A Day in the Life of a Commuter Student

Jetonne’ Ellis

Staff Reporter

Despite their challenges, the number of McDaniel students who commute remains high. According to Mitchell Alexander, Faculty Advisor for CSA, this fall 2009 semester, 460 undergraduate students are commuting.

The primary reason that McDaniel students choose to commute is an economical one. Nowadays, college students are opting to attend schools closer to home as money becomes an increasingly important factor in college life. When commuting, expenses like room and board, laundry, and meal plans aren’t financial burdens one has to worry about. Even when taking into consideration what a student spends in gas and car maintenance, it is still considerably cheaper to commute than live on-campus.

President of The Commuter Student Association (CSA), Steven Carney, describes his experience as a commuter student as “unique”. Carney coordinates the Officers of the CSA as well as CSA meetings and functions. He represents the CSA and commuters at All College Council, Organizations Council, and other student/faculty meetings. He also addresses all commuter issues including parking lots, tickets, road hazards, and safety concerns.

One of the most common problems faced by commuter students is the limited number of parking spots available on campus.

“A majority of the time students have to park in ‘outskirt parking lots’ like Harrison lot, and walk across campus to get to their classes. In addition, there is a small area designated for commuter students, but this area is commonly occupied by faculty, resident, or visitor parking,” said Carney.

SGA Representative for Commuter Students Jessica Schisler acts as the liaison between The Commuter Student Association and The Student Government Association. According to Schisler, “commuting can make things difficult. For instance, I have meetings on Mondays at 9 p.m., so I either have to find something to do on campus between my last class and the meetings, or go home and come back if there is nothing to do, which wastes gas. However, staying involved on campus makes me feel connected to the school.”

“Because many commuters have work commitments, it is very hard for them to become involved on-campus. These students come to classes, and afterwards [have to] leave for work. Many times, students are expected to fulfill outside commitments, so the students become “left out” by the on campus community because commuters are not on-campus all the time. The students who do become involved find themselves spending a lot of time “killing time” waiting for late night meetings or other functions,” says Carney.

Typically commuter students have to wake up earlier for morning classes and go to sleep later after night classes because they have to drive to and from McDaniel. On-campus students can roll out of bed and walk to class in their pajamas, commuters cannot. Carney laughs, recalling a joke that is common among commuter students: “In the mornings, commuter students have already dodged three deer by the time on-campus students wake up.”

Hazardous road conditions are another issue. When there is bad weather, commuters are forced to make a choice between making extra work for themselves, or risking the drive to McDaniel in potentially hazardous road conditions.

“In the wintertime, on-campus students only have to be careful of walking on ‘black ice,’” says Carney. “Commuters drive in it. Although the dean’s issue a letter to commuter students saying ‘do not risk your safety to come to class in hazardous weather,’ if a student misses class-time due to weather, the student is expected to make up the work, or work twice as hard to catch up to the course material.”

From Carney’s perspective, the biggest obstacle for commuters is overcoming the loss of community: “I can relate to commuters who are always in the state of either coming or going; it is hard for them to create a cohesive group with on-campus students or other commuters.”