Okay, so long story short, I don’t like loans. I don’t like paying thousands of dollars in dorm room expenses. I would rather crunch my classes closely together and preferably 2-3 days a week.
The problem? I have to drive 40 minutes to my college, 40 minutes back if I were to live with my mom (who is completely okay with me staying). I cannot do it this year, but I was think of doing it next year for budget reasons. For those of you who knew an engineer and commuted (or you who commuted and being an engineer), was the workload combined with the constant driving back and forth affecting your/their performance and was stressful?
The classes are only part of the learning experience in college, especially for engineering students. Study groups are the norm. They allow the student to discuss the concepts learned in class and help each other out. Also, most engineering programs are heavy on group projects. I knew some students in college that commuted. They were sometimes sleeping on peoples couches as they were just to tired after studying long into the night to make the trip home.
Renting a room near college and doing your own cooking can save some money over the dorms and a meal plan.
Thank you for responding. I will try to get a job over the summer (in anything) so that I could probably afford an apartment. All in all, I would prefer not to pay a huge lump sum in one short burst. I’d much rather spread out my spendings. I’m also planning on cooking (or going on the Ramen noodle diet :/)
Also, I’m not really sure I’d be into Civil Engineering. I’m only trying it out this semester, but currently, I am gearing towards CS or Information Technology (more likely the latter as it seems to deal more with tech I enjoy). I am not sure if group projects are more prevalent there. Do you have any IT friends and did they have a lot of group projects?
People commute all the time 40+ minutes. I think what you lose by not having a room on or near campus is the convenience of dropping by your room for a nap, or to change a shirt, or to drop off books and pick up others. It’s nice not to have to carry everything with you all the time. If you commute in a car, you can leave things in the car, but if you commute by public transportation, you become the pack mule. Invest in a nice backpack, see if you can get a locker on campus.
I commuted my freshman year and when I did my MS, though i took public transportation and didn’t drive. It’s not ideal, but it’s definitely do-able. Whenever I could, I would do work between classes on campus and that helped a lot with time management. It helps to have a locker so you don’t have to carry everything with you.