By Eva Thomas
For Murphy News Service

It is 4:30 a.m.

University of Minnesota senior Eve Yang of Forest Lake will soon be roused by her alarm, the song “Nightwish” by Sahara.

By 5:30 a.m. Yang will be on her way to campus, making a quick stop at the local McDonald’s to grab breakfast.

It’s early enough to avoid traffic and Yang arrives at the University of Minnesota Coffman Memorial Union by 7 a.m., giving her enough time to relax before classes start.

By 10 p.m., she will be back in the comfort of her own home, where she will finish any homework she has left and go to bed.

The next day: repeat.

Such has been the weekday routine this semester for Eve Yang: commuter.

The Benefits of Commuting

Not all students opt for on-campus housing during their time at the University of Minnesota.

A report from the Office of First Year Programs revealed, based on self-reported numbers by freshman during Welcome Week 2013, that 91 percent of freshman live in residential halls, 2 percent live in off-campus apartments and 7 percent commute from home.

Several factors come into play when students choose to live at home instead of in dorms or opt for other off-campus housing options.

• It is cheaper
• A home environment
• Privacy

The university’s One Stop webpage shows that room and board for residence halls/apartments is about $8,400 per year or about $4,200 per semester.

Students who already live around the Twin Cities area find spending the extra money unnecessary.

“It’s cheaper,” junior Erik Reitter said when asked why he commutes.

Yang said she can’t afford high-rental rates near campus without a stable job.

So when she found out there was a bus system from Forest Lake to downtown Minneapolis, she decided she would commute because it was cheaper.

Terry Guan of Edina, a senior at the U, has commuted since his freshman year of college.

“People say it’s more convenient when you are living in the dorms and are closer to campus. But you are also further away from certain things,” he said.

A benefit of commuting, Guan said, is that you are able to eat the same food you have always eaten and are not required to purchase a meal plan – avoiding gaining dreaded “the Freshman 15.”

A Place to Call Home

Another benefit of commuting, Guan said, is that he still has a familiar home environment.

Yang said she considered living in the dorms but was hesitant because of the privacy issues and not having her own space.

Gemachu Rabu of Fridley is in his second year at the U. As a freshman, he lived in a dorm. But this year, as per his mother’s wish, he moved back home and is now a commuter.

Rabu said he likes being able to go back to the comfort of his own home.

Guan said as a commuter you are forced to explore more.

“You don’t have the fallback of the dorms to go to,” he said. “So you explore more options for food, you explore more options for entertainment and you go out and find different ways of being engaged.”

The Challenges  

The daily trip itself is the biggest hurdle for many commuters. And when bitter cold and snowy Minnesota winters come into play, it can make for one messy and often dangerous commute.

Rabu said being on time to classes was not a big challenge when he lived in the dorms and was close to campus.

But now being punctual and driving to campus have become the biggest challenges. Rabu said the convenience of living a few minutes from his classes is what he misses most about the dorm life.

Timing has been the hardest for Guan.

“You have to account for that time,” he said, referring to time spent driving to campus or sitting in traffic and the extra time needed when weather conditions are bad.

“If one day it snows a little bit, you’re pretty much going to be late for class,” Guan said.

Reitter also said the time requirement has been the biggest challenge of commuting.

He spends an hour on the bus each morning traveling to the U and then he spends an hour getting back home.

To make up for the two hours a day spent traveling, Reitter said he tries to do as much of his homework on the bus as he can.

Reitter has also experienced some difficulties with commuting during the winter.

A 15-minute drive to the transit station in Burnsville turns into an hour-and-half drive after 8 inches of snow fall the night before. He added that the bus ride to Minneapolis took an additional 90 minutes, a total travel time of three hours.

“If not for the car pool lane on the bus, it would have [probably] taken all day,” he said.

When there is a lot of snow or a snowstorm is expected for the next day, Rabu said he usually stays with one of his friends on campus. That allows him to avoid the driving challenges that snowy/icy roads present.

Scheduling classes can also be a challenge for commuters. Some commuting students avoid morning and evening classes, while others prefer them because they are able to avoid traffic when driving to and from campus.

Guan said he tries to steer clear of night classes because of the time constraint and because they make it hard for him to plan his meals.

But he does take 8 a.m. classes.

“It motivates you to get here earlier,” he said. “And then you get to miss the traffic.”

Guan added that he is not as limited in his schedule planning because he drives to campus. He does have friends, however, who rely on public transportation, which often limits them.

“They have to make sure their class doesn’t go over the schedule because [then] they won’t have a bus to get back [home],” he said.

For others, finding a comfortable place to rest between classes can be difficult because they do not have a home they can go to within walking distance of campus.

Overcoming obstacles

Living off campus can make it difficult for students to feel connected to the University of Minnesota.

There are hundreds of student groups on campus, one of which is the Commuter Connection—a group that recently celebrated its 11th anniversary.

Guan said in past years there have been different attempts at commuter services. The Commuter Connection or CC, which is now housed in Room 204 of Coffman Memorial Union, grew out of all the other attempts.

Anna Sturdevant, advisor of CC, said students who live in Dinkytown are technically commuters because they do not live on campus property, which means that about 80 percent of students are classified as ‘commuters.’

But Sturdevant said the group’s challenge is to reach ‘true commuters,’ those who live in their families’  homes.

Guan said the mission of CC is to help commuter students with their transition into college life by providing them with support in any way possible. He added that CC also helps students who are more introverted and those who have a harder time finding their own way.

He said the group’s goal is to “make the commuter experience seamless.”

Sturdevant said the group offers commuters the opportunity to find a ‘home’ by providing a physical space on campus in the commuter lounge, as well as by hosting social, educational and professional events.

She said in the last year, students of CC expanded programming opportunities to the St. Paul campus and other spaces outside of Coffman to better reach commuter students.

Sturdevant added that the group has built relationships with the Student Unions and Activities Program Board to host a Spring Fling dance this semester as well as other Spring Jam events.

There are plans for more commuter services in the future, Guan said, adding that an on-campus commuter office, similar to the One Stop offices, is in the works, where commuter students can go to for official information.

Changes in the Commuter Scene

Since the beginning of the spring term, nine U of M express routes and five local routes have carried about 23,500 people per day to the U and 23,500 back, for a total of 47,000 rides per day, the Metropolitan Council reports.

The Parking and Transportation Service’s Fundamental Facts Guide reports that 1 percent of the students, staff and faculty combined currently use the light rail.

But the percentage of light-rail users should increase when the METRO Green Line opens to passengers on June 14, providing commuters with an additional mode of transportation that runs directly through campus. 

The Metropolitan Council’s webpage provides a detailed account of the Green Line project.

The Green Line, an 11-mile route, will connect downtown Minneapolis and downtown St. Paul by way of the University of Minnesota and University Avenue.

Eighteen new stations will be added, in addition to the five stations the Green Line will share with the Blue Line in downtown Minneapolis.

But Sturdevant does not think the Green Line will dramatically change the commuter scene at the U because it does not reach the majority of suburbs from which commuters travel.

She thinks, however, that the light rail will change how visitors and students living on or near the U will access the campus because it provides another transportation option to get downtown, to the Mall of America or the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.

Jacqueline Brudlos, communications manger for Parking and Transportation Services, said the light rail is a new development on the campus and she does not know how it will change the face of campus or the commuting scene.

Brudlos said the light rail is sure to have an effect, but only time will tell what that will be.

“We’ll have this summer to get our feet wet and see how the light rail will co-exist with buses on Washington Avenue and how it will share the space with bikers and pedestrians,” she said.

“It’s an interesting time to be (a commuter) at the U,” she added.

Eva Thomas is studying journalism at the University of Minnesota.