In a few short weeks, I will walk across the stage with my peers and join the ranks of the working class. I will become a part of a community of alumni, and will no longer be able to convince myself I still have time before I begin being an adult because my time has run out.
And I’m scared to death.
I recently finished student teaching and have no classes left to take to finish out my degree. I have no meetings left to attend. On top of that, I live at home, so my roommates consist of my favorite stuffed horse, and a Peeta from Hunger Games cardboard cut out. My neighbors are my parents and sister. Unless I want to make a half hour drive, I don’t have much of a social life. As a result, I have almost nothing to distract me and a ton of extra time. I’m suddenly able to manage all of the paperwork and preparation that comes with trying to find a job and earn certification to teach. Even after that, and working out, and actually making a meal for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, I still have a disgusting amount of time left to reflect on what the past four years have been like.
Going in as a freshman, I chose to commute to college, and in speaking with many college students to be, it’s often said that the “college experience” can only be gotten by living there. That’s a lie. I know it often takes a lot of spelling out of all the benefits to combined with this internal hatred of the college living style to convince someone to commute, and I won’t deny that even with all of the benefits it’s frustrating. Planning classes to coincide with traffic patterns, feeling torn between that program at home and the club at school. Not being able to stay late and party as often as residents because of the drive home. Not being able to drink at parties as excessively as others because of the drive home. It’s a lot to manage, but it’s also a proper induction to the real world, as opposed to a glorified, no adult supervision required summer camp.
Despite all the drawbacks and frustrations, not once in the past four years did I regret my decision to commute. If the effort was made, I was involved. I might not have been bound to time constraints, and there might’ve been some experiences I didn’t have, but if I didn’t have them, did I really want them? There was no one to stop me from going to that party or that event but myself. The “college experience” is whatever a person wants their experiences at college to be. I got my college experience, and what I don’t have is an extra $40,000 in on-campus living costs to pay off. No one gets a “college experience” handed to them because they live there. It all depends on how involved a student chooses to be.
After four years of commuting, I won’t have extra loans to pay off, I was able to sleep in my own bed, not be subjected to any drama that might arise from twenty people living in close quarters, I was able to eat food from home, and I learned time management. I met great people who became great friends. I shared so many laughs with my college family and shed many tears with them as well. I met a group of people that support each other and looked out for each other. I was also able to get my bachelor’s degree.
That’s the end game, right? Get a bachelor’s degree, and smile at graduation, knowing that every item on the “college experience bucket list” is checked off. After four years of commuting, that’s what I’m able to do, and I hope that’s what every student that decides to commute is able to do.
