Hi Readers! I feel everyone needs a good college tip list whether you are a commuter or not, right? Hopefully these 7 tips from a college graduate can help make your college experience a little bit better and easier!
I am a college graduate with a bachelor’s degree. I am extremely proud of this. College wasn’t an easy road for me, but I got through it. Now that I am finished with my bachelor’s, I am a part of my alma mater’s alumni program. They host a variety of events and networking opportunities. But, a big part of my alma mater’s alumni outreach involves young and new college students calling the alumni to discuss what’s going on with the campus and trying to get money for the scholarships funds. Whenever they call, there is one question these students almost always ask.
“What advice do you have for students like myself who are just starting out on their degree?”
If you are like them, wondering what will help you survive college, I’ve got 7 major tips which will help you along the way.
Being a commuter can pose many different challenges. Two of them is being seen and heard. Sometimes when you are not a part of the majority it can be hard to feel like you are getting the recognition you deserve or an outlet to express your feelings.
“Can I get an Amen upin here!”-RuPaul
For example, even if there are plenty of activities and clubs for everyone to participate in, it can be hard for some commuters to feel like they belong. In my personal experience, I find most activities to be late at night. By then I’m already home and don’t feel the need to go back out, drive to school, and hope I know someone there that I can hang out with at that given event. It’s just not worth it to me which can be frustrating. When do they ever consider the commuters, besides the fact that these events are open to all?
But that’s just the tip of the iceberg. There are plenty of concerns that we as commuters want to speak about because changes or things that happen on campus can affect us too. But how can we? Where do we go to express our concerns, feelings, or maybe a new club idea?
Many campuses have what is called Commuter Services. Luckily for me my campus has one. This is where commuters are the priority; where questions and concerns about commuting, commuter life or just college in general are heard and taken into account.
Happy Dance!
This is the group of people that try to put our best interests first. They are the ones that want to make our college experience great! They realize commuting can be a struggle not only in the social aspect for example, but getting our voices heard too.
At my school, Commuter Services tends to do a lot of activities such a free meals or fun little events. Just last week, there was a Valentine’s Day Candy event and today we could get a free meal where we could socialize with other commuters. There are even workshops to help us thrive in college, such as meal prepping or eating on a budget. All of these events are also great opportunities to express your concerns or questions.
Another great tool that I recently saw implemented was the use of a commuter survey. This allowed commuters to not only get a chance to win some school cash (HOLDUP! Cash! SIGN ME UP!) but also have their voices heard. No one can really help you unless you speak up. And as being a minority group in a school setting, this is a great way to make changes that we need. This is our stage to finally voice our opinions. This is where you can hear me!
So to all of you who feel like no one cares about us, that no one has our best interest, that no one wants to hear what we have to say, maybe look into your school directory and find Commuter Services. Talk to them, get to know them, and express your concerns. This may be a great opportunity to tell them ideas for making a college commuter experience worth wile. And if you’re not sure what needs to be done, but feel like you need some changes, maybe ask them about creating a survey. Get the help from your fellow commuters to voice their opinions and concerns. There are plenty of surveys out there that can help hone down what should be taken care of to make a college commuter experience the best it can be. And if there isn’t a survey that fits your school best, you can always create one. Surveymonkey.com is a great place to create a survey that fits your needs.
I know feeling left out or not being heard can be a struggle, but maybe you’re not as alone as you think you are. Maybe all you need to do is a bit of searching and you will find the community and platform that you were meant to be a part of all this time. Don’t be shy, go out there and get what you deserve.
On a lighter note please enjoy this #relatable #me #collegelife post! 🙂
Why commute? More specifically why do people commute? In a general sense, it’s because people need to get back and forth from some place whether it be work or school. If they didn’t commute then they would just be stuck in one place. In my publication, I’m focusing on college commuters.
So to reiterate, why do college students commute? There are many different reasons towards this question. Some commute because they live close by. Some commute because they prefer living off campus. Some also commute because they don’t have the money to live on campus. And some well… just don’t have a choice. I’m sure there are other reasons my fellow commuters could come up with as to why we commute. Personally, I commute because I only live 25 minutes away from my campus. I would rather save the money I could spend on a dorm and put it towards other things such as school tuition or gas money.
Even though commuting is a choice just like living on campus is, it seems that my choice gets more of a stigma around it; why is that? Why is living off-campus so bad, or is it? Is living off campus really that different compared to people who live on campus? In some ways the answers to these questions can go both ways.
I am a college student just like everyone else, I just have to drive into school. I probably go through very similar things that everyone else has to do, such as eating meals everyday, but there may be some differences between us too. My point is, there is more to us than being just a commuter. Sure we may drive because we don’t have the money in some cases, but there is way more to us that people need to explore; if only they gave us the chance.
If more people took the time to understand our side of things, a commuter’s point of view, then maybe people would just see us a students and not just commuters. Instead of people saying, “Oh you’re a commuter,” maybe they should ask, “Why do you commute,” and then continue to explore who we are, what we go through, our ups and downs, our passions, etc. and maybe they will see that we have more in common than they thought.
Committing to the Commute 