Stress of Commuting to College
WA 2 COMM 140 – Feature Assignment
Stress of Commuting to College
Chicago, Il, USA – Stress has been a problem for most college students throughout the country. It can affect a student’s health, their work habits, as well as their success. A common contributor of stress is the commute to school from home, especially at city schools such as UIC, where the majority of students are commuters. I interviewed a commuter at UIC and asked him what his thoughts were on stress as a commuter. Kevin is a senior studying political science and has been commuting for his entire college career.
Kevin’s commute is not the worst example of commuting, although we do feel that it is still a major stressor. It takes him about 15 minutes to drive to school from home, which is a lot less than some other students at the school. Still he complains of stress due to commuting. He tells me “the commute definitely affects my ability in the classroom, as well as outside of the classroom negatively.” He tends to miss class more often than he would if he was on campus, he doesn’t get all of the announcements and event notifications he should, and most important, he doesn’t get to socialize and meet people at the school he goes to. His work is also very far away, and he has to schedule that into his daily commute, as do most working students. He wishes he was part of more school activities and he says he would be if it were more accessible to him. He feels that he is at a major disadvantage compared to other students, since everything is at their doorstep, and have a major worry reduced. He has to go the extra mile for those things, which is something no college student needs. Commuting forces a student to plan out their day, homework schedule, and social life in a very unnatural way.
If it were up to Kevin he would definitely choose to live on campus. Unfortunately it is not, since family and accessibility have made commuting the most practical option for him. This is the case
Stress of Commuting to College
Chicago, Il, USA – Stress has been a problem for most college students throughout the country. It can affect a student’s health, their work habits, as well as their success. A common contributor of stress is the commute to school from home, especially at city schools such as UIC, where the majority of students are commuters. I interviewed a commuter at UIC and asked him what his thoughts were on stress as a commuter. Kevin is a senior studying political science and has been commuting for his entire college career.
Kevin’s commute is not the worst example of commuting, although we do feel that it is still a major stressor. It takes him about 15 minutes to drive to school from home, which is a lot less than some other students at the school. Still he complains of stress due to commuting. He tells me “the commute definitely affects my ability in the classroom, as well as outside of the classroom negatively.” He tends to miss class more often than he would if he was on campus, he doesn’t get all of the announcements and event notifications he should, and most important, he doesn’t get to socialize and meet people at the school he goes to. His work is also very far away, and he has to schedule that into his daily commute, as do most working students. He wishes he was part of more school activities and he says he would be if it were more accessible to him. He feels that he is at a major disadvantage compared to other students, since everything is at their doorstep, and have a major worry reduced. He has to go the extra mile for those things, which is something no college student needs. Commuting forces a student to plan out their day, homework schedule, and social life in a very unnatural way.
If it were up to Kevin he would definitely choose to live on campus. Unfortunately it is not, since family and accessibility have made commuting the most practical option for him. This is the case