North Texas Daily

All throughout high school all I wanted to do was stay at home and never go to school. After being a commuter for almost a whole year, why do I want to always be at school now?

Yes, being a commuter saves you the money and I know everyone loves that, but sometimes I feel like I am not getting the full college experience. Most of my classes are online because I commute so the time I spend on campus is very minimal. I know it sounds like crying over spilled milk, but commuting can lead to a lonely life. 

I have grown up in Denton my whole life, so I thought commuting would be easy. I know where everything is, and I know how long the drive is to pretty much anywhere in town. I don’t know if I am only speaking for myself here, but being at home always discourages me to never really go to on-campus events. I always tell myself that I have everything I need at home. Sure, those are self inflicted wounds, but the only reason I am not living on campus getting the full college experience, as good or bad as that may be, is because I am trying my best to save money. 

I don’t get to meet as many new people as I would have thought, and instead of a five minute walk from a dorm to a classroom, it is actually a grueling process trying to space time out. I can thank that to having to get to class an hour early just to get a spot in the parking lot.

This results in me taking online classes, or at least as many as I can, because it saves me the gas money and I can do most of my work from home. It is easy to think online classes as an easy alternative, but then you realize you are truly never on campus, and you start to feel a little bit out of place.

In my mind, I am only on campus to go to class. Once I am done with class, I just go home. Going to classes isn’t the most fun thing in the world, so when all the memories I have on campus are just me trying to stay awake in statistics, I don’t want to even be at campus that much. It is a weird feeling because I am not on campus as much so it feels like I don’t belong. I also feel as though I am not as informed about the things going on around campus as much as other students.

It can be pretty lonely going through the same routine every single day. I know there are people that live on campus that wish they could be at home, just like how I know there are people at home that wish they could be on campus. It comes down to perspective, and from my point of view, I feel like a part-time student. I feel like there is a huge piece of the puzzle missing, and college could be so much more.

At the end of the day we are all college students trying to get our education. Saving money on housing is a huge plus, and I would not say I regret choosing to commute. I think that my college experience has been a lot different from what I thought in that it is a lot less social interaction and a lot more working from home.

Featured Illustration: Olivia Varnell