<p>im in temple city, im thinking of commuting they have vanpools but its like $109 a month</p>
<p>im in torrance and commuting. love driving a stick car and the traffic doesn’t matter at all.</p>
<p>by the way, it usually takes more than an hour for about 20 miles which can be done by less than 30 min if no traffic.</p>
<p>Time to avoid 405 Traffic:</p>
<p>7:30 AM to 10AM.
4PM to 7PM.</p>
<p>If you are commuting, schedule your earliest class at 11AM, and either get out of the campus before 4 or stay on campus until after 7 unless you don’t mind being stuck on the freeway.</p>
<p>Anyone live off campus and take public transportation? If I go to ucla I don’t want to drive in that crazy traffic! How good is the bus system up there? Thanks for any info you might have about alternative transportation…</p>
<p>dhl3 is def. right. I used to drive from LA to SD all the time and it would take be a good five hours to get down - usually takes less than two hours.</p>
<p>About the buses, they’re pretty efficient. A lot of them go straight to UCLA so it’s not that bad. Plus, with the Bruin card (or whatever it’s called), you only have to pay ten cents to none on Big Blue Bus and Culver City Bus lines.</p>
<p>If the question is between loans and commuting- you commute. It is absurd to live close enough but to graduate with such loans just for the “college experience” </p>
<p>Plenty of UCLA students are unemployed upon graduation and that number is going to go up regardless of what school you are coming from. Have you guys been paying attention to what is going on with the economy at all- the california economy specifically- the unemployment rate?
If you think you are all looking at graduating from marvelous world class UCLA and getting jobs to boot- you have a big big big surprise coming your way. </p>
<p>Trust me, it is the smarter person that graduates with less debt at the end of the day. You cant divide future earnings and just hope that you graduate and have a job handed to you that helps you pay off all those student loans. </p>
<p>If your family has money and taking loans for them on your behalf is no big deal or for them to help you out upon graduation is no biggie then I guess in that case you can get in as much debt as you want. </p>
<p>But for the rest of the population that does have to think about the future and how they will pay off their future debt, commuting is really the ONLY option.</p>
<p>I commuted from Tarza to UCLA- because Tarzana was the cheapest place i could find a safe apartment at. </p>
<p>If you leave b4 7am you will easily make it to class on time, avoid most traffic, and get parking on campus. After 7 will be much harder to make it there on time.</p>
<p>If you are in thousand oaks i would say the ideal class schedule would be early AM- courses from 8am to 2pm roughly - you will avoid traffic both there and back this way.</p>
<p>WOW how does it take you 5 hours to get down to San diego from LA? I am from san diego and I made that drive plenty of times to when i was at UCLA- only once was it that bad and there was a huge accident. You just have to be wise when you leave- i would leave at like 8pm.</p>
<p>… or you could live closer to campus, thereby shaving hours off of a commute (also taking every class that you need/want without having to schedule around traffic times) to use towards research, organizations, clubs, and misc. programs that will help you find a job/get into grad. school. A few thousand in debt is worth it if it gives you the time to assist a professor with their research and come away with steller letters of req, and experience that could lead to that full ride at the University of Chicago you’ve been dreaming about (well, that I dream about).</p>
<p>I’m taking more money out to live closer, and I’ve talked this over with quite a number of people, who agree it’s the best way…</p>
<p>and Malishka, didn’t you hate UCLA and leave? I remember seeing that somewhere.</p>
<p>about malishka - it seems that some have developed this notion that ‘practicality’, in the conventional sense of the word, overcomes all…
to them, no matter what, the cheapest, simplest, most efficient way of doing something is the way it should be done, no further consideration needed… ie, ‘if you save $, make the commute, feel good about your decision, never look back…’
if that’s your schtick, cool. </p>
<p>the way i see it - your (or my) earning capacity is FAR below what it will be after completion of a formal education from an established institution… if you feel that you’ll flourish living on campus and have to take out a few thousand dollars to make that happen, then grab life by the balls and commit to something you believe is right for you at the moment… while keeping in mind that life as a professional won’t be totally unmanageable with a <$20k debt.</p>
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<p>Be an Econ major, then efficiency becomes the new motto for your life. 
</p>
<p>I think Malishka was being very rational, a very good usage of cost-benefit analysis associated with shelling out $90/week to commute without taking out the loan vs shelling out 10k+/year to live on campus with loan, considering the present and future value of potential future money inflow and the opportunity cost associated with the time.</p>
<p>I had a very different life from most of you at UCLA. It would have been WAY more than a couple thousand dollars for me to live on campus. I supported myself- i had prior debt- i had bills, i was an adult when i went to UCLA- i had a full time job…etc… I had no time for clubs and what not, between doing 40+ hours a week at work many weeks, and class, and then doing everything at home AND driving down to SD to help my family out, really clubs was not a priority what so ever. </p>
<p>The ADULT decision is no debt vs debt… it is different when you want to “flourish” on campus and “grab life by the balls” . Some of us have prior adult priorities… </p>
<p>If i did not have to be responsible then maybe living on campus, running through the quad in my underwear and getting drunk would have been more important. </p>
<p>I did leave UCLA, I have the option to go back anytime I want as well, but my life is slightly different and I am already working on a masters, so it is not crucial for me to go back there.</p>
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<p>and yet, </p>
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<p>i think we’ve just got a fundamental disagreement about the potential value of that ‘college experience’. you’re too mature for petty things like undie runs and alcohol (absolutely exclusive to on campus life…) and i appreciate the finer facets of community living. </p>
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<p>i’m an adult and i’m making the decision to put myself in debt… but, by all means, when your book on ‘how to be a properly functioning and responsible adult’ comes out, let me know.</p>
<p>I am very glad that I did not choose to shell out 12k of debt my final year at UCLA just to further enjoy the college experience. Come senior year, I initially regretted not living close to my friends (I lived 20 miles north of everyone, which is actually lot more than 20 miles in L.A. traffic). For one, I could not drink and get wasted due to the major handicap I had (drive home) and the fun that actually starts after midnight was not part of the option for me. </p>
<p>But I am completely debt free post-graduation, I don’t live under a desperate situation where it’s either pay off the debt or suffer the wrath of the loan company, and I am able to devote my free time on studying for the license exam instead of spending that extra hours on earning extra cash to pay off the debt.</p>
<p>Both of what you and malishka are saying makes sense. You two are writing this from two very different points of life. Pinkerfloyd, seeing that you are UCLA '11, you are probably very eager to experience a true college experience in a big four year university. I understand. Community College social life sucked for me; transfer to UCLA was a huge anticipation and expectation. Finally having to step into a real college where it’s rumored to have all the crazy things going on at the same time. For you, paying off the debt may seem like the least of your priority (you still have years to start paying off the loan) and making the “best years of your life” memorable may be a higher factor in the list of your priorities and value, and I totally understand your point.</p>
<p>Malishka, on the other hand, is already out exposed to the real world and knows of the importance of financial management. In financial management, minimizing liabilities and debt is the number one priority. And I guess this is where Malishka is coming from in saying that no debt is the best solution.</p>
<p>But I’m just going to say, don’t take loans too lightly in this economy. Most of you may think you’ll be promised a full-time position straight out from college. I’ve seen lots of Summa Cum Laude Business Economics grads (which is known to be the one of the most employable major in the school) struggling to find a job that pays far under their expectation (~30k). And in this economy, the name “UCLA” with stats of 3.5+ on your resume means NOTHING, and I mean NOTHING without work experience. No one wants to hire entry-levels at this economy because of the training cost involved. I don’t know how it’s going to be in two years, but in this situation, getting a loan seems to be a very risky decision to make. Not bad, but risky.</p>
<p>BTW, the above post is made with the assumption that you, pinkerfloyd, are a newly admit transfer student. If not, I apologize for coming up with such conclusion regarding your background. But I guess my point still holds for either case :)</p>