<p>Is too long distance?</p>
<p>My parents want me to consider college in Florida since we know so many people there and we have a home for me to stay in. There are schools about 30 and 50-55 minutes away from there. How far would you guys be willing to commute to a school?</p>
<p>Not at all. This is college, not a trip to the Wal-Mart. Driving in and taking a class, then driving out may be an accumulation of credits, but it's not a college experience.</p>
<p>How would you and your parents have felt if you'd lived 30 minutes away from your home while growing up and just commuted in for meals and parent meetings? Would that be the same as being a member of a family? Aren't many of the most valuable interactions in a family unscheduled and spontaneous? Didn't you fail to hear about a lot of your family's plans when they were initially discussed and later got filled in by what you overheard or through casual conversations with others? A college experience is the same way. If you're going to commute from a half hour away, you might as well get an online degree.</p>
<p>If you are commuting to campus on a daily or nearly daily basis, 30 minutes each way by car is about tops (at least for me). 50 minutes by commuter rail might be OK if you are good at reading on trains. </p>
<p>The challenge with commuting to school, is to not lose too much of your life en route to and from class. 30 minutes of driving is enough time to clear your head of "school stuff" on the way home, or to warm up to the "school stuff" on the way to class. Much more than that and you are going to be too tired and cranky for either home or school depending on the direction you've been driving.</p>
<p>If you choose to live off campus, you will probably want to leave some time in your schedule for the impromptu socializing on campus that gadad writes about above. You also may want to schedule your classes so they fall only three or four days a week to save on your driving time. </p>
<p>Wishing you all the best!</p>
<p>Oh, whatever. GAdad is being dramatic. Some people prefer not to live on campus and to commute to school, and you can have "real college experience" as a commuter student, depending on what you define as a "real college experience" and what you want out of college. My younger sister commutes to her university and she loves it; tons of people in metropolitan areas commute to college. The "college experience" is not universal where you have to have slip n' slide parties in the dorms at 3 am and play Frisbee on the lawn between classes. It's a subjective experience -- you get out of it what you put into it, and if a person's personality is such that they'd make friends and be outgoing even living off-campus, so be it! The majority of upper-level students at my undergrad moved off campus and had a better time off than on.</p>
<p>College is not the same as being in a family, so that analogy doesn't even hold -- you're a grown up. Commuting from a half hour away is still TOTALLY different from taking online courses, especially if you make friends with whom you can do overnights, invite friends over your place, participate in student activities, and take time to hang out on campus and meet people. You don't have to live in the dorms to have a blast AND you'll feel better about it when you've saved $8-10K a year by not staying there!</p>
<p>Don't get me wrong, staying on campus my freshman year was fun...but at the end of my freshman year, I was itching to move off campus. And I sort-of moved off during my junior year (had a room, but lived at my boyfriend's apartment most of the time)...it was SOO much better than living on campus full time. I could have my friends over, have boys or visitors in my room whenever I wanted, didn't have to deal with hallmates when I didn't have to, and I still hung out with my friends when I wanted to.</p>
<p>To answer your question, I would say no more than 30 minutes. Anything more than that is a pain!</p>
<p>Well, GADad, the family analogy isn't really clicking in my head because my family barely interacts as it is. I get what you're saying, and the majority of schools on my list aren't commuter schools, but if I went down to Florida I would most definitely be commuting.</p>
<p>I was thinking 30 minutes was the most i'd do too, and this school really isn't a high priority on my list but I have to put it on there. We have a home for me to live in down there anyways, and it would be a lot cheaper for me to just go to that school. I don't think i'll end up there, but it's a good option to have with lots of on campus associations. Plus, it appears that the majority of students commute so it wouldn't be as big of a deal.</p>
<p>However, that is definitely more of a safety/last resort as it is an actual choice on my list.</p>
<p>"Well, GADad, the family analogy isn't really clicking in my head because my family barely interacts as it is."</p>
<p>LOL. Welcome to the world of disfunctionality!!!</p>
<p>Oh trust me, i've been here for a while. Thanks for the warm welcomes though. ;)</p>
<p>Does anyone that commutes have any opinions for me?</p>