My name is Nathan McCombie and I go to Penn State Altoona and I’m currently a freshman. I live in Patton PA which is about 30 minutes from the campus and is very rural. I plan on majoring in architectural engineering for my career path. As a kid I always enjoyed art, science and math and after a while I discovered architectural engineering and found interest. Architectural engineering is the planning, designing, operating, and construction of buildings and building systems. I hope my career path stays on track and I succeed in engineering. When commuting from home I discovered a lot of pros and cons that may be helpful to someone who is deciding whether to commute or dorm.

To start, I’ll talk about the pros of commuting from home. One of the advantages of commuting from home is saving money from housing and food. As a commuter the only money that I spend during a school week is gas for my vehicle. Students who dorm typically have a meal plan and rent which can be quite costly. Regarding food, I personally believe that I have healthier options compared to someone who is living in a dorm. Having a dorm can limit your options of varieties of food items which can lead to unhealthy habits. Being a commuter, I feel that I’m getting the right nutrients for every meal. Lastly, I think one of the biggest pros of commuting from home is having privacy and comfort while studying. I know that there are study rooms and areas on campus that have privacy, but they don’t provide the same comfort as studying at home. I’ve studied on campus, in a variety of areas, and experienced a lot of distractions and felt I couldn’t study efficiently. Also, studying in your dorm can be incredibly distracting because of the dorm mates and other people that surround you. People can be loud and distracting, and you can’t tell them to be quiet all the time. When I study at my house, I’m in

my own room and have privacy, comfort and no distractions. Even living with my family who can distract me sometimes, I can always ask them politely for a period to be quiet so I can get work done efficiently. Not only can having your room to study be beneficial but having help from siblings and parents can also help. My parents are both very intelligent people who went to school and got an education. When I struggle in some of my classes I can always ask for their help and I get individual attention for whatever subject we go over. They also give me a helpful reminder to get work done instead of procrastinating. If I stayed on campus, I would need to break my habit of procrastinating so I can get work done. When you’re on campus you become more independent as a person and therefore acquire more responsibility, which would be a con for me.

As there are many pros to commuting from home, there are just as many cons. One of the cons of commuting, especially during the present time, is the price of gas. Due to the inflation of gas prices my cost for gas per week grows to be costly. Staying at a dorm helps to avoid the excessive spending on gas. Another con to commuting from home is the time you wake up. Since I live approximately 30 minutes from campus, I must wake up earlier to get to class on time. This can vary for many people because some people are early risers, however I’m not one of them. Staying on campus gives you the opportunity to sleep in and make it to class on time. The next disadvantage of commuting from home is driving in dangerous road conditions. If anyone knows where Patton PA is located, then they would know the crazy amount of winding roads it takes to get to campus. When there is a snowy day or severe weather conditions, these roads can be extremely challenging to drive on, and it may feel impossible to get to school. However, staying on campus you don’t have to worry about the severity of the weather conditions because you don’t need to drive. The last con that I believe is associated with commuting is not being as socially connected with peers at school. Having to commute every day from home limits the time

you see your college peers, which can affect your relationship with them. Being a commuter, I luckily have many friends that commute also, but I feel like I would have more connections with other people if I stayed on campus.

There are many pros and cons to commuting from home as I just explained. I know that some people don’t have the option of commuting because they live too far away. I’m fortunate that I have the chance to commute as a student, but I envy some opportunities students living on campus have. Due to my career path, I will be able to experience a dormitory in the next couple of years. My academic path of architectural engineering is 2 years at Altoona and 3 years at main campus. After my time at the main campus, I will be able to fairly compare commuting to a dormitory and may write another article on it. Therefore, there are many advantages and disadvantages to commuting from home as a student at Penn State. I hope my reflection on these pros and cons can help guide another prospective or accepted PSU student when potentially choosing between on-campus housing versus commuting.