What’s a typical day like for commuters? Living on campus allows students to mosey out of bed at 9:50a.m. and arrive at their 10a.m. class on time.
When scheduling, a residential student doesn’t have to consider traffic or going home for lunch, so a day with nothing scheduled save for an 11a.m. and a 6p.m. class isn’t a problem.
Many programs offered on campus are advertised in residence halls and easily accessible from campus; no residence hall is more than a ten-minute walk away from the Campus Center or football field. All of these nearby attractions are very convenient to residential students, but are more difficult for commuters to enjoy.
Some members of Capital’s staff, including Jennie Smith and Terrence Brooks of the office of Residential and Commuter Life, are there to ease the lives of commuter students. Thanks in part to the efforts of their office, commuters have access to lounges around campus in addition to lockers in the basement of the Campus Center and regular invitations to different events advertised in the Commuter Connection newsletter. The events, commuters say, are one of the best things about living off-campus.
“They really try to get you involved. It’s comforting to know that there’s something for me to go to, even if I don’t take advantage of it,” Adrianna Reyna, a first year traditional student, said. Non-traditional adult student Alaina Scarberry echoes this sentiment.
“The Commuter Connection is great. They have different events all the time,” Scarberry said.
Despite the involvement, Reyna wishes for more.
“I know that if I lived on campus I would be more involved. But, I like being able to go home and get away from the stress of school. It doesn’t follow me there, and I can hang out with my friends and boyfriend and not worry about school,” Reyna said. Yet, she admits sometimes studying at home can be a distraction.
“I don’t have friends at home who go here, so we don’t have study sessions or anything. I bet if I lived here I would go back to my dorm and do homework with my friends,” Reyna said.
In addition to this slight disconnect from the social scene on campus, commuters face another issue.
“Parking is definitely the worst thing about being a commuter. Sometimes I have to park extremely far away and walk to class,” Scarberry said.
“Parking far away is worst when it’s raining,” Reyna said. “I would also say that traffic and waking up really early for class is a hard part of being a commuter.”
Commuters also have to be conscientious of class scheduling times. Some adult students have full-time jobs during the day, so early morning or night classes are their only options.
Scarberry is registered for two classes that she strategically chose based upon her commuter status.
“They are each on Tuesday and Thursday. That way, I only have to drive up here twice a week,” Scarberry said. Yet, this can still be problematic for Scarberry if one of the classes gets cancelled and she makes the drive before checking her email.
“Last week, a professor emailed us that class was cancelled and I didn’t check my email. I drove all the way here and there was no class. I had no other reason to be here,” Scarberry said.
Reyna is in a different position because she has several more classes.
“I try not to have huge gaps in my schedule. If I do, they’re not so bad because I use them as time to do homework. But it’s hard to fit all of my classes into a schedule that works for me. In an average day, I start class at 9:00AM and leave at 3:00PM. But it all depends on if my classes work together,” Reyna said.
In the meantime, Smith and Brooks continue their work to help commuter students by implementing programs like the Commuter Connection. Such programs hope to make both traditional and non-traditional students feel welcome and a part of the community on campus.
