Commuting: How Does It Affect Our On-Campus Involvement?
Success in university is highly correlated to involvement on campus: the more we go to class and use on-campus resources, the more likely we are to obtain high grades. In the GTA, where it is common to spend a significant amount of time commuting to and from university, many students are unable or unwilling to participate in on-campus activities. It is not uncommon for students to miss out on events and offered resources especially if they take place early in the morning or late at night. How many students would rather wake up at 5 or 6 am in order to make it to their 9 am class instead of asking a friend for notes or watching the lecture on their laptop at home? Conversely, how many would stay for an on-campus event at 8 pm when their commute back home is 2 hours long?
It has already been demonstrated that students are less likely to go to class if they have to commute significant distances or if they are working and studying at the same time. Other studies have looked into factors that limit the amount of time a student can dedicate to their studies, such as working or taking care of family members. All of these factors have been linked to a poorer academic performance compared to students who are able to attend all lectures and take advantage of academic resources offered by the university. The goal of this article was to examine whether the distance that students had to travel discouraged them from going to campus and participating in activities, and whether this also influenced what courses they enrolled in.
The data in this study was drawn from a 2015 travel survey, and this information was used to estimate the amount of time that students traveled to and from seven university campuses across the GTA. After analyzing the data and considering socio-demographic and educational factors, they found that commuting often has a negative impact on how often students participate on campus, and it indeed affected which courses the students were opting to enroll in.
These findings point to the fact that future policies should be directed to reducing the commuting time and transport barrier for students. Hopefully, as travelling to campus becomes easier and less inconvenient, students will be able and willing to participate in more activities and attend more lectures, which will increase their grades and reduce the universities’ drop-out rates. Achieving this involves strategies such as scheduling transportation services so that they more closely match students’ schedules, making transit fares more affordable and decreasing the cost of living on or near campus.
Source:
Allen, J., Farber, S. (2018). How time-use and transportation barriers limit on-campus participation of university students. Travel Behaviour and Society, 13, 174-182.
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