<p>Anybody not taking a car @ UCLA?</p>
<p>I live in Long Beach, near the 405, and I have no choice but to commute. </p>
<p>My husband’s job is in Long Beach and one of my kids has special schooling here as well. </p>
<p>But luckily I’m in Anthropology, and with the quarter system you only need three 4 unit classes to be full time. I’ve looked at past schedules and I have a good shot at getting 3 classes on just 2 days. I won’t have much of a social life, but as a parent of 2 small children under 4, I wasn’t expecting one anyways. I’m going to UCLA for the great education and so I can get into a good masters program. So as much as I’d love to hang with you all, I’d rather save the hassle and money and just commute my two days a week. This is especially poignant, since I get my entire tuition and whatnot paid for with grants.</p>
<p>^ not everyone has KIDS.</p>
<p>@loopinc… i’ve been getting around on a bike (as in, without a car) for the last 6 months. you can get anywhere you need to be in LA in under an hour with Westwood as your central location. if college is your main priority, and you plan to stay on or near campus most of the time, i’d consider a car more of a burden than a blessing.</p>
<p>^well of course not pinker, don’t hate on me because I gave you an example of how not everyone can live on or near campus.</p>
<p>Some people HAVE to commute and can’t afford to do the loan thing. Especially if they are going into a Masters programs after here and will be taking on way more debt. I for one don’t want $20,000 of debt for a simple BA in Anthropology. Debt seems okay now, but it DOES affect you sooner or later. </p>
<p>When you actually have to start paying that off you will be affected. Try buying a new car or house, especially after this economic meltdown, with that kind of debt. They won’t care if it was for college, you’ll end up making $400 a month car payments and banks will be less willing to pile on more debt if they think you won’t make them the priority debt you have to pay off. Take this from someone who is older (though I’m not 30 yet) and “wiser”. Not everyone can get a great paying job out of school.</p>
<p>Don’t just consider the social scene when you make this choice kiddos, after all, none of your friends are going to be paying off those loans… consider your future.</p>
<p>i didn’t mean to hate on you… i only meant to say that your post was irrelevant. sorry for the confusion. </p>
<p>also, i don’t think you should spew your ‘life is nothing but struggle and debt’ crap to a bunch of people who still have a shot at a real, unobstructed college experience. a debt of $20k is not an insurmountable sum. if one continues on to grad school, statistically, he/she should be able to handle the debt. i understand that you’re jaded from raising two <4 year olds and attempting to go to school full time, but seriously, enough with the fear mongering.</p>
<p>^really, you sound quite hostile to me and frankly down right rude</p>
<p>so just stop responding to my threads if you don’t have something more constructive to say.</p>
<p>anyways, the points I’m making are not to make any of you fear taking on debt, but to just make your decisions based on something more than what the social scene is like in college. you can still make friends at school even if you commute. none of you lived at your CCC, and some lived father away than most, but you probably still made some friends. and you can certainly still join clubs and go to late night events. consider this, there are some majors, like engineering or pre-med, where it will seem as if all you do is study and go to class, but students always find a way to enjoy campus life.</p>
<p>when you turned 18, pinker, you supposedly became an adult. so start thinking like one. and that means thinking about the future and what debt (including debt from grad school, $150,000 for med school) will mean for you if you don’t get the great job right away.</p>
<p>By the way, I got into great schools like USC during HS, but chose not to go because taking out $25,000 worth of loans per year didn’t seem like the smartest thing to do, and I was only 17, with no real responsibilities.</p>
<p>dj, I get what you’re saying but I still think debt is better than hassle. Most of us don’t have dependents and will not for a loooooong time. Going OVERboard with debt is a bad idea, but most people don’t have a choice bu to take on loans while enrolled as an undergrad, and ten years repayment will be enough time for people to get their **** together while they start having families and mortgages. </p>
<p>Commuting burns time better spent studying… and spending more time studying means better grades and better research… and better grades and better research mean full-ride fellowships/grants offered by graduate schools… and full-rides means less cumulative debt.</p>
<p>You guys think I should commute? I heard it’s a 7 hour drive down to LA from here. NO BIGGY. </p>
<p>…on-campus living for the win!</p>
<p>^^^^hahahahaha.</p>
<p>yeah, if i get into Cal, ill commute.</p>
<p>^^ lol</p>
<p>of course I mean if you live within 30 minutes of school. even better if that 30 minutes doesn’t include the 405/101. I know people who lived in Culver City who chose on-campus housing for the “college experience” and I can assure you they realized they were being stupid when they got that first bill. Ofcourse if you live more than an hour away, by all means move closer. I personally hate driving the 405, which is why I’m getting my classes down to 2 days a week, hopefully, but then again I only have a 30 minute commute and I’m applying to family housing just to keep my options open.</p>
<p>I plan on commuting from Alhambra to UCLA, any thoughts, alternatives, and tips?</p>
<p>don’t.
take the loans.
next time, send a poet.</p>
<p>I live in arcadia and it is only 30 miles from my house to UCLA… but the traffic problems are INSANE!! However, it will save SO much money if i commute to ucla!! But my schedule is going to be crazy if I drive to school so still not sure yet… there is one good thing for living off campus near ucla is that u can find a job in ucla and just work + study at ucla at the same time</p>
<p>im from pasadena… i say it depends on the time of day you take off for UCLA… on a really bad time/day it takes around 1.5 hours to move about 20 miles… on good days about 35-40min</p>
<p>usually what time is a “good” time?? haha</p>
<p>id say in the morning before 6 (when i usually take off)… worst would be jumping on the freeways between 2-7 in the afternoon</p>
<p>wow… i can’t wake up before 6 and drive… then drive bak after 7pm… It’s painful…</p>
<p>bad times (in my experience) – meaning times that are typically <25mph:</p>
<p>405: 7:50am - 6:45pm / in either direction, within 7 or 8 miles of LAX, i’d guess that it’s gridlocked about 20 hours a day.
101: 8am - 10am / 11:45am - 1:15pm / 4pm - 6pm</p>
<p>i take these eyedrops called Rohto Arctic. you can find them at any drugstore, cvs, riteaid… and they work everytime :)</p>
<p>commute if you have super patience, love traffic and love the hustle and bustle of cars weaving in and out</p>