“I am just so much more comfortable living at home.” Casey Noriega- Commuting Senior at SPU Gives Insight on What It’s Like to Commute to and From Campus Every Day
By: Marilyn Lopez
May 10th, 2024
Casey Noriega, surrounded by bags that she brings with her every time she has a longer school day, studying for her upcoming midterm. (Marilyn Lopez)
Being a college student doesn’t have one single cookie-cutter experience; these four years of your life look different for everyone. For Casey Noriega, this means commuting 30 minutes to and from school several times a week for the span of her education career.
“I used to stay in the dorms when I was a Freshman”, said Noriega. “I lived on-campus for Fall quarter but I didn’t find it to be worth it as it was very restrictive due to COVID.”
Casey Noriega is one of thousands of students who commute on a regular basis as part of their college experience. According to the SPU website, “Nearly half of SPU undergraduates commute to campus from around Seattle and beyond” (Commuters). With this high percentage, it can be really difficult for commuting students to feel involved and a part of an academic community. A couple of ways in which commuting students may run into these roadblocks is by having trouble making friends, scheduling difficulties when reaching out to professors during their available drop-in times, as well as involving themselves with clubs on campus outside of class hours.
“I usually don’t stay for any clubs or events after class ends because that would mean staying hours until the event or driving back and forth to said events and home” expresses Noriega.
For commuting students, it can be really difficult to be engaged with events on campus. Whether it be the long distance traveled from home to attend these events, no time due to other priorities, or simply not having a friend group to go with due to the lack of bonds created. These are all possible obstacles that may create a divide amongst commuters and students who live on campus.
Unlike students who dorm, commuters face certain difficulties of likely not having purchased meal swipes, limiting their use of school resources such as Gwinn for food. “During days where I have longer periods of time in between classes, I tend to go to the SUB building to do homework and sometimes eat lunch.”
Senior reviewing her weekly planner to see any upcoming assignments that require attention. (Marilyn Lopez)
Another struggle that a lot of commuting students face is the pressure to have all of their courses aligned to decrease the amount of times they travel on campus. “Thankfully I’ll be graduating this Spring so I don’t have to worry about making sure my schedule aligns perfectly anymore, but yes, it was the biggest hassle every single quarter.”
With commuting being a significant roadblock as it tends to be an inconvenience for many students, this significantly contributes to the poor participation from commuters of on-campus activities. (535 words)
Bibliography: “Commuters.” Commuters | Seattle Pacific University, Student Life, spu.edu/administration/office-of-student-life/commuters#:~:text=Nearly%20half%20of%20SPU%20undergraduates,to%20the%20Seattle%20Pacific%20community. Accessed 10 May 2024.