Life of a Commuter (Final)

As I was growing up and going to school I was lucky that I never had to travel too far to get to my destination. I actually would be able to get up only twenty minutes before class and still make it on time. That sense of comfort was obliterated once I graduated high school. I wanted to go to a “good” university and not Nassau Community College which was everyone’s fallback plan in my high school. As I searched for schools to apply to I soon came to the realization that I will have to travel quite a bit to get to my destination, and to dorm, well that wasn’t an option financially. As the summer passed on, I narrowed my search down to St. John's University and Queens College, both on an equal plane in education and cost since St. John’s offered me a scholarship, so to me it ultimately came down to the time of transportation and the winner of that battle was obvious, as I am currently a St. John’s student.

The commute to school for me takes about forty minutes which includes 2 buses, but I usually give myself an hour in case of traffic on my route. Coming to St. John’s from my home in Elmont is pretty relaxing, but the cost of that commute leaves much to be desired. $76 for a monthly metro card is a whole week’s check for me, but I guess if I had a car, gas money would’ve been quite a bit more expensive. The idea of commuting certainly affects many other people as well, so I thought I’d venture out and seek their opinions and thoughts.

I had two of my friends who also commute to school answer some fairly simple questions about their daily traveling to school. Justin Tehrani lives in Floral Park on Long Island and commutes to St. John’s with his car. He says it takes him about twenty minutes to get to school on a normal day, give or take five minutes for the level of traffic. Justin states that the gas needed to travel on a consistent basis is leaving a significant burden on his wallet. Second contestant on my little survey was Syed Lahori from the same town as me, Elmont. His commute is rather similar to mine in which he takes two buses, the N25 and the Q46, however he also commutes by car on occasion. When asked the question “Does commuting seem to be too expensive for you?” Syed’s reply was simply “not really.” These findings bring me to this determination; the cost of commute is dependant on several different elements, such as income from a job, allowance from a parent, or money needed for other necessities, so the feeling of money being a load on your shoulders changes from person to person.

As I started to analyze the data I got from my commuting friends, I noticed it had a good variety. My data includes one who drives, one who uses both public transportation and a car, and me using solely mass transit. However, I felt I need more substance as to why commuting is important or significant in the grand scheme of things. That “substance” can be anything, but my first guess would be the difference with commuters and dormers is the time they have to do their school work. To do this, I can ask some students who dorm about how and when they find time to sit down and hit the books, as opposed to my experience.

Tahmid Rahman, a cousin of mine who dorms over at NYIT in Old Westbury was next in line on my interview run. The discussion took place online, so I can get some basic information about his work ethic and the distractions he comes across on a daily basis. Tahmid tells me that one major positive about the dorm life is that you are usually grouped with people who study the same major as you, so you always have someone to ask when you’re stuck on a question or anything like that. I asked Tahmid if he gets distracted with the fact that his friends are always around him, and his reply was “I can see that happening, but when you got scholarships riding, you tend to become more responsible with your time.”

Now back to the commuting aspect. There are many positives in commuting, but the flaws are there as well. One problem that I certainly feel with commuting to school is that it makes the whole experience feel like a job rather than something that can be enjoyable. I often times don’t feel like sticking around campus for a couple extra hours if there is an event going on later in the day or if there is a group of friends studying. If I were to dorm, I’d always be in the middle of the action and I can probably pick up some connections that can really help me down the road. Another problem people may face is keeping in touch with their friends, especially those from Long Island, because we spent our high school years with people in our direct neighborhood. I have started friendships with people all over the country while at St. Johns but it’s difficult to keep up when I am commuting from home, while they dorm here on campus or when they go home on vacation. I can talk on and on about the differences between the dorm life and commuting but in the end, the cost is what keeps me as a commuter rather than a St. John’s resident.

What else can I use to justify my thoughts? That is what I am asking myself. I can do numerous things such as surf the web and find cold hard statistics comparing commuters and dormers on a whole sort of different aspects on their student lives, but I feel going straight to the source would make this paper more personal, and more inviting to readers. Asking the peers who play a role in your daily lives will get you much more indirect information than any book or web page can give, so I will continue to rely on the interview technique and expand on my thought about commuting.