The topic that I have come up with relating to the ‘University Experience’ is the Commute. Hundreds of Uni students travel near and far to attend University and get an education. My goal is to evaluate how this affects students’ routines, stress levels and time management while at uni. This can be all forms of transport; train, car, bus etc. Some questions I would ask are- Is commuting better than living on campus? How do you organise assignments, work or family commitments around commuting?
I have personal experience with this, as I commute to uni via train for all of my subjects. From Engadine Station to North Wollongong Station, it takes on average around an hour and 10 minutes. That’s not counting the train line switches that can be a 20-minute wait (Thanks Waterfall Station…). For me that means a 2 hour and 20-minute round trip at least. I have experienced stress with the commute relating to uni, such as not getting the tutorial I wanted, and having a class that finished on campus at 6:30pm, leading me to only be home at 8pm after being at uni all day.
The commute can have disadvantages, such as not being able to access the internet and do research for a subject. It can also be hard studying on the train since there are people around. If I have an 8:30 tutorial I will have to be up at 6am and out of the house at 6:30 just to make the train. My reasons to like the commute are that I get time to draw or catch up on lectures I downloaded, or just relax before I get into class. In this academic resource, entitled “Stress that doesn’t pay” they found that people with longer commuting time report systematically lower subjective well-being. Another resource on commuter students states that first-years have trouble fitting in to the campus community, and commuter students miss the chance to connect with others in the way that campus students do.
The issues on commuting have definitely been talked about before, but I feel confident enough about gathering resources and having my own perspective on events. Commuting is also not specifically related to uni, as many people also commute to work. These areas have lots of overlap between them, and I can use these related resources for psychological impacts.
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