Should I commute to uni?

So, I have stayed at univeristy for my first year and my second year. I have always disliked staying at uni because i don't go partying and don't really use my 'freedom' in that sense. I have found the first year difficult but the second year has been better because i keep myself busy and engage with the lectures. A lot of people i have met commute to uni and many people in my course are commuters. A few of my friends are staying at an accommodation but they have told me they won't stay for the third year because they don't live too far from university.

My commute is 1 hour and 45 minutes each way. Would I be crazy for doing this commute? A lot of my course materials are online and so far I havent had any 9ams. the accomodation prices are on average 8000 pounds and uowards. My course starts at the end of september to the beggining of may and i have around 6 weeks if holiday within that time frame aswell. Therefore , would it be advisble to commute?

Reply 1

hallamstudents

Official Rep

Original post by Anonymous

So, I have stayed at univeristy for my first year and my second year. I have always disliked staying at uni because i don't go partying and don't really use my 'freedom' in that sense. I have found the first year difficult but the second year has been better because i keep myself busy and engage with the lectures. A lot of people i have met commute to uni and many people in my course are commuters. A few of my friends are staying at an accommodation but they have told me they won't stay for the third year because they don't live too far from university.
My commute is 1 hour and 45 minutes each way. Would I be crazy for doing this commute? A lot of my course materials are online and so far I havent had any 9ams. the accomodation prices are on average 8000 pounds and uowards. My course starts at the end of september to the beggining of may and i have around 6 weeks if holiday within that time frame aswell. Therefore , would it be advisble to commute?

Hi there,

1 hour 45 is quite a long commute and you might find that it gets tiring quite quickly. Is this a train journey or driving? If you would be getting the train, you can always rest on the train so you might not find it as tiring as you might if you were driving that length there and back each day. You can also do some work on the train if you wanted to so this might save you some time when you get back. If you are driving, you should have a look into parking and see if you can park on your uni campus or if you would need to find alternative parking. Also, see how much the parking/train would cost as even though it will be less than your accommodation, it might be more than you are thinking it will be.

It also depends on how often you have to be in uni for your course. Some courses are a lot more full on than others and you would have to be in uni more often. If you will only have to be in uni 2/3 times a week, this is a lot more doable than if you would have to be in every day. If your lectures are online and you are able to watch these from home, this would also save you time going into uni and commuting so you would have more time off which again would make it more doable.

If you don't really like living at uni, it might be worth it as it will save you a lot of money. You could also get a part time job at home too which may be easier than getting one at uni and you can save up some money this way too! I would say that if you enjoyed living at uni and it would be worth staying for the experience of your last year, but if you don't really enjoy it anyway, commuting is a good idea.

The only thing I would say is that if you are part of any societies or are wanting to join one, it might be trickier to attend the sessions as you will be quite a bit further away and it might not be worth going in just for this if you don't have any uni lessons on that day as it is a long way to come for just an hour or two. So, keep this in mind if this is something that you do or are wanting to do this year.

I hope some of this helps,

Lucy -SHU student ambassador :smile: