Every week, CSU Stanislaus students choose how to divide their time between school, work, home and commuting. For students living on campus or nearby, commute time may not factor much into their schedules. Yet, for those coming from other cities, sometimes over an hour away, commuting can take up a significant portion of their time.
Estrella Rubio (Communications, Senior) commutes from Stockton to Turlock. Her commute time is an hour minimum but can be as much as an hour and twenty, depending on traffic.
Despite the time she spends on the road, Rubio expressed that she enjoys her commute.
“I like to drive, so I actually like my commute. So I listen to music or talk to my boyfriend while he’s at work. I like the drive. I’m used to it. It relaxes me,” she said.
Hilary “Ree” Bowman (Creative Media, Senior) commutes from Ripon to Turlock. Her commute, without traffic, takes 25 minutes. Like Rubio, traffic and other factors often affect the length of Bowman’s commute time.
“If there’s traffic, it can take anywhere from 30 to 45 [minutes] to an hour. Especially because lately they’ve been closing the left lane, and doing cleaning, or doing construction, or there’s an accident, or something else. It’s been stressful,” Bowman said.
Itzayana Romo (Communications, Senior) comes to Turlock from Delhi. Her commute tends to take about 15 minutes, but can take 25 minutes if there is traffic.
“I get up a little bit earlier to come to campus, have that fifteen-minute extra drive, and because I don’t pay for parking, I do have to come a little earlier to find a spot,” she said.
Both Bowman and Rubio have found that commuting has affected how they choose classes at Stan State.
For Rubio, having a long commute means that she tries to limit the days she comes to campus. She explained, “If I can get all my classes into two or three days, I do. It has made me not take certain classes I wanted to take because I don’t want to come on Friday for one 50-minute class. I’d rather just take a different class I don’t like, but I’ll still get the credit for it, so I don’t have to commute more.”
Because of the unpredictability of commute time, Bowman avoids early morning classes, which would require her to wake up early to attend classes.
“I prefer to try to have classes that start as late as 10 [a.m.],” she said, “and nothing earlier than that because I have to get up early to be able to drive. I give myself about an hour to drive there. I usually try to wake up a half hour before I leave… So if I were to have an 8 a.m. class, that means I have to get up at 6:30 [a.m.] and go.”
Despite challenges with commuting, these students have reasons for choosing commuting over living on or near campus.
Bowman commutes to school to save money.
“My parents live in Ripon. I haven’t checked the prices to live on campus recently, but getting an apartment around here is a lot. Yeah, it costs money to commute, but it’s not as much as rent,” she said.
Rubio chose to live at home in Stockton and commute because she likes to live at home. She elaborated, “I don’t like to live somewhere else with other people when I have my own space at home. I’d rather stay there.”
Romo commutes because her commute time is short.
“I’ve been living [in Delhi] for eight years. I do have family [in Turlock] but I do not want to move when it’s just a 15-minute drive, which I do anyway when I come to town to shop,” Romo said.
Romo’s biggest issue with commuting has more to do with parking on campus. Stanislaus State has several parking lots, but none with free parking, resulting in some students taking time to park off-campus and walk longer distances to classes.
When asked how difficult it is to find parking, she said, “It’s pretty hard. It takes me about 15 minutes.”
Other students, like Rubio and Bowman, pay for parking passes on campus because it takes the stress out of finding parking after a long commute.
“I have the pass,” Rubio shared. “It was expensive but worth it. Like at night time, I can walk to my car without worry.”
Bowman also has a parking permit. She chose to pay for the Student Semester Parking Permit, rather than economy. She explained, “I don’t get the economy one, I get the other one, just because it makes it so much less stressful to know I can park anywhere. I have a friend who got economy this semester, and she said that it’s been such a pain to walk from there to the library or her classes because it’s a longer walk, so if she’s running late it adds to the lateness.”
Despite the convenience of the parking passes, Bowman noted, “I just wish those parking passes weren’t so expensive. They were like $145 this semester.”
