Although there are more then likely more people living on campus then living off campus here at Morningside College, there are still a good number of people living off campus. Some people HAVE to live on campus, whether it’s their coach’s rules or money and location issues, others who live off campus for the most part are happy they are living off campus. Reasoning for this vary person to person but the end result is that commuters may complain about the drive, traffic, getting up earlier, weather conditions, no where to go between classes, etc. they would rather live off campus then on.

The commuters I know don’t live that far away from campus, I know there are probably people out there who drive an hour and a half everyday for class, but the people I know and talked to only drive (if they even have to drive) 5-7 minutes. Even if someone doesn’t drive to school but lives off campus, even right across the street from campus, they are still considered commuters. For example, sophomore Shannon Smith literally lives right across the street from Olsen Center parking lot, but she is still considered a commuter, and loves being off campus, even though it’s only across the street. Shannon doesn’t live at home with her family like others do, she has four other roommates/friends that also go to Morningside.

Jennie (freshman) and Callie (senior) on the other hand, have a 5-7 minute drive, and they live with their families. In fact Callie lives in her mothers basement with her boyfriend of five years (he also went to Morningside). Jennie doesn’t want to live on campus because she started college at the age of 16 and wasn’t ready to move out and now that she is 17 she still doesn’t want the distractions and wants to save a much money as she can. Callie lived on campus the first two years of her college career now she’s over it and doesn’t really care about being apart of the “college life”.

Parking

Weather

Money

Involvement

Spare time