Anyone that’s ever been a commuter student knows that it takes dedication and discipline to make things work out. I used to live on campus before I started commuting, so I understand both lifestyles equally well. There are many perks about living in a dorm that you don’t have when you have to drive to school. Your classes aren’t a five minute walk away, your gas bill is guaranteed to skyrocket, and you now have the added worry of having to find a parking spot every day. It’s definitely challenging, but it also has a number of benefits that you can’t have in a college dorm hall. You don’t have to wear sandals into the shower, you have an enormous amount of privacy at home, and it’s just good to get away from campus every once in a while. You’ll love it one day and hate it another, but the pros always manage to balance with the cons.

As a very non-morning person, having to wake up at 6:30 a.m. just to beat rush hour is the worst part of my day. Every time my iPhone alarm wakes me up with that annoying default ringtone, my bed suddenly becomes a million times more comfortable than it was the night before. It’s kind of like being trapped under a huge boulder, except that boulder is actually your comforter, and it’s way harder to get out of. As soon as I finally muster up the superhuman determination that I need to force myself out of bed, I have about 15 minutes to get dressed, eat breakfast, brush my teeth, and print out the essay that I wrote the night before. It’s a daily struggle that all commuters can relate to, and it forces you to reconsider your habit of binge-watching Netflix shows on weeknights.

Unlike campus residents, who usually get their own parking spots near the dorm buildings, commuters get caught up in a fierce competition for the best available parking spots. Obviously, not all of the school’s commuters can fit into the designated lot, so if you arrive on campus after a certain hour, there’s not going to be any room left, which means you’ll have to comb around every available lot on campus just so that you can start walking to class. I don’t have it as bad as people that have to drive up to bigger colleges, but the scarcity of parking spaces still means that I need to show up at least half an hour early. And all of that endless searching is bound to waste your hard-earned gas by the gallon, which isn’t the best prospect in a state with notoriously high gas prices.

Just as your schedule is dramatically affected by where you choose to live in college, your overall “college life” experience also tends to be a little different. People who live in dorms have the advantage of being able to make friends with their hall mates, in addition to feeling more like they’re part of the community. On the other hand, commuters don’t have the same luxury of automatically becoming part of everyday campus life. There are plenty of days where all I do is go to my classes and drive straight home. However, that doesn’t mean that you’re going to be excluded from all the campus activities going on at your university. You’ll just have to go more out of your way to get actively involved in the college experience outside of class.

There may be plenty of inconveniences that come with being a commuter, but there’s also a lot of things that I don’t miss about living on campus. I can’t complain about not having to rely on the school cafeteria as my primary food source. Granted, the food at my college’s cafeteria is much better than the vast majority of American colleges, but there are some meals I’ve eaten there that simply were not fit for consumption. It’s great to be able to come home to a healthy, freshly prepared meal that I’m actually excited about eating. The dorms where I used to stay were often too cramped, the rug usually got pretty grimy unless I took the initiative to clean it, and it was difficult to get privacy. At home, it’s a lot easier to concentrate on getting my work done and getting the alone time that I need to cope with my hectic schedule.

Overall, commuting isn’t the best way to do college for everyone, but it works for me. It saves money and lets me enjoy all the great things about living at home, like not having to do my own laundry, not having to eat Top Ramen for breakfast, and getting loads of quiet space and fresh air to study in peace. Aside from the occasional traffic jam on the I-5, it’s a pretty even-paced lifestyle most of the time, and I couldn’t be happier with the way things have turned out.