It can be difficult to maintain relationships with friends who are residents as a commuter. I often find my friends making last-minute plans, but because I am not on campus, I am not able to go. 

Something as simple as sitting with your friends in the Pavillion while you do homework and chit-chatting can continue to foster the relationships you have made on campus. 

Preplanning times to go out or do something on campus can help maintain your social life. Both residents and commuters are extremely busy, and preplanning times to see each other can make hanging out seem less impossible. 

Arranging to stay the night in a friend’s dorm can alleviate the stress of a late-night drive home. This also allows you to leave after class and come back to spend the evening with friends. 

Personally, I love to go to MAC events with my friends. It is a great way to be on campus doing something other than coursework and attending club meetings. However, MAC events are not catered toward commuter students. 

Even though I love MAC’s bingo events, I hate that they start so late, as do many of their other events throughout the week. When my friends and I decide to go to bingo, I am on campus from 8:00 am until the event ends around 8:00 pm or 9:00 pm. 

This can be very frustrating and tiring when commuters want to be able to have the same social life as residents. I would love to see MAC events, and other clubs, create events during times that are accessible to commuter students. We do makeup roughly 40% of Moravian’s student body, after all. 

But until that happens, the Commuter Student Association does have events throughout the day when commuters are actually on campus. They have many events, including Commuter Happy Hour. 

If there is a club or event that you want to attend but can’t because of the time, I would recommend reaching out to the organization running the event. Let them know about the difficulty of attending events as a commuter and that you would love to see them set events oriented for the commuter student body! This is the first step in seeing more events run at the times that we are on campus. 

These events are a great way to meet fellow commuters and can be a springboard to attending other events on campus. 

As always, if you have any questions, comments, or suggestions, you can comment on this article, email me at [email protected], or fill out this form.