now and pay at least half the cost of dorm/food yourself. I can’t believe your dad wants you to start out life with the hellish commute he endures. Personally I want a better life for my children. </p>