Why I chose to commute to University

Althea explains why she chose to commute to Cambridge rather than living in student accommodation.

I am a recently graduated student from ARU, who studied business with tourism management. For the duration of my studies, I chose to stay at home and commute to the university mainly for financial and personal convenience, which helped to make my university experience less stressful and more fulfilling.

Here are the main reasons that I commute:

One of the obvious reasons is that paying for transportation worked out to be less expensive compared to paying rent and living independently. Although I did wish to live on my own during my studies, it really helped me to have less financial burden whilst I was studying.

In addition to this reason, when I was applying to universities it was during the COVID-19 pandemic. The uncertainty of the environment made me unsure whether I can comfortably live on my own in an entirely new place without the option of going outside freely, therefore it was easier for me to live at home and commute to university.

Considering these reasons, I felt that commuting to university was the better choice for me because it would bring me less stress during my studies, and it was important for me to think about my well-being during those difficult times.

The commuting experience

Overall, it has been very comforting and great living at home during my studies, as it made me less stressed during exam weeks because I was around my family who was a wonderful support system for me.

Another advantage of living at home and commuting was also being able to save up more money because I did not have to pay for accommodation. On a side note, I am incredibly lucky to have a supportive family, so if you are a student commuter without this kind support behind you, I am sure you will be able to find one during your time at university because ARU has a welcoming student community within their societies and events, as well as offering helpful well-being services.

However, immersing myself with the student community was difficult for me at first since I did not live in accommodation, so the only way I was able to include myself in student life was through societies, and luckily, I was able to find a wonderful and welcoming society for me at the university.

To conclude this blog, here are my top tips for students planning to commute:

1. When considering to commute, please make sure that you have considered all the pros and cons in commuting, so that you are aware and prepared for the experience you will get during your studies.
2. Organise and prepare your things the night before you go to class to decrease the time you need to get ready in the morning or afternoon. This would especially help students with unreliable transport options, personally it made me feel relieved to have less things to prepare in the morning and plus it reduces the chances of forgetting things you needed during the day.
3. . For student commuters it is going to require more effort to make new friends because we do not have the convenience of living with other students or being close enough to the city to meet up as often with university friends, so make sure that you are active and taking initiative with your social life so that you can keep the friendships that you start during university. You could achieve this by talking to your university friends about other topics outside education topics and asking them to hang out outside the university more often, so that you will get used to having them around and decrease the association of them as only your university friends.

In conclusion, I chose to commute instead of living in accommodation because I felt that it would have been better for my well-being to stay with family instead of living independently. If you are planning to commute for similar reasons then I am sure you will have a pleasant experience, the only setback would be having decreased opportunities to meet up and make new friends but with time and effort you will be able to create amazing friendships that will make your university experience memorable.

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Althea gives some tips on making commuting easier in My experience of commuting to university.