I am deciding whether I should commute or live on campus. I have enough money to live on campus without loans, but there is an EMT class I want to take that is in my current town, so I would have to come home anyways. If I live on campus, I can do sports, but I don’t really want to. I can also save a lot of money by commuting that way I can transfer to UConn or buy a car. Even if I commute, I will get involved with the campus life. I don’t know what to do.
Living on campus offers convenience but if the distance from your home town is not a factor and you will be doing the EMT class there, I would recommend you commute and save the money for your transfer and car.
I enjoyed living on campus about 30 min from home but I didn’t have any reason to go back home frequently during college and mentally considered college my home after that first summer.
How far is the commute. 20 min is different from an hour.
commute save $$
You will have to weigh the pros and cons of commuting:
PROS
- save some $$ for transferring or future on-campus living
- able to take the EMT class in your home town
CONS
- may not feel as connected or be able to participate in as many EC’s on campus
- academics may take a slight hit (on-campus students tend to have slightly higher GPA’s, on average, than commuters - or is that just commonly accepted but not actually proven?)
As several people have pointed out, the length of your commute plays a huge part. 2 hours a day of commuting can really eat into studying/doing anything else. Also, you mention buying a car (intimating you currently do not own one) - how would you get to/from campus?
Buying a car + insurance + gas + registration isn’t always worth it either.
How is parking at your school? Commuters constantly have issues finding parking at my school, but I’m not sure how that is at other places. If you are a first year, I would suggest that you live on campus. I am a first year commuter at my school and honestly, I had a horrible time trying to make friends. I got involved in a lot of clubs but it just didn’t work out (I go to a huge school, so there isn’t much of a friendly community). It is exhausting having to take public transportation every day while everyone else is living on campus, especially when you are just adjusting to college life. Maybe stay on campus your first year and then decide if you want to commute the next few years after that?
How good I are your time management skills? How time intensive is the EMT class. I am guessing that it would be time consuming. Can you balance college (which will be much more demanding than H.S.), commuting (Don’t forget that in the winter that the commute could take longer. Also depending on the school don’t except the school to close for snow storms like H.S.), the EMT course and the social life. My feeling is that you might be over extending yourself. I would consider putting off the EMT courses until you get a better feel for college.
Also a lot depends on your major. Are you taking courses with labs? Are the labs at night? Will you have classes with group projects.
Can the EMT course be taken near your school?
I would suggest you live on campus your first year and take the EMT class there (some universities include it as a regular class on your schedule) or wait till the vacation for you to take the class. Honestly you aren’t likely to have time to take the EMT course during your first semester.
What else will you be taking?
Commuting cuts into time you’d need for studying and makes finding friends much harder. Students who live on campus are more involved, get better grades, and have a more satisfying experience (a research was conducted to see whether there were benefits)… Which makes sense, since you’re part of the college community instead of being outside, you can be in the library till midnight if need be, you can join study groups (which often meet after dinner), etc.
So, first thing, wait till you know you can handle college before you schedule any extra (EMT) class and second try to figure out whether an EMT class is offered on/near campus. If you’re still sure you want to commute, do so sophomore year.