ARCHIVE  :: OCTOBER 2002 :: ON CAMPUS

The Importance of Being There
Commuter Students Risk Missing Out on Crucial Learning Experiences

By Harlan Cohen
Special to The Wall Street Journal

October marks the beginning of a new season in college. It's the time of year when roommates stop being sugary sweet to each other, and strangers stop being strange (some of them, anyway). It's when the smell of piled-up laundry replaces the smell of fresh paint in the residence hall. It's when the mystery flavor in the mystery meat in the cafeteria is no longer such a mystery. Clubs and organizations are in full swing. The football team is opening its conference schedule. The homesick begin healing, and life in the dorm starts to get familiar. It's the time of the year when the pulse of the campus begins to beat strong, fast and loud. You're beyond the first chapter, and your college story is starting to take shape.

On Campus Harlan Cohen

I was reminded of it all while visiting the University of Houston recently. I was hanging out at the campus bookstore, where dozens of students were lined up to pay for a semester's worth of reading material. That's where I met a young woman named Diana Argaez. Ms. Argaez is from the Houston area and, as a sophomore, she ought to feel right at home in college. But she never has. You see, she's a commuter student. Bowing to her mother's wishes, she still lives at home and gets a ride to and from campus each day (Mom doesn't want her to start driving yet, either).

"I haven't experienced the college experience," Ms. Argaez told me. "I feel like I'm missing out."

Leaving Life Behind

Ms. Argaez isn't entirely sure what she's missing out on, but anyone who lives on campus (or near campus) could tell you in an instant how crucial it is just to be there. It's the difference between living with a roommate and continuing to live with your parents at home. It's the difference between eating breakfast in a cafeteria with a gaggle of friends or in the same kitchen you grew up with. Essentially, it's the difference between living on campus and visiting campus. Those who live on campus get to live the college life. Those who leave it at the end of the day leave behind the library, hundreds of organizations, sports, life with a roommate, fraternities and sororities, midnight study sessions and those countless conversations among friends that tend to erupt spontaneously in dorm lounges every day. These are the experiences that stay with college graduates forever.

What is Ms. Aragaez's fondest memory of her freshman year? Waiting for her mom to pick her up after classes, she says. "Every time I sit here waiting for my mom, I meet people."

No doubt about it: "Commuters miss out," says Meg Pierce, co-president of the campus activities board at Lyndon State College in Lyndonville, Vt. "I don't even know if they realize it. They miss out on freedom, miss out on the freshman experience, miss out on college food, miss out on parties, miss out on activities, and miss out on intramurals." It certainly costs less to stay at home than to pay for room and board on campus. But as an athlete and campus leader, Ms. Pierce says there's an opportunity cost to be considered, too. For commuters, even something as simple as an activities meeting becomes a chore. "I wouldn't want to meet at 9 p.m., get home at 10 p.m., and then drive to school at 8 a.m," she says.

While colleges do try to encourage commuters to get involved, they are doing much more to promote the merits of being on campus. Many colleges require new students to live on campus for one or two years, making sure to help them with the transition. For example, Occidental College, a small liberal-arts school near Los Angeles, has what it calls a "living and learning" program; freshmen are required to live on campus, but they are grouped in dorms with others who are taking similar courses.

If money is the issue, there are ways to ease the financial burden. Colleges offer programs to help with costs of living on campus, and financial-aid packages typically take these costs into account. Once you're an upperclassman, you can apply to become a dorm resident assistant. As an "RA," your job is to help new students get adjusted to dorm life, promote healthy interaction among residents and maintain order. In return, you typically get free room and board-not to mention a year's worth of valuable management experience.

Part of Learning

Indeed, for RAs and all other students, the campus living experience is every bit a part of the college education as lectures, homework, midterms and finals. It's how you learn to live with a stranger of a different race, religion, culture or political viewpoint. It's how you learn to deal with new relationships outside of class. It's how you learn to manage your own finances, and make choices independent of your parents. It's how you make that transition from teenager to adult. It's all these things that make college different from high school.

Diana Argaez feels like she hasn't had a chance to make that transition yet. She figures that if she were to stay in Houston after she graduates, she'd probably be forced to live at home until she gets married. So she plans on moving out of the area as soon as she finishes college.

"I need my independence to grow," she says.

Send your comments to harlan@helpmeharlan.com