<p>So I decided to attend my local college because I wanted to save money, having a social life in my hometown, and I was in the dorms my first two freshmen semesters and I hated it. </p>
<p>I've been commuting to two community colleges, and now I will be attending a university.</p>
<p>I am curious to hear how other people lived the commuter life. I might have a job during college and I heard it would be hard to get a on-campus job to try and meet people.</p>
<p>I only plan on attending two clubs, and once in a while see a sports game and attend a public forum. </p>
<p>My only question though is how do you make friends with the dorm kids if you are a commuter student? I'm interested in seeing a kids dorm and see how their dorm life is.</p>
<p>I didn’t make super close friends when I commuted but I did make some friends. I mostly made them through being in a club and just talking to folks in class… it’s a lot like sales… you hit up enough people then the odds are that at least a few will click with you.</p>
<p>I’ve been a commuter for two years (1 hour there and back) and I’ve been able to balance a pretty social life while doing well in my courses. I’ve joined some clubs as well as gotten to know people in my department very well. I don’t go to sporting events since I’ve never been much of a big sports person.</p>
<p>I made friends in my classes, went to some events for cultural or academic clubs, and made friends that way. We kept in touch and got to know each other more over lunch, in class, or through talking on facebook. Obviously, you won’t be seeing the same people all the time like in high school, so you’ll be able to diversify your network.</p>
<p>Don’t be afraid to speak out or say hi. Chances are, the other person is a bit shy as well.</p>
<p>Jobs definitely sap up time. Part time jobs would be probably a minimum of 10 hours a week, on top of studying, commuting, and going to class, your time will be very constrained. Figure out how to juggle your time. Do you get motion sickness? If you’re taking a bus, listen to lectures or read a book. Spend that time to compose yourself for when you get home to study.</p>
<p>I love commuting. Both schools (a cc and a 4-year) are about a 10-15 minute drive from my home and it’s great. I also stayed on a campus for one semester and absolutely hated it. I have, so far, found it easier to make friends at the cc because I was in the Honors program and we had a lounge area and it was an easy way to interact with people. I was also in other activities on campus. Living in the dorms forced you to meet people, but commuting makes you have to be more outgoing, which is a good thing.</p>
<p>I really need to be joining organization at my new school as a matter of fact. Most of my friends I didn’t meet in class. My science classes are big lecture halls that have a rather cold atmosphere and like, a history class where everyone knows each other from previous history classes and tend to be a bit pretentious. English classes are the easiest classes to meet people, imo.</p>
<p>I like commuting as well. I take the train to boston to get to bunker hill. However i will probably be living on campus in framingham state university. It is proabably very infesisble to take a train to boston, than back out to framingham. two different commuter rail lines.</p>
<p>Thank you everyone for the encouragement and stories so far! I start in Fall to get my BA. I am at my community college and while I have friends from my hometown, I would like to branch out a bit.</p>
<p>It certainly takes more effort to make close friendships. You don’t have the roomie experience, or hallmates. But it is not impossible. As long as you make small talk with classmates early in the semester and get involved in some clubs, you should have no problem getting to know people. Don’t be shy about asking them to have lunch with you, or to attend an event together. You might find that it’s easier to chat with other commuters so that you don’t feel left out of the resident “scene,” but it all depends on your personality and the personalities of the people you meet.</p>
<p>I was more focused on academics and worked a lot, so I did not really join any clubs (tried a few at the beginning of the semester, but couldn’t make most of the meeting times due to work). I didn’t try too hard to make friends, but I also lived about 50 minutes from the school so it would have been hard to hang out with people anyway.</p>
<p>Commuting = spending more money and knowing that you are NOT living on campus. You make friends with people on campus in your spare time. Same way you made friends in high school. You meet, talk, and hang out.</p>
<p>Not commuting = the true college life. saving money, spending more time with friends and experiencing college life to the max.</p>
<p>It really depends on how far away you live from the campus. You could live in an apartment 5 blocks away from the college and not make friends but it all depends on what you want.</p>
<p>How do you figure that staying on campus is cheaper than commuting?</p>
<p>he imports his gas from England and pays their gas prices? even if I had to pay for insurance on a Lamborghini I think it’d still be cheaper if I commuted than if I lived on-campus or in my own off-campus place.</p>
<p>Ikr? My school is a ten minute drive from my house or a 20 minute bus ride with an arrangement thar my school’s students ride public transit for free (it’s actually an extra $40 in our tuition).
Living in a dorm would be $8k a year+a meal plan. Now how does dorming save $$$? Gas could go up ten more dollars and it would still be cheaper to commute.</p>
<p>I guess it saves cash if your parents are paying for it rather than you paying for yourself. That’s the only way I could figure. </p>
<p>Even though my school was 50 minutes away, it was still cheaper for me to commute. I tried to schedule classes so that I wouldn’t have to drive more than 3 or 4 days a week, which usually worked pretty well. </p>
<p>I also didn’t have the meal or washing machine costs (since I ate and washed clothes for free at home), had the internet and television, and made a lot more money having an off-campus job that gave me many more hours than most work-study jobs offer.</p>