<p>My son is considering a school known to be a commuter college. Our rule is that he must live on campus, even if he stays locally. My concern is that he won't get the "true college experience". He is also very shy. Does anyone have experience with campus life at a predominately commuter campus?</p>
<p>I think your concerns are valid.</p>
<p>He is probably going to be bored stupid on the weekend when the campus is deserted. Primarily commuter campuses tend not to facilitate the “true college experience.”</p>
<p>Depends on how big the school is. George Mason always had the “commuter school” rep., but my D always found a lot to do there. Now if the school only had 1,500 students to begin with I’d be concerned.</p>
<p>I think it probably varies from one commuter campus to another. Around here, there are some commuter campuses that are like ghost towns on weekends, and others – in cute college towns – that are plenty lively. Size and location matter. How much there is to do at or around the college matters a lot.</p>
<p>Why must he stay on campus? What does he want?</p>
<p>I’d have the same rule that he live on campus, but it’s not the college buildings that he needs to be there for. It’s the life and activity in which he needs to be immersed. Being a resident at a commuter college is a little like going out to dinner and being the only patron in an otherwise empty restaurant. OK, you’re out and you’re eating food, but it’s not exactly the quality group experience that you might have been seeking.</p>
<p>I went to a midsize regional university in my hometown. I never lived in the dorms, but I remember a lot of kids went home just about every weekend, and the few I knew who came from out of state complained that it was a suitcase school. But even if this is the case with your S’s school, I think you are right to have him live on campus. I eventually moved into my sorority house, which gave me some freedom and autonomy, but it wasn’t quite the same as going away to school.</p>
<p>There is no one “true college experience.” </p>
<p>Attending a city college with no true campus is different from attending a college in a small town or rural area.</p>
<p>Attending a technical school is different from attending a university, and both are different from attending a liberal arts college.</p>
<p>Attending a commuter school is different from attending a school where few or none of the students are commuters. </p>
<p>If your son (not you) wants the classic residential college experience, he probably should not be attending a school where most of his classmates are commuters. But if he does attend such a school, living in the dorms might work out OK as long as he is free to come home on the weekends. Students at commuter/suitcase type schools tend to have a social life at home on the weekends as well as one at college during the week. What would be gained by depriving him of the opportunity to maintain his connections with friends and family at home, when most of his classmates will have the opportunity to do this?</p>
<p>Will he have a car? I don’t think you want him to come home every weekend. The college will not have much to offer on the weekend, so you want him to be able to go out and about with his college friends.</p>