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Originally posted by roqueemae
What is the definition of "Commuter School" anyway? People throw that term around and I am not really sure what makes a campus "commuter"
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A commuter campus is a school that is the opposite of a residential school. Most of the students don't live on or around campus. They drive in every day sometimes from great distances or they schedule their classes for only certain days of the week to cut down on drive time. So the campus atmosphere can be a little more like a "ghost town" when class isn't in session or on the weekends. It can make it hard for them to participate in extra activities like greek life or student government. These schools also often have higher percentages of nontraditional students.
There are many schools that are a mix of commuter and residential.
Commuter campuses get a stigma because they are often ranked lower on reports like Princeton and US News because the nature of communting also affects retention and graduation rates. Many of these schools try to fix this by building gyms, better recreation, a nice union, promote apartments, lure stores to the area --- to keep students on campus for more than classes. And they will build up their prominence in certain majors to lure more students and gain a reputation for excellence in that area.
To me, the concept is similar to a "bedroom community" -- where a town becomes a ghost town during the day because everyone is commuting into the city to go to work. The town tries to lure more businesses and entertainment to its own area to keep its residents' money and volunteer interests in the area.
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