The Student Room Group

Should I take a 4 hour round commute to uni?

I'll set the scene for you:
I live in Scotland and starting from August, buses are going to be completely free for under 22s.
I live roughly just under a two hour bus ride from Glasgow Uni
Allow me to repeat, FREEEEE BUSSSS!! Woohoo
If I travel I can live at home and this will save me £6,000 a year
So my question is, should I do this? Is it a no-brainer since it will save so much money, or do you think this will be a really bad idea? But how can I pass up on saving £6,000 a year?

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I realise I've put this in the wrong forum/section bit. Does anyone know how to move this post to the right section?
Reply 2
Live 2 hours away + save 6k a year
OR
Live 20 minutes (max) + experience independence + uni experience + learn life skills?

I know which one I'd choose..
Original post by spanker
Live 2 hours away + save 6k a year
OR
Live 20 minutes (max) + experience independence + uni experience + learn life skills?

I know which one I'd choose..

So are you saying you'd choose the latter? I know there's a whole list of benefits to living independently at uni, but surely I will get that at some point in my life anyway? Like, would it make a difference if I stayed at home for a few more years?
no
Original post by black tea
no

No to what?
Original post by AaaaUniWhat
No to what?

to your question of whether you should take a 4 hour round commute to uni
Original post by black tea
to your question of whether you should take a 4 hour round commute to uni

Ah ok, so why do you think that?
Original post by AaaaUniWhat
Ah ok, so why do you think that?

I have commuted 1.5 hours each way to work and it's pretty exhausting. You won't have the energy to study when you get home, and you will miss out on being a student and socialising with other students.
Reply 9
Original post by AaaaUniWhat
I'll set the scene for you:
I live in Scotland and starting from August, buses are going to be completely free for under 22s.
I live roughly just under a two hour bus ride from Glasgow Uni
Allow me to repeat, FREEEEE BUSSSS!! Woohoo
If I travel I can live at home and this will save me £6,000 a year
So my question is, should I do this? Is it a no-brainer since it will save so much money, or do you think this will be a really bad idea? But how can I pass up on saving £6,000 a yea

Massive opportinity cost, you miss out on 1st year halls, miss out on glasgow nights out, weird ****ing time table getting up early to make 9ams etc going home late after 6pm lectures, friendships will inevitably suffer as you constantly have to make 2 hour journey home in time for dinner and thus constant pressure to get home (people are unforgiving in freshers, if you are not there, they will move on and forget about you).

plus you SCOTS are so ****ing lucky not having to pay tution, you have already won the lottery the bulk of the cost is covered, maybe think about this for 2 3 and 4 year but 100% not first.
Original post by black tea
I have commuted 1.5 hours each way to work and it's pretty exhausting. You won't have the energy to study when you get home, and you will miss out on being a student and socialising with other students.

Yeah I think social life might be a bit of an issue and obviously the tiredness would be the worst part, but what if I could study whilst on the bus?
Original post by AaaaUniWhat
I'll set the scene for you:
I live in Scotland and starting from August, buses are going to be completely free for under 22s.
I live roughly just under a two hour bus ride from Glasgow Uni
Allow me to repeat, FREEEEE BUSSSS!! Woohoo
If I travel I can live at home and this will save me £6,000 a year
So my question is, should I do this? Is it a no-brainer since it will save so much money, or do you think this will be a really bad idea? But how can I pass up on saving £6,000 a year?

How much is your time worth?
Original post by Blue_Cow
How much is your time worth?

That is an interesting question, I'll have to think about that
Original post by Ackman
Massive opportinity cost, you miss out on 1st year halls, miss out on glasgow nights out, weird ****ing time table getting up early to make 9ams etc going home late after 6pm lectures, friendships will inevitably suffer as you constantly have to make 2 hour journey home in time for dinner and thus constant pressure to get home (people are unforgiving in freshers, if you are not there, they will move on and forget about you).

plus you SCOTS are so ****ing lucky not having to pay tution, you have already won the lottery the bulk of the cost is covered, maybe think about this for 2 3 and 4 year but 100% not first.

I know I'm lucky, and I'll take your advice into account. May I ask if you've known anyone this has happened to, what was their experience?
Reply 14
Original post by AaaaUniWhat
I know I'm lucky, and I'll take your advice into account. May I ask if you've known anyone this has happened to, what was their experience?

I can speak from my freshers experience when first meeting people, groups quickly form and people who don't meet up reguarly with the group and are often ostracized and people start chatting **** about that person "he/she is never here" etc
Original post by Ackman
I can speak from my freshers experience when first meeting people, groups quickly form and people who don't meet up reguarly with the group and are often ostracized and people start chatting **** about that person "he/she is never here" etc

I see, guess that's another thing to consider
Another thing I've just realised is that uni is going to be a lot more online this year, so maybe that would actually play to my advantage of I wanted to travel, since I could do more at home.
I have a 2 hour commute each way for certain aspects of my timetable and I can confirm that the journey is extremely tiring and you’ll be left with no energy to do anything once you get back home.
Honestly, having done about a ~1 hour commute to my foundation year back when I first went to uni, I am 100% certain this is not going to be sustainable. Even a 1 hour commute was absolutely exhausting to do every day, twice a day. Yours will be double that. Imagine you've been at the uni all day long, and your tired and maybe had a bad day, and then instead of being able to just go home within 10-20 minutes, you have to spend 2 hours on public transportation. Also if anything gets delayed or cancelled on a commute that long, you basically miss a whole day of uni.

Then there is the situation if you have just one or two lectures on a particular day - are you going to want to spend 4 hours travelling to go to just those few lectures? Also consider what if you have a 9am lecture; you would need to be getting up probably around 6am to get ready to start your commute (assuming that there is even a bus that goes early enough for you to get there in time).

This is just a spectacularly bad idea.
Reply 19
Original post by AaaaUniWhat
I'll set the scene for you:
I live in Scotland and starting from August, buses are going to be completely free for under 22s.
I live roughly just under a two hour bus ride from Glasgow Uni
Allow me to repeat, FREEEEE BUSSSS!! Woohoo
If I travel I can live at home and this will save me £6,000 a year
So my question is, should I do this? Is it a no-brainer since it will save so much money, or do you think this will be a really bad idea? But how can I pass up on saving £6,000 a year?


Am I correct in thinking that you are starting at Glasgow University this autumn?

If so, I would imagine that you are being asked to apply for University accommodation at this juncture. Is that right?

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