Commuter Woes at Ramapo

By LAURA HECKELMANN

Between work, school, traveling, the cost of gas and food, and carrying around his schoolbooks and other belongings, Ramapo College student Christin Ligouri is exhausted both mentally and physically at the end of every day.

Ligouri wakes up to the sound of an alarm early in the morning, gets dressed, skips breakfast, and drives along heavily trafficked Route 17 to school. When in school, he sits in classes, runs to the library to do homework quickly before his next class, because there’s no other comfortable venue to do homework. Classes run all day, and by the time he gets out of class it’s dark. Ligouri drives back to Hackensack, and he attempts to do homework around 10:30, but he’s got to get up early at around 6 AM for work the next day. Ligouri works two jobs, one as a music tutor and the other as a cashier. He collapses on his bed, and  wakes up the next morning to do virtually the same old routine.

This is what college life is like for college commuters everywhere, and the toll this takes on students is extreme, according to education.stateuniversity.com. For Ramapo commuter and music performance major Ligouri, this situation is too much.

“I made the choice to commute to Ramapo because, I thought, it was only 20 minutes away from where I live in Hackensack. Although it wouldn’t be necessary to dorm because I live relatively close, it would be nice. At the end of the day I’m exhausted and I honestly think my schoolwork suffers because of this,” says Ligouri.

He added that it’s harder for commuters in many ways; the constant travel every day and the rising cost in gas takes its toll. As a music production major, Ligouri has to carry around an amp and a guitar everyday to every class he has.

“It doesn’t pay to bring it back to my truck because then I’ve got to do up and down that damn hill and it’s exhausting either way; either way it’s a lose-lose situation,” Ligouri says.

Community to college a growing trends, studies show 

Over fifty percent of Ramapo’s current students are commuters. This growing increase of commuters is not just a trend at Ramapo. 

Commuting to college is becoming a growing trend for students everywhere, and it’s not just about the traveling.  Commuters face time management that makes it tough for them to maintain college responsibilities and meetings.

According to a study done by http://education.stateuniversity.com/, many commuters to college report struggling with fitting in, a lack of opportunities to connect with professors, and struggle with knowing a lot of about their campus as well, and combined with the fact that commuters tend to have a lower retention rate than their resident counterparts, this issue is one that needs to be remedied.

“Route 17, which I use to travel to Ramapo, has major traffic issues, but people who dorm have the luxury of getting up and just walking over to class. They don’t know how hard it is, and that’s frustrating sometimes,” Ligouri says in an interview.

“Ramapo has made the campus more commuter friendly by establishing a coordinator for Commuter Affairs. Prior to August 2015 there was no person to advocate and support the commuter population. In the past year we have made a lot of progress for commuters – establishing emergency weather housing for commuters, having a Commuter Student Mentor program, and providing a brand new updated J. Lee’s lounge, and a refrigerator for students to place their lunches and lockers for rent,” says Megan Kearney, of Commuter Affairs at Ramapo.

Kearney added that the same opportunities are provided for our students residential and commuters. “I know so many commuters who are actively engaged in Student Government, Greek Life and the Commuter Student Mentor program even while working jobs off campus,” says Kearney.

Commuter Affairs speaks up about being a commuter on campus

But even Kearney admitted that despite all this, it is still harder to be a commuter at the end of the day, she explains.

“I think it’s more challenging to get involved with on campus activities as a commuter than as a resident since living at home you aren’t pushed to go out and joining new things to make friends,” Kearney says.

While Ramapo has done its best to try and make its campus commuter friendly, according to Ligouri it isn’t enough. Yet Ligouri says he doesn’t really know what else Ramapo could do about the problems commuters face.

“I don’t really think there are ways these issues can be fixed. I mean, traveling to and from school is a big part of the problem but that’s just what we do as commuters. It just really sucks,” Ligouri says. 

“It was definitely a lot harder as a freshman commuting to campus, for a bunch of different reasons,” Ligouri adds. “Ninety percent of the friends I met dormed, and when they weren’t in my classes anymore, I didn’t have the time to hang out with them. We drifted apart, and now it’s like I barely know them. I can’t be on campus late at night because I’m exhausted, yet that’s when all the events are, so that’s when they all want to hang out. I just can’t do that,”

LISTEN: Transfer student from Bergen Community College, Matthew Barbara voice his feelings about his grueling commute from Paramus, N.J.

Several commuters interviewed also have issues with commuting to Ramapo and the way Ramapo’s staff handles the issue. Many believe that the staff here in charge of commuting brushes it off as no problem.

“I don’t have friends on this campus as a commuter, because I just can’t. The events they have are timed in the stupidest way; they’re either when we have class or late at night when we can’t be on campus because we’re exhausted. And then they say that it’s a commuter friendly school? Of course it’s not. The walk to the parking lot and up the hills twice, sometimes more, a day is ridiculous,” Mueller says.

Mueller adds that the limited classes they offer in regards to time frames is the most frustrating for her.

“Sometimes I have to come to one class; my entire day is blown then, and I wasted gas. That costs a lot of money, and for one class? It’s almost not worth even coming to this school. They act like they offer so many great things for commuters. Like, they said how great it is that they offer lockers, but of course that’s extra money. Who has that laying around?” says Mueller. Ligouri agreed with her in that regard.

“It’s kind of annoying, also, in regards to food. I see all these kids swiping into Birch because their parents bought them meal plans, but when I need food it costs me money, out of my pocket; not my parents. On top of all my other expenses, I spend about eighty bucks a month on food. The food here is expensive and when you buy it everyday you’re here, you’d be surprised how quick it adds up. The college experience is nothing like living on your own, because in college your parents pay for your own food and the roof over your head. I’m not saying they should offer free food, they just shouldn’t boast about how great it is to be a commuter in this school,” says Ligouri angrily.

SOUNDSLIDE; Listen/Watch: Ligouri talk about his daily routine.

Ease of living on campus

When looking at the numbers, dorming on campus costs vary depending on where you live on campus. The cost can range anywhere from $4,170 (for the dorm itself alone) to a massive $5315. Depending on whether you live alone or with others, and depending on which dorm you actually live in, the cost can go up or down. Alexandra Kezek, a resident on campus who lives in Laurel Hall, says it’s definitely much easier to live on campus than commute. 

“In the social aspect, it’s easier to build relationships with people because of the proximity. Even academically, it’s easy to find a quiet place to do work like the library; some people may or may not have a quiet space at home to get work done.

“Lastly, it is easier to roll out of bed for sure. I actually used to commute last semester when I lived in Rockland County and I had to revolve my day around commuting, so I know what it’s like to do both, and I would choose living on campus as opposed to commuting any day,” Kezek says.

When you combine the cost of food, traveling, and the intangible cost of stress and exhaustion, being a commuter is hard any way you look at it. “I would say I spend about seventy dollars a month on gas a month, solely if I were commuting to Ramapo. That’s a huge number when you consider if I dormed here that’s seventy bucks that could be in my bank account instead of wasted for having to drag myself, and my stuff, here. 

Ligouri described being a commuter as being constantly on the move, constantly hungry, constantly tired, and constantly by yourself. Ligouri said that he knows that probably seems over exaggerated, but he mentioned that the scary thing is that it’s real.

Says Ligouri: “I really do feel bad for the commuting freshman on campus, and those coming in next semester or next fall. College is incredibly different from high and school and commuting makes it that much harder, and that much more stressful.”