should i commute or stay at uni?

hey everyone i am in my 1st year of uni and around this time of the year, we decide who we are moving in with next year.

I am 50/50 about whether to commute or move in with people. I have been offered to move in with some people but i am thinking of commuting.

It would take me about 45 mins to get here on the train and i have worked out it would be so much cheaper for me to commute.

i am so stuck on what to do :frown:

Reply 1

tombrown7

also mean't to say, i have loads of friends at uni but i miss being at home so much especially family and friends.

Reply 2

smd4std

you'll have a better social life if you move out :wink:

i'm glad i did

Reply 3

SlowlorisIncognito

I have experience of commuting and living out. Commuting does save a lot of money, and I manage to have a good social life whilst commuting. As you have already made some friends, I am sure they will let you stay over after nights out, and will still hang out with you, even if you don't live together.

The main negative of commuting is time- would the train be 45 mins door to door, or would you need to add time onto that to allow for getting to the station, and getting from the station to uni? Also, the train times probably won't perfectly match up with when you have lectures. This means you can spend a lot of time waiting around for transport. The time taken doing this does mean that you lose time that might be better used studying. It can also make things like meeting up for group work, or going in for short tutorials more inconvenient.

Maybe you could try out commuting for a week or so next term? If you realise you hate it, then at least you won't have commited yourself to living at home for a year. Meanwhile, if you decide that you can cope with it, you could save yourself a lot of money by commuting next year.

Reply 4

Sam Powell

Tom,

I think you know you want to commute. Living away from home has it's challenges and if you are serious about your degree you want to put as much effort into getting high grades.

smd, has a good point too. You need to develop good social skills as a youth, having a good and balanced social life is very important. Balance is vital though you need balance.

Take care Sam xx

Reply 5

RibenaRockstar

If your commute really is only 45 minutes door to door then I'd definitely go for that. My commute from my uni house to campus is well over an hour.

Reply 6

mlf_

Hi Tom,
SlowlorisIncognito and Sam have some really good points.
I currently commute to university and that suits me very well however it is not for everybody.

Reply 7

nic-nac

Original post by tombrown7

also mean't to say, i have loads of friends at uni but i miss being at home so much especially family and friends.

It's a lot to happen at once with starting a new uni and moving away from friends/family, but you have to move away at some point. A 45 minute commute probably won't be that bad. My friend has to leave his house at 7am to get to a 9am lecture. My other friend is in halls this year but is considering commuting next year and would have a longer commute to the other guy! But we're trying to advise him against this. The problem is that because his halls are self catered, the bedrooms are completely separate, so he doesn't have flatmates. I don't think he even knows who lives in the rooms next to him. And at uni, he only really talks to me and the other guy who commutes, so I'm considering asking him if he wants to live with me next year.