"Commuting to and from school 60 minutes a day"

[Anonymous]

does that mean to + from? or each way.

commute is 45 minutes.

[Anonymous]

It's not clear. It could mean either the time of the one-way commute, or the total commute.

[Anonymous]

Who said it, in what context?

[Anonymous]

DD marked yes but it is over one hour in each direction.

I can’t imagine they mean 1 hour total in both directions. 30 minutes in each directions feels like the norm for lots of kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:does that mean to + from? or each way.

commute is 45 minutes.

It means commuting 60+ minutes each way to get to school (taking 2 hrs + for a return trip every day). Usually by bus or train.

1.5 hrs return is not enough to register as a hardship. They are looking at 2 hrs+. Some kids are going 1.5 hrs by bus each way or more (3 hour return or more).

Your kids 45 min drive in a comfortable car each way doesn't count. They can look up your address and school address so be sure not to lie.

[Anonymous]

You really should be more clear, OP.

My kid qualified to have a waiver for campus housing because we live close to campus. He chose to live on campus anyway, so we didn't need to prove distance or commute time to his college.

So what are you trying to accomplish, and what criteria are you looking to dodge?

[Anonymous]

It doesn't matter btw.

They use that for demo purposes. Its not like they think you are facing a hardship.

Zip code though is super powerful...if you have a low income zip code AND mark that it might matter.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You really should be more clear, OP.

My kid qualified to have a waiver for campus housing because we live close to campus. He chose to live on campus anyway, so we didn't need to prove distance or commute time to his college.

So what are you trying to accomplish, and what criteria are you looking to dodge?

It is a question on the common app that isn’t very clear. I seriously doubt the person is trying to scam college admissions, and it has nothing to do with housing.

[Anonymous]

I think Sara Harberson addressed this and said she’s interpreting it as total time per day, not each way. But I don’t know if more guidance has come out since then.

[Anonymous]

I used to only have classes T-Th. It was easy to schedule 3 Tuesday and Thursday classes and then 2, 3 hour classes on Wednesday. Less commuting time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think Sara Harberson addressed this and said she’s interpreting it as total time per day, not each way. But I don’t know if more guidance has come out since then.

If I remember correctly, Sara said that it's for kids in a hard situation (like you are super poor but got a full ride scholarship to a really good private school an hour away type of situation). Most of us would not qualify. I don't think it's intended for UMC kids who travel to magnet programs when their high school is a good high school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think Sara Harberson addressed this and said she’s interpreting it as total time per day, not each way. But I don’t know if more guidance has come out since then.

If I remember correctly, Sara said that it's for kids in a hard situation (like you are super poor but got a full ride scholarship to a really good private school an hour away type of situation). Most of us would not qualify. I don't think it's intended for UMC kids who travel to magnet programs when their high school is a good high school.

I agree with this. I was PP noting DD had marked this yes. It is true in her case for a reason like the magnet example above. I expect it to have no impact either way on admissions.

[Anonymous]

I’ve also heard AOs are turned off by people over-claiming things like “contributing to childcare for a sibling”, etc if all they are doing is dropping them off at sports practice once a week.

I think for magnet kids the link to commuting times is obvious and DD didn’t try to sell it as anything beyond exactly what the question asked. But I’d be cautious marking it unless you are sure it is true because I’d worry you might risk turning off an AO with a bit of a false hardship narrative.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:does that mean to + from? or each way.

commute is 45 minutes.

It means commuting 60+ minutes each way to get to school (taking 2 hrs + for a return trip every day). Usually by bus or train.

1.5 hrs return is not enough to register as a hardship. They are looking at 2 hrs+. Some kids are going 1.5 hrs by bus each way or more (3 hour return or more).

Your kids 45 min drive in a comfortable car each way doesn't count. They can look up your address and school address so be sure not to lie.

I mean, it's walking plus two subways, but I hear you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I used to only have classes T-Th. It was easy to schedule 3 Tuesday and Thursday classes and then 2, 3 hour classes on Wednesday. Less commuting time.

guys, this is a common app question now. get with it