Anonymous
10/30/2025 14:10
Subject: Re:Commuter schools
Anonymous wrote:Your question is way too vague. I have no idea what you want to know, though I would guess that none of the schools you mentioned are commuter schools.
Yeah, not the schools OP listed. Typically, colleges that are more regional (as opposed to national) tend to be commuter schools. You can also get a sense based on percentage of OOS students, whether on campus housing is guaranteed or even required, etc.
Anonymous
10/30/2025 13:47
Subject: Commuter schools
GMU
UMBC
Have a commuter(ish) vibe.
UMBC
Have a commuter(ish) vibe.
Anonymous
10/30/2025 12:47
Subject: Commuter schools
Anonymous wrote:Seriously, stop with the "Pitt is a commuter school" nonsense. You or your DC won't notice.
I went there in the late 1980s and it was less prestigious then but the same high quality school. The dorms were not empty on weekends and it didn't impact the feel of the school. I learned the expression "suitcase school" from DCUM only in mid-life.
At college, people going home are not different from people with other plans like roadtripping to a concert, spending all weekend out of the dorm at their fraternity, or spending all weekend recovering from a cold. I can't imagine expecting to see dormmates all the time.
I did make a commuter student friend in a summer class. We talked on the phone for a while. My best friend dated one who actually joined a frat.
Commuter student at Pitt often used to be mentioned in a way that implied lower income family. Which could be true. But that was actually a positive to me. Students were humble and usually working hard because college costs mattered to them. Instead of being entitled slackers and goofoffs. I prefer to be around hardworking people who care about what they are doing. It doesn't matter to me where they sleep at night.
My parents lived about 30 miles away, my DH's about 40. We went home maybe 2x a semester. I also commuted to Pitt one summer to take classes and do a research job. I liked that the William Pitt Student Union (a former city hotel) had a very elegant, quiet, and comfy lounge where students could kill time. I remember the plush velvet couches fondly. I hope they kept that area the same.
No one is saying the schools in OP are commuter schools but people on this forum do mention schools where students went home on weekends. But that was 80s and 90s. NJ colleges? George Mason U in VA is another university people have said (on here anyways) is a school filled with students from Northern Virginia who pack up and go home on weekends. Maybe that has changed but if students are still predominantly coming from NoVa, they probably do go home more often than let's say a student who has to fly across country to visit.
Anonymous
10/30/2025 11:12
Subject: Commuter schools
Seriously, stop with the "Pitt is a commuter school" nonsense. You or your DC won't notice.
I went there in the late 1980s and it was less prestigious then but the same high quality school. The dorms were not empty on weekends and it didn't impact the feel of the school. I learned the expression "suitcase school" from DCUM only in mid-life.
At college, people going home are not different from people with other plans like roadtripping to a concert, spending all weekend out of the dorm at their fraternity, or spending all weekend recovering from a cold. I can't imagine expecting to see dormmates all the time.
I did make a commuter student friend in a summer class. We talked on the phone for a while. My best friend dated one who actually joined a frat.
Commuter student at Pitt often used to be mentioned in a way that implied lower income family. Which could be true. But that was actually a positive to me. Students were humble and usually working hard because college costs mattered to them. Instead of being entitled slackers and goofoffs. I prefer to be around hardworking people who care about what they are doing. It doesn't matter to me where they sleep at night.
My parents lived about 30 miles away, my DH's about 40. We went home maybe 2x a semester. I also commuted to Pitt one summer to take classes and do a research job. I liked that the William Pitt Student Union (a former city hotel) had a very elegant, quiet, and comfy lounge where students could kill time. I remember the plush velvet couches fondly. I hope they kept that area the same.
I went there in the late 1980s and it was less prestigious then but the same high quality school. The dorms were not empty on weekends and it didn't impact the feel of the school. I learned the expression "suitcase school" from DCUM only in mid-life.
At college, people going home are not different from people with other plans like roadtripping to a concert, spending all weekend out of the dorm at their fraternity, or spending all weekend recovering from a cold. I can't imagine expecting to see dormmates all the time.
I did make a commuter student friend in a summer class. We talked on the phone for a while. My best friend dated one who actually joined a frat.
Commuter student at Pitt often used to be mentioned in a way that implied lower income family. Which could be true. But that was actually a positive to me. Students were humble and usually working hard because college costs mattered to them. Instead of being entitled slackers and goofoffs. I prefer to be around hardworking people who care about what they are doing. It doesn't matter to me where they sleep at night.
My parents lived about 30 miles away, my DH's about 40. We went home maybe 2x a semester. I also commuted to Pitt one summer to take classes and do a research job. I liked that the William Pitt Student Union (a former city hotel) had a very elegant, quiet, and comfy lounge where students could kill time. I remember the plush velvet couches fondly. I hope they kept that area the same.
Anonymous
10/30/2025 10:55
Subject: Commuter schools
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Jesus Christ. None of the schools you named are remotely close to being commuter schools except maybe a few of the lower-tier SUNYs.
Lower-tiered? Can you list them?
Canton, Delhi
Anonymous
10/30/2025 10:48
Subject: Commuter schools
Anonymous wrote:Jesus Christ. None of the schools you named are remotely close to being commuter schools except maybe a few of the lower-tier SUNYs.
Lower-tiered? Can you list them?
Anonymous
10/30/2025 10:41
Subject: Commuter schools
Anonymous wrote:“A commuter school, technically defined, is a post-secondary educational institution characterized by a student body predominantly composed of individuals who do not reside in on-campus housing.”
If you are really looking for colleges where a significant number of students grew up in the area and live with their families (I think what a lot of us have in mind in defining a "commuter school") then this definition falls short. Virginia Tech, for example, has most students living in off-campus housing, but it is in no way what I would call a "commuter school." Really, most big public schools don't have on-campus housing for most students after 1st year. A better gauge, if the school publishes the info, would be the % of FIRST YEAR students who do not reside in on-campus housing.
Anonymous
10/30/2025 10:38
Subject: Commuter schools
Any school in a city has the potential to be a "commuter" school for students who live in that city. Especially schools that don't guarantee housing. In that case most students end up "commuting" from an off campus apartment.
Anonymous
10/30/2025 10:37
Subject: Commuter schools
“A commuter school, technically defined, is a post-secondary educational institution characterized by a student body predominantly composed of individuals who do not reside in on-campus housing.”
Anonymous
10/30/2025 10:37
Subject: Re:Commuter schools
Your question is way too vague. I have no idea what you want to know, though I would guess that none of the schools you mentioned are commuter schools.
Anonymous
10/30/2025 10:37
Subject: Commuter schools
Do all schools have kids that commute?
Probably.
But “commuter school” does not mean “any school where one or more kids commute”
Probably.
But “commuter school” does not mean “any school where one or more kids commute”
Anonymous
10/30/2025 10:34
Subject: Commuter schools
Anonymous wrote:Which colleges and universities are considered commuter schools in the year 2025? Do students local to Havard Univ commute? Is it "normal" to do so? What about a SUNY if you are within 30 miles of the campus? University of Pittsburgh? William and Mary in VA? Rice in Houston TX? Tulane? Northwestern IL? CU Boulder? What schools on the west coast?
Are you applying to all of them?
Anonymous
10/30/2025 10:33
Subject: Commuter schools
Jesus Christ. None of the schools you named are remotely close to being commuter schools except maybe a few of the lower-tier SUNYs.
Anonymous
10/30/2025 10:32
Subject: Commuter schools
Georgia Southern
Wayne State
U Mass-Boston
U Illinois- Chicago
Wayne State
U Mass-Boston
U Illinois- Chicago
Anonymous
10/30/2025 10:29
Subject: Commuter schools
Which colleges and universities are considered commuter schools in the year 2025? Do students local to Havard Univ commute? Is it "normal" to do so? What about a SUNY if you are within 30 miles of the campus? University of Pittsburgh? William and Mary in VA? Rice in Houston TX? Tulane? Northwestern IL? CU Boulder? What schools on the west coast?