I agree. Locality is a factor (and I arbitrarily picked an hour ground transport time), a significant one IMO and one that should raise a flag in this regard, but it doesn’t mean the result has to be that it’s a suitcase school. </p>
<p>And…
I agree with this as well and mentioned it in my post I think - once there’s a certain threshold of students who live-on or stay-on campus (i.e. don’t head home every w/e) then it’s not so significant that a fair number of students head home because there are also a fair number of students who don’t.</p>
<p>One comment, typically prestigious schools would have fewer commuters than other schools because prestigious schools will draw students from all over the country while non-prestigious schools will mostly just draw students from the area. </p>
<p>Also, when looking at percentage of freshman living in dorms, I think that is one of the two important measures. You should also look at what percent of graduates transferred into the school. A transfer student is more likely to be from the area and commute than a freshman admit.</p>
<p>Also, in terms of the radius around the school where people will commute from, I think the smallest circle such that X population lives within the area is a more sensible measure than miles or driving time. People in rural areas are more accustomed to commuting far distances than people in urban areas.</p>
<p>My college makes no distinction between freshman who are local and live at home and the upperclassman who live off-campus. They are both considered commuters. However, My school is not a commuter school in the sense that the vast majority of students do not live on campus and are from the area. A suitcase school is one that has a good percentage of students going home for the weekends, but that does not make it a commuter school because in a lot of cases the students will travel a large distance to go home on the weekend.</p>
<p>Another slant is the comparison of the university town versus the surrounding area. </p>
<p>S2 just graduated from a large (28,000 students) directional state u. with D1 sports and partying reputation located in a city of 70,000.
A large percentage of the students are from within a one to two hour radius of the univ. It is not a suitcase school.</p>
<p>That two hour radius covers a LOT of rural area dotted with very small towns.<br>
These kids have no reason to go home and they don’t. They’ve waited all their lives to get out of Mayberry. </p>
<p>We have a second home not far from the sch. so visited S2 fairly regularly at the three blocks from campus hovel he shared w/ three friends. The entire neighborhood was occupied by students. They were out everywhere…walking the streets,hanging out in the yards,cooking burgers on grills,music blaring from open windows. It was never dead on the weekends.</p>
<p>Look at post #5. The definition of commuter varies with official and unofficial views. UW-Madison is not a commuter school despite the current trend for nonfreshmen to not live in dorms. There are also private dorms. </p>
<p>You also need to consider the weekends- suitcase mentality or staying on campus one. Distances of 2 hours may not phase some. Eons ago UW (Madison) was definitely busy on the weekends, not just formal activities, but with crowds at both Unions. Visiting a friend back then (times have changed, and many WI residents are at U of M) when she started grad school at U of Minn there were far fewer people on campus weekends despite it being a large flagship school.We were used to a dynamic weekend on campus doing nothing formal, it was surprising to not see people hanging out there/then. My home was 8 miles from campus back then but there was no way I would have missed out on the evenings (nights) and weekends like the friend whose family home was walking distance.</p>
<p>A clue may also lie the the parking options and costs. Dorms with plenty of free parking encourage students to have cars and an easier time going home weekends (parents who transport kids will balk at the double round trips). Schools with a lot of parking relative to the student population are likely to have more living away from the campus area commuters. Checking on weekend dorm food as mentioned can help.</p>