The Student Room Group

Is commuting for 1hr 20mins reasonable?

So I got a place through clearing but the Uni has a 1:20 or 1:30 travel time by train from my house. My Firm choice was only a 20 min cycle but I was rejected (strangely my clearance choice is higher on the league table than my firm lol i was lucky)



1)How will this effect my studies?

2)Should I stay home and commute to Uni or should I just live at Uni?



I don't really care about social life i already have a wide circle with people from all over Europe, some places is Africa and US.


In year 8 to 11 I used to travel 30mins to school every weekday. I liked it until year 10 and 11 because years 7-9 really annoyed me with their immature behaviour.


For work experience in year 10 I used to commute for an hour and I liked it.


Im currently thinking of travelling because I get to save £1000 from grants and get help my mom look after my siblings (there are other reasons but this post will be too long), also for Uni I'll be paying about £7000 just for rent with other bills included.

I currently do the cooking, laundry, clean the bathroom, baby sitting and other tasks at home.

Also this past month me and mom haven't been getting along, I'm hoping it ends soon.
(edited 8 years ago)

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It depends on a few factors.

Are you a morning person? If you find out that you have 9 AM lectures how likely are you to get up and be ready to leave on time.

What mode of transport are you going to use. I know you mentioned cycling, so if that's how you're going to do it are you prepared to cycle in all weathers?

If not, is there a bus you can take that is reasonably cheap, often you can get passes for the week or month, sometimes yearly depending on the bus company.

How much do you want to go to university. You asked if you should go or just stay at home. If you really think a degree will be useful, or you enjoy studying then you should definitely go. But it depends how high your motivation level is. If you're only going for the sake of it then you probably won't find the long journey worth it!

I'd definitely check out all your travel options and how expensive they will be as that could influence your decision.

Ultimately it's a decision you have to make, but I hope this helps :smile:
Original post by Mr.Dr.Professor


2)Should I stay home or should I go Uni?

What are the doubts you're having about going to uni?
Original post by Dauntless
It depends on a few factors.

Are you a morning person? If you find out that you have 9 AM lectures how likely are you to get up and be ready to leave on time.

What mode of transport are you going to use. I know you mentioned cycling, so if that's how you're going to do it are you prepared to cycle in all weathers?

If not, is there a bus you can take that is reasonably cheap, often you can get passes for the week or month, sometimes yearly depending on the bus company.

How much do you want to go to university. You asked if you should go or just stay at home. If you really think a degree will be useful, or you enjoy studying then you should definitely go. But it depends how high your motivation level is. If you're only going for the sake of it then you probably won't find the long journey worth it!

I'd definitely check out all your travel options and how expensive they will be as that could influence your decision.

Ultimately it's a decision you have to make, but I hope this helps :smile:


Thanks for the help, sorry I meant to say should I go live on the campus at Uni or should stay home. I'll be travelling by train and I've already calculated the cost of travel. The cost annually is favouring public transport rather than me living on campus.

Personally I don't mind travelling 1 hour, which is the recommend travel time, so in my opinion adding an extra 20-30 mins shouldn't be too much trouble but my mother thinks otherwise.

I really want to go to Uni as I'm doing a course which is very employable and flexible, although it will require a lot of work for me to pass.

Just need to know how it feels to travel for that long for a year.
Original post by claireestelle
What are the doubts you're having about going to uni?


No doubts the benefits are too much for me to not go. I meant to say is it reasonable to me to stay travel 1:20/30 or stay on campus. Its pretty much gone to the emotional stage at this point.
Original post by Mr.Dr.Professor
Thanks for the help, sorry I meant to say should I go live on the campus at Uni or should stay home. I'll be travelling by train and I've already calculated the cost of travel. The cost annually is favouring public transport rather than me living on campus.

Personally I don't mind travelling 1 hour, which is the recommend travel time, so in my opinion adding an extra 20-30 mins shouldn't be too much trouble but my mother thinks otherwise.

I really want to go to Uni as I'm doing a course which is very employable and flexible, although it will require a lot of work for me to pass.

Just need to know how it feels to travel for that long for a year.


To me besides the educational experience of uni, you also learn a lot of life skills - how to cook, clean, pay rent, manage money, all of that kind of stuff - you are unlikely to learn this at home, where presumably your mum cooks dinner every day, and maybe you get some sort of allowance. If i stayed at home, i would expect to be paying my parents rent - it costs them to run the house, why shouldnt you share some of these costs now you are entering the 'real world'?

You also have to consider the what ifs - what happens when there are train delays - if youre going into london, then you can expect some kind of delay on a daily basis, which could lead you to miss your connection for example, making your journey last longer, or what if there are no trains and you have to get the replacement bus, if there even are any.

And you say that you dont really care about the social aspect - but what about joining sports teams for example (or any other society) - youre always going to be left out in this sense - youll have to get the last train home, whilst the rest of the team celebrate that great win in the match that day. What about when you have a group assignment, but have to go home early to get the train? From watching my father commute to london daily (2 hours minimum all in -including travel to/from the station at either end) he was exhasuted - work/uni is demanding enough without the extra pressure and tediousness of living at home.

If you are going to struggle financially maybe consider getting a part time job - i mean youll be saving 3 hours a day commuting, so surely you could fit a job in to top up your loan?

In my opinion uni is about so much more than the education, and whilst that is of course the main reason for going, you are comiting to the place for 3 years (or more), and you need to be completly sure of your decision
Original post by Mr.Dr.Professor
No doubts the benefits are too much for me to not go. I meant to say is it reasonable to me to stay travel 1:20/30 or stay on campus. Its pretty much gone to the emotional stage at this point.


I think its perfectly doable, you could take a laptop on public transport and do work or reading to make use of the travel time?:smile:
Original post by Mr.Dr.Professor
So I got a place through clearing but the Uni has a 1:20 or 1:30 travel time by train from my house. My Firm choice was only a 20 min cycle but I was rejected (strangely my clearance choice is higher on the league table than my firm lol i was lucky)



1)How will this effect my studies?

2)Should I stay home and commute to Uni or should I just live at Uni?



I don't really care about social life i already have a wide circle with people from all over Europe, some places is Africa and US.


In year 8 to 11 I used to travel 30mins to school every weekday. I liked it until year 10 and 11 because years 7-9 really annoyed me with their immature behaviour.


For work experience in year 10 I used to commute for an hour and I liked it.


Im currently thinking of travelling because I get to save £1000 from grants and get help my mom look after my siblings (there are other reasons but this post will be too long), also for Uni I'll be paying about £7000 just for rent with other bills included.

I currently do the cooking, laundry, clean the bathroom, baby sitting and other tasks at home.

Also this past month me and mom haven't been getting along, I'm hoping it ends soon.


You realise that is near enough 3 hours a day I just want to point out that

"I don't really care about social life i already have a wide circle with people from all over Europe, some places is Africa and US."
is a pretty stupid view the people you meet at uni will be the friends you see most often your friends from the countries really how often do you get to hang out with them if they're in other countries once twice a year?

you say "Im currently thinking of travelling because I get to save £1000" you'll get a loan that will cover your tuition fees and that will be basically it the £1000 you think you'll save will be knocked off your loan wether you get a maintenance loan or not that will cover your train fares.

Sometimes it's cheaper to live at uni to give you an example my train fare when I went home at the weekends or for holidays was £20 that would £100 I saved £7 awake inhales that's £210 a year so yeah theres that.

And there is the time you should use to study and social life at uni is very different to the social life you have at home you really need to experience it to understand you also get to experience living out but you have the safety net of your parents if need be it just plain makes moire sense to me
I'd just live there, there's very few 1h20 train routes I can think of where you'd be much better off financially living at home compared to living at the uni unless your course has like 2 or 3 days per week. Even if there was a sizeable extra cost in living there, the extra time you can spend not being on a train combined with having new friends and a new sense of independence is worth it.
Live at uni. I did a commute of similar length for about 6 weeks and it was MISERABLE.

You end up tired, you have to leave social events early to get the last train home, and you waste half your life on your commute. For me, it didn't even work out any cheaper than the rent on my last house.

Posted from TSR Mobile
I used to commute 1.5 hours each way for college 3 days a week and it was really tiring for me as I'd have to be in for 9 and wouldn't get home until 7. But if the trains are fairly frequent for you maybe you won't have that problem :smile:


Posted from TSR Mobile
It will vary widely per person.
Personally for me that commute is a deal breaker. I used to have a 1 hour 15 minute commute to college every day and it just left me wiped out. Not to mention I get really travel sick.

You'll also have to take into consideration how reliable the transport is, especially for early mornings and when you have to be on time for assessments and exams.
I would live at uni. Does that commute time include travelling to and from the train station for example? Remember commute times can considerably increase when your timetable is released and suddenly the train/bus timetable isn't compatible and you end up being quite early.

I love being on the train/bus, it gives me time for myself but that adds up to a lot of hours per week when you're either doing nothing or trying to work while in transit. Which I imagine to be horrendous during peak times.

In terms of affecting your studies, I can't see anything positive coming from it. I like halls/living away because you can close yourself off and have quiet privacy to work. I'd use that 1 hour 20 for recreation and probably go to the gym. Remember you should probably have some down time when you're not physically at university. You don't want to burn yourself out.
It's definitely doable, I commute between 1:30 to 2 hours each way to sixth form college each day. For me I would say it goes very quickly but I wouldn't take the decision likely as it can get very tiring as I currently leave my house at 7am and get home at 6pm. Personally it doesn't get in the way of my studies, I've been doing it for a year now I have still achieved the grades I wanted, but it depends how you work best as this way I'm forced to use my free time at college to study. However, I don't think it'd would be so great to commute to uni, I already miss out on a lot of social events with my friends as they live at least an hours drive away and I only just manage to fit all my work in so with the increased work load at uni I think it would be a big struggle. There is definitely highs and lows to it, standing in the rain for an hour because your train was cancelled is not the best way to spend a Friday haha :biggrin:
In a couple of weeks, I'll be leaving the house at 7am to be near the front of the queue for the 0715 bus to college, bus gets to college at 8.40. Bus home gets back at 5.55pm. I live 5 minutes walk from the bus stop. I'm doing Access to Humanities.

When I'm at uni in 2017 hopefully, the bus will be at 0720 so will still leave home at 7. That gets to the bus stop nearest uni 0810 then its 10 minute walk to library/lecture theatres/main eating place. Main places at UEA are really close to each other. For socialising in the evenings, there's a bus service to Dereham that runs quite late & I could get family to bring me home or I'd stay the night with someone.

I think I'll be tired so bus journey will be snoozing time. I'd say 90 minutes is probably the limit, if you want to be able to study late evening & you're not a morning person, I'd stay in halls. It'll give you a later get up time in the morning & mean you'll be able to go out in the evening if you want to.
(edited 8 years ago)
I'd move to university if I was you, despite what the university says an hours commute isn't really reasonable. University isn't just about getting a degree, it's about personal exploration and new experienced. Living on campus will give you the opportunity to meet more people, which even if you're not a sociable person is useful for when you are looking for a house share in second and third year. I say when you are looking and not if because you will want to have easy access to the library, which you obviously would not with an hour and half commute.

Plus the social side is fantastic, I wouldn't swap my university experience to have an extra couple of thousand pounds in my pockets. First year was the best year of my life and I wouldn't trade it for any amount of money. Ring Student Finance and ask them to change your details to living away from home.
Original post by Cate1976
In a couple of weeks, I'll be leaving the house at 7am to be near the front of the queue for the 0715 bus to college, bus gets to college at 8.40. Bus home gets back at 5.55pm. I live 5 minutes walk from the bus stop. I'm doing Access to Humanities.

When I'm at uni in 2017 hopefully, the bus will be at 0720 so will still leave home at 7. That gets to the bus stop nearest uni 0810 then its 10 minute walk to library/lecture theatres/main eating place. Main places at UEA are really close to each other. For socialising in the evenings, there's a bus service to Dereham that runs quite late & I could get family to bring me home or I'd stay the night with someone.

I think I'll be tired so bus journey will be snoozing time. I'd say 90 minutes is probably the limit, if you want to be able to study late evening & you're not a morning person, I'd stay in halls. It'll give you a later get up time in the morning & mean you'll be able to go out in the evening if you want to.

If you are planning to commute to uni you are in for a shock it can be done but it's verry hard at lest look at halls it will make your life Sooo much easer
I know I;v answered this already but I'm going to give you detailed answer why commuting is a dumb idea there are 3 main reasons why you shouldn't commute (well 2 and 1 you'd need to workout).

1\ Finance is always something people state when they decide or are deciding wether to commute or not popular opinion says "oh I'll save money by living at home".Generally people haven't actually worked it outlets take my route home (when I came home for a weekend or the holidays) My local stations were Southampton Central and Reading so it was about a 1 hour trip it was £20 that would work out as £100 a week halls can cost as little as £90 (less in some places) that includes bills and broad band even sky in some common rooms. so your saving £10 a week or £300 a year (that could go a long way towards various trips you may want to go on or food you know whatever).

2\Social life is one of the most important things about uni(in the sense that if you don't make time to have fun you'll burn out) clubbing the cinema various sports fixtures the pub playing video games with your mates just hanging out in the kitchen oh and society socials all these things form bonds that wit any luck will last you a long long time even for life not to mention it's fun. Commuting can and will exclude you from many of these things the first couple of months for commuters can be very lonely.
your flat mates become your support at uni and they will support you

3/.Academic life at uni can be seriously affected by commuting in a negative way uni is all about academic work. You are basically at the mercy of the timetables at uni you can have nice days maybe 3 hours of lectures and seminars with nice breaks between the of an hour for lunch or you could even study in them to give you less to do that evening or after noon but you can also have nightmare days these come in two flavours bot of which will demonstrate why halls are better.

The nightmare nightmare days are just that you start at 9 you have lectures labs and seminars until 7 with no breaks it's exhausting your 10-11 hour days (I had 2 of these back to back first year) do you really think you'd be able to get up the next morning if you were commuting back for 1h 20mins you'd get back shattered where your parents would nag you to study while your fighting just to stay upright.

The commutors nightmare this happened to me in my second year (for those who stay in halls or accommodation these are quite nice it really highlights why halls are a good thing.) you will have a lecture at 9 and another lecture a say 6 or 7 pm that's a 9 hour break if your in halls you can quite happily go back study in you room for a bit maybe eat something play some video games (you can get all the studying you need done it doesn't take too long to write up a well planned assignment studying will take a about 4 hours nut you'll still have 5 hours to kill while your collogues who are in halls may be playing far cry or chatting to mates or eating or doing whatever you'd like to be doing they may even be watching tv which you cant do because of the distance of your commute.

any way hope I helped a bit I betting someone will come on soon and say how they found commuting to be fine don't do what I see all too much and just take what they say as gospel everyone is saying move out there must be a reason for it I say live out I did and had a great time.
Original post by New- Emperor
If you are planning to commute to uni you are in for a shock it can be done but it's verry hard at lest look at halls it will make your life Sooo much easer


It's college to do Access course that's starting in a couple of weeks & no halls so no choice there. For uni halls isn't practical as I'm married with 3 kids & it wouldn't be fair on them. The college commute is longer than uni will be.
Original post by Cate1976
It's college to do Access course that's starting in a couple of weeks & no halls so no choice there. For uni halls isn't practical as I'm married with 3 kids & it wouldn't be fair on them. The college commute is longer than uni will be.

See that changes everything I was under the impression that you were a young girl without other commitments

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