Most students think of my campus as a commuter school. And while most students live off-campus, that hides the fact that lots of us live in apartments or shared houses in the immediate vicinity of campus.
I’m currently moving into a three-bedroom apartment right beside campus, for all the usual reasons. (I.e., We can play Magic: The Gathering at all hours without waking up Dad!) In test runs from the new apartment, it turns out that I am a mere 45-second walk to my on-campus job, not to mention classes, and a just slightly longer walk to food, liquor, and more! Day by day, my car look a little more useless, and I’m beginning to wonder: Have I made myself a human hamster habitrail?
While it’d be nice to think that the environment played any sort of role in this decision, the reality is that my motivations were different. I have a very rudimentary plan for each day–as Optimus Rhyme puts it, “Reboot, work, recharge, work, walk home, recharge, shutdown, reboot, repeat.” Living close to campus simplifies that even more: I don’t have to eat fast food, because I can go home for lunch. I don’t have to fill my pack with everything I might need during the whole day–I can always go back if something comes up.
And although my apartment’s WalkScore is only 63 , that doesn’t reflect the reality of the situation: There’s a Dunkin Donuts, a deli, a bookstore, a liquor store, and a tattoo parlor, all within walking distance. Within a 5 minute drive, there’s a supermarket, a comic store, a mall–with an Apple store, and a laundromat/bar (which wins the Alex Jarvis Brilliant Business Idea Award). It’s a practical utopia of convenience.
There are even professors in the neighborhood! When I asked Jason about it, he said: “The neighborhood’s actually very livable–although it turns out there are drawbacks to living 45 seconds from work. For example, if there’s a crisis, you’re just 45 seconds away. Having said that, being freed from commuting and parking is a gift.”
Centering my life so close to campus simplifies a lot of decisions, and I operate better under such top-down solutions to problems. When things are aligned by common values ( a single Google account across platforms, the ability to walk to work, food, etc. instead of drive) everything clicks a lot better.
Do you live on or near campus? What have been your experiences? How do you handle decisions about where to live?
Image by Flickr user *Debs* / Creative Commons licensed
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10 Responses to I, Hamster: On Living Near Campus
Mike Altman - March 31, 2010 at 9:55 am
I had to commute forty minutes to get from home to campus during my MA program so we decided to live close to campus when I started my PhD in a new town/university. I love living close to campus. I can ride my bike and use a back way only for bikes and campus shuttle buses that makes a 25-30 minute morning surface street drive a 15-20 minute bike ride. Having a family, it makes it easier to quickly get from home to school or vice versa for child care stuff. Plus, it’s just nice to be around the campus, the college food, and the scene in general and not stuck out in the ‘burbs.
I second all the upsides of biking to campus. I feel great on those days.
Todd Finley - March 30, 2010 at 10:50 pm
I live 1.1 miles away from the East Carolina University campus. When I’m lucky, I get a couple bike rides in every day. I usually ride right into the classrooms where I teach (as I’ve lost 3 bikes to theft, my expensive comfort bike stays in sight). Bicycling is actually faster than finding a place to park. To accommodate the ride, I’ve traded my black suites for Columbia pants and layers of cotton and a technology holster. The last item earns me no small bit of ridicule, but is wicked practical: my pants are not weighed down by my iPhone, iPod, wallet, and keys.
The downside is that pre-class exercise leaves me clammy (I peddle fast!). The upside is that my mood improves with my midsection, and a remarkable amount of commuters smile at me.
One other point: living close to campus allows student clubs and seminar classes to easily meet at my house. I love this lifestyle.
tbf
Janice - March 30, 2010 at 8:39 pm
We’re almost exactly 5k from the campus. That will be more walkable if the trail along the one road to campus gets finished (although there are still many hills and busy roadways to trudge alongside).
As is the case with many campuses, closer is wildly expensive. Here, it’s not the university’s cachet so much as that same property is either lakefront or next to the golf course. But the result is to price faculty and students out of the neighbourhood (although students all get a bus pass and the transit to and from downtown’s fairly reliable).
We settled for much more affordable but farther away (sadly, no longer near a convenient bus line but one or two transfers from the campus). I lived on or right off-campus for most of my student years and do miss that convenience, but even if we ditched our one automobile, we’d still be priced out of the near-to-campus real estate market.
Dan - March 30, 2010 at 7:39 pm
Undergrad I lived on campus and enjoyed that, though getting to a real grocery store or much of public transit was a bit longer walk than desirable.
Now I am at a very bike-friendly campus. I have a free limited parking pass for when I’m sick or it rains, and the rest of the time I have a healthy, gorgeous 15 minute commute. Many have cars for getting out of the area and going out, especially since taxis are expensive and buses stop early, but one tank of gas per quarter is all I need.
Elizabeth - March 30, 2010 at 3:48 pm
I was on campus during undergraduate (or in off campus university owned housing, which when you live in NYC is still on campus). I never realized how spoiled I was until I went to grad school where I lived two neighborhoods over. It was only about 2 miles, and great buses, but it still put a cramp in my style in terms of having to spend all day on campus.
Now? I live 13 miles (or about 30 minutes) away from the campus I work at. The commute is beyond awful (especially during roadkill season), but I did not want to live in the very small town my campus is located in. (Let’s put it this way, not so long ago the town actually closed during summer when the students left.) So instead I live in the trendy/young/hip neighborhood in the nearest city and accept my commute as a necessary evil. At least I get 29 mpg?
Amy - March 30, 2010 at 3:41 pm
I lived off-campus in graduate school. It was about 3-4 miles away, and while there was a direct bus within a few hundred yards of my complex and of my primary classroom building, it only came once an hour, wasn’t reliable, and stopped before I’d often go home at night. So, I resorted to driving 99% of the time.
In comparison to four years of living on-campus, it doesn’t compare. If I had it to do over, I might have lived on-campus again. The convenience of being right there was amazing.
Liz - March 30, 2010 at 6:28 pm
Living on-campus as an undergrad was great! But as a grad I prefer to live a little further away…just to get a break and be truly on my own where ‘rents’ can’t conviently drive by. I love the independance !!
Kaitlin - March 30, 2010 at 3:11 pm
I did an exchange trip to Spain when I was in high school. It was funny to try to explain to the Spanish students why so many of us had cars. I had to explain that taxis and buses are few and far between in suburbia, and even if you live close to something, it’s not always pedestrian-friendly to get there. (My Spanish friends are also shocked by the fact that American cars often have a pull-tab inside the trunk to get you out if you’re stuck in the trunk – most of their cars are not big enough for that to be an issue!)
But to answer your question: I’m doing my doctorate at Oxford in England, and the university is sprawled across the city (there is no “campus”). It definitely affects my decisions about scheduling and even little things like grocery shopping – orange juice may be 3 for 2, but if I only have my backpack, I don’t want to carry three cartons of orange juice plus everything else. To make scheduling even more complicated, most British stores close very early compared to American standards, so if you’re out of something at 5:30 pm on a Sunday you’re out of luck. I actually put my suitcases to good use in Oxford – if I need to carry a lot of books or something heavy, I’ll put it in my rolling carryon and roll it across town.
Alex Jarvis - March 30, 2010 at 2:50 pm
My dark secret is that my parents only live 2 miles away from campus and I would love to bike if I could. Sadly, there is a bottleneck (similar to what you are describing) that only caters to people getting off or getting on the highway… or pour souls trying to get to the university!
Jessica - March 30, 2010 at 2:41 pm
When we looked at housing, we were very interested in being close to campus. In graduate school, we were just 1/2 mile away and could easily bike/walk. I expanded my radius here because there are great buses. Our place is less than 3 miles from campus. Not good for regular walks, especially in Texas heat, but certainly one of those buses could do it, right? Unfortunately not. Two buses and a train and 1.5 hours is what it would take for me to get to work on public transportation.
My adjustment is therefore in the opposite direction: we are now a two-car family, which I never imagined would happen, and I drive to school every single day. I hate it. I am all for living close, but here, even if I were 1/4 mile away, there’s unlikely to be sidewalk for me to walk on because the area is only partially pedestrian-friendly.