Page 8 Thursday, November 1, 1984 The Capitol Times Commuting creates unique problems By Tony Perry Commuter students are a rare bunch. They don't talk about their roommates or com plain about cafeteria food or regret the hastened arrival of graduation day. They don't complain about the conditions of the dorm rooms and they rarely know what color their bedrooms are painted. And, they never, ever, talk about leaving school to enter "the real world." Leaving home for the first time and going to college is dif ficult enough, but becoming a commuter student is, in some ways, even more challenging. Depending on the student's distance from the school, the time spent traveling limits the student's available time for stu dying and participating in extra-curricular activities. "Time is a unique problem for the commuter student," said Jay Ebersole, vice presi dent/dean of Student Affairs at Harrisburg Area Community College. "Time and external commitments are probably the two strongest holds on a com muter student." "[A commuter student's] life is very full and rigorous," said Ruth Leventhal, Capitol Cam pus provost. "To really enrich their experience here is a challenge." Creating programs that will be viewed as important enough for a commuter student to devote some of his or her "already scarce time" is one of the primary problems of a predominantly commuter cam pus, she said. Approximately 64 percent of Capitol's 2500 students com mute to school from distances as far away as Somerset, Pa. "To really enrich [the commuter student's] experience here is a challenge." HACC has no on-campus housng, and with an average student age of approximately 27, the time constraint on a commuting student is even more vital to the school's success On a primarily residential campus, Ebersole said, there is a lot of the student's time left to be filled and that leads to student participation in ex tracurricular activities, many of which may be related to the stu dent's program of study. In contrast, a commuter stu dent may drive to the campus, attend classes and leave right away to attend to their jobs, families or other commitments. Because of this, many com muters feel alienated from the campus community and don't believe the school offers them as much as it offers resident students. "Commuter students often feel that we don't care about them," said Sharleen Martenas, former administrative assistant in the Student Affairs Office. Martenas said many commi frequently feel ignored be( they do not participate in pus activities as heavily as resident students do. But for the most part, this isn't because they are no interested in the activities "A few of the full students who live off ca, may be interested in getti volved in one student organiza tion.," Martenas said, but some of the commuting students never hear about available campus activities. "Many of them (commuter students) don't have the time to participate and may resent it if they are approached." Even when the commuter students do become involved in student ac tivities, their participation is often limited because of their limited available time. "Depending on the distance that they live, a lot of com muters cannot be expected to run back to campus for an evening event," said Dave Doa ty, Coordinator of Student Ser vices at Capitol. In addition to a generally decreased interest in activities Ruth Leventhal Provost/Dean programs, commuter students also often suffer from a lack of time for course work. Since they tend to schedule classes so that they will be convenient for their outside activites, com muter students tend to shy away from large gaps of time between classes and then leave campus right away. This gives them very little time to talk to professors during office hours, do research in the campus library, and work on extended class projects with other students. "Someone living on campus will have a roomate or neighbor that they can go to for help," Doaty said. "Hopefully, com muters will meet other people in their classes that they can call for assistance." Doaty said many students form study groups that com muter students may not be able to participate in because of a lack of time. '''''''''''''''';:f 4:°'":i:7:74'1:':::.:::1::::,.177;:::::°: 7'.7, ::::.74C.',7.:; :',:: : ',:Z'77, `1;7::::::ii!::., 4: :;:;:',.' 4h.zz., ':..`, 7. `,.... ,d., i/t::;."''".:: "They may be spending a couple of hours on the road and that can cut down on the amount of study time available. As a result, commuter stu dents tend to be very self sufficient. They schedule their time -- as it is the only way anything gets done -- and ar range their schedules to best suit themselves. Gary Wilhide, director of public relations and publications for Shippensburg University, said that commuters to that school arrange their own carpools. "They pretty well match themselves up," he said. "They find people in their classes and so forth." Wilhide was a commuter when he attended Shippensburg (then Shippensburg State Col lege) and he said he did not let the trip from Chambersburg to Shippensburg effect his par ticipation in extra-curricular activities. "It's up to the individual stu dent and his or her needs whether or not commuting would be a positive ex perience," he said. "The stu dent would probably want to schedule courses in such a man ner that they would be conve nient. If a student has a job in 1 0( FOR '"4.II: CO, i ~1~ a m + A..ve'eAe~ na A r n ,-,,, - , ::,,,,,,,;::-./,:',.:,`,,",--.,.,,, ~,,:, : f e:;;,; 7 :;',: . , , „ , :;:. !:,:i',F; ' ' '"1"::' -': ,, 1 ~„ - ' - '' -' ,„ '" .',.', o.Je fie e <<nr~`OeJe~e'o:,; JJ ~s"~ r '„J e ', v J ia Js, ae er s J rJ 4, y Jn e ~° c ~oaer g. 'eJ on p or ye ap tr oop r°o hoe roleoB rl u a i VU Jy4.n enn nct udi~ y JFn ' R y N Jye Oa the morning, he or she may well be able to get a four-year degree taking only afternoon and evening courses." The commuting distance is also a factor in the student's success. In addition, the fact that commuters do not have to pay room and board fees doesn't necessarily make com muting less expensive than becoming a resident student. In ••••MOSIM•10•11010111• PSU Capitol Campus Students! Bring in thi ad fo 10% of any purchas : Classes and firing • • Porcelain dolls • • PHONE (717) 944-4822 • Hours: Mon. - Thurs.: 10 a.m II Sat. 9 a m - 2 p.m. • • • • CLOSED FRIDAY 100 East Brown Street Middletown, PA 17057 order to commute, the student must consider the cost of transportation; "Should I buy a car," "how much will in surance cost," "is public transportation available," and, of course, "is there a carpool nearby" are all questions that need to be answered when deciding to commute. Of course, for many students, particularly people who are returning to school after a few years away from academe, commuting is the on way to obtain a college - ee. And many attend I°l at the expense of some T part of their lives such as tployment,friendships or rriages. order to make commuter tents feel more accepted on opus, many school are tak ;teps to ease the burden on mobile scholars. Ship ,sburg University posts ices of activities in the stu union building there and !rs a taped phone message lists activities for corn ers who come from as far ty as Harrisburg, Hagers 'n and Gettysburg. The 'ersity of Maryland's Col- Park campus has a twelve -old office of commuter af that operates a shuttle bus ;ommuter students and acts in advocate with other peo- In campus to increase sen sitivity to commuter needs. INIIIIMI•M•INIBMINIMMII • • • ■ • o' , -..._ a o ,-, ~ -,9, 6 p.m. - 9 p.m - 4 p.m., , ,4 .
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers