By MATTHEW MATILSKY
STAFF WRITER
Rutgers students taking summer classes who don’t live on campus say they are frustrated by the commute.
Students need twice as much time to get to school because of traffic. Rachel Finkelstein, a Rutgers student who commutes from South Brunswick, N.J., needs to leave 40 minutes to get to school even though it normally takes 20.
“Usually I’m 20 minutes early,” she said. “But if I’m not it’s cutting it too close.”
Rutgers student Danielle Fucci needs even more time than that. During the morning rush hour she says there’s bumper-to-bumper traffic on Route 1.
“Instead of allowing myself 35 minutes I have to give myself an hour and 10,” she said.
This travel time also means that students need to spend more money on gas. “When there’s traffic it takes a quarter of a tank to get here and back,” Finkelstein said.
Because of this, Finkelstein has less money to spend on having fun. “If my friends want to go somewhere, usually I can’t drive,” she said.
Finkelstein works two jobs during the summer, but these jobs are close to her house. Other students are not as lucky.
Andrew Fisher of Hamilton says that driving to his job and school combined costs him about $70 a week. Fisher also said he spends about 13 hours a week driving. He’s afraid this will interfere with his schoolwork.
“Now that I’m taking summer classes I just don’t think I can work as many shifts,” he said.
Students like Fischer are commuting because on-campus housing is too expensive during the summer. Rutgers student Tzvi Feinberg lived in a dorm during the school year.
But during the summer he can’t afford it. Feinberg said he was surprised when he learned that Rutgers does have summer housing—but he was more surprised by the prices. “Two grand for three months in a dorm room?” Feinberg said, “I’d rather pitch a tent.” |
