Commuters review their experiences on campus

By Olivia Nicoletti

Almost one-third of the Rider community is made up of commuters from near and far students make the trip to campus each every day to try and build a home away from home. 

Rider offers advice to those who live off campus via the official university website where students can receive guidance throughout their commuting experience. 

Emili Dimoski, a junior elementary education and multidisciplinary studies major, resided in Montville, New Jersey for the beginning of her commuting experience, but has recently moved to Plainsboro, New Jersey. 

Dimoski lived on campus her freshman year and the first semester of her sophomore year, but moved off campus due to the lack of single-room options at Rider. 

“I’m someone who likes to be more by myself, so I wanted to be in a one bedroom apartment by myself this semester — this has been the best thing for me,” Dimoski said. “Living on campus, there wasn’t anything other than an apartment with four or five other people or a double. If I did get a single, then I would have to share a bathroom, and I also really didn’t want to do that.” 

She strategically planned her schedule to have classes on only Tuesdays and Thursdays so she would not have to make the drive all week long. 

Dimoski said her least favorite experience since she started commuting is the lack of parking available to her. 

Other commuters echoed that statement. Melanie Tsai, a senior majoring in elementary education and multidisciplinary studies, said that she can never find a parking spot when she gets to campus and notices that others who should not be parking in the commuter lot are continuing to do so. 

Commuting from West Windsor takes Tsai approximately 20 minutes to drive to campus, but she finds it frustrating to see the wrong people using the spots designated for commuters. 

She emphasized that her biggest concern about commuting is “the inconvenience of having to pack for a whole day.” 

For junior business in healthcare management major, Max Marchiano, he started his commuting experience at the start of the fall semester. 

He resides in Bordentown, New Jersey and emphasized the increase of gas prices and how that changed how he goes about his day-to-day life. He said that it makes him “debate whether to go home in between classes.” He echoed that, and said it makes him think, “if [he] really needs to leave just to come back a couple hours later.” 

He too, has recognized the problems regarding limited parking in the commuters lot.

Marchiano said, “ if I don’t come a couple hours before class, I have to park all the way back where they combine the C/Z/R decals.” 

Gregory Bridge, a senior global supply chain management major, disagreed and said that he has no problem finding spots to park in.

He has been a commuter since he transferred to Rider two years ago. From Milford, New Jersey, his biggest complaint is not the parking situation, but that he lives far away so it is “putting a lot of extra miles on [his] car.” 

Regarding the increase of gas prices, Bridge said, “Gas prices don’t really affect my commuter experience. I don’t usually even pay attention to what gas prices are because I still have to buy gas anyway, and it doesn’t matter much to me what the prices are.”