As UCI reaches a record high number of student admissions for the fall 2024 quarter, it’s time to recognize, listen to and support commuter students, who make up over half of the undergraduate population.
The number of students living off-campus is bound to increase as the housing crisis persists and total undergraduate admission continues to rise. UCI needs to start creating resources for commuters that are actually effective and impactful.
A notable resource currently available to commuters is the Commuter Lounge, created in 2021 inside the Student Center. The small lounge has a fridge, microwave, 18 lockers, and lounge seats. While some of these amenities are helpful and the idea of a dedicated commuter space is appreciated, there needs to be more of them to make a significant impact for commuters.
Other resources include transportation services, which are largely carpool-related due to UCI’s sustainability initiatives. These services, however, are mostly limited to employees, which is why the school is listed as the Best Workplace for Commuters almost every year. Students have taken carpool initiatives in their own hands by utilizing r/UCI or creating media pages for commuters. Even then, finding carpools with strangers online is not ideal and can be unreliable.
Supporting commuters is going to require the restructuring of current systems rather than supplying unimpactful services like the commuter lounge or vanpool. A major complaint among commuters are the expensive parking passes offered by UCI Transportation and how certain structures are only available under the commuter parking permit. Additionally, due to the increasing number of students, the parking lots are overcrowded, and many commuters cannot get a regular parking permit at the structure they want. They either have to choose a parking lot miles away from their classes or pay an extra $19 per month for preferred parking permits.
Parking passes should either be free of charge or part of a student’s tuition plan. Commuters at UCI live off-campus because it’s more affordable to do so. New students at UCI may come to campus believing their parking is included in their already rising tuition fees, potentially only factoring in the cost of fuel. Many notable commuter schools like Chapman and UC San Diego either charge less for parking permits or even offer them free for all students —- UCI should be no exception.
Another improvement UCI should make for both commuter and on-campus students is to improve campus community life. Every commuter will tell you that the biggest hardship that comes with living off-campus is loneliness. This experience is universal, as attending social events or making relationships with others is simply more difficult when one has to commute back home at a certain time or can’t easily come to campus at any time to hang out with friends. However, at UCI, the lack of community within the university as a whole just guarantees that commuters’ social life will be lackluster.
Part of the reason why community life at UCI is horrible is because there are no good social spaces created for students. On the main campus, almost every building and location is a study spot, holds classrooms or has conference spaces. There are only three locations solely dedicated to students for socialization and community building: Aldrich Park, Anthill Pub & Grille and University Town Center (UTC) — a grass hill, a single pub and a shopping center.
This is not solely a UCI issue; it’s an issue of Irvine’s suburban, mega-planned nature. We can look at Chapman University, which has a similar commuter population, and notice that the university being in Orange provides much more sociable places than Irvine does. Old Town Orange — a historic downtown area with bars, pubs, antique stores and art districts — is a 12-minute walk from Chapman’s campus. For commuters and on-campus students alike, spaces like Orange’s downtown make it worthwhile to stay on campus and create better socializing opportunities. UCI needs to work with Irvine to create a space that is desirable and beneficial for students, not just shopping malls.
Supporting UCI commuters is going to require so much more than lounge spaces and inadequate transportation services. Providing such effective resources such as improving commuter parking permits or enhancing infrastructure to promote community life not only benefits commuters but all other students as well. Whether you’re walking 10 minutes to campus or commuting 2 hours in traffic, the final destination should be 100% worth the journey.
Editor’s note: Editorials should not be interpreted to reflect the opinion, thoughts or beliefs of any individual New University editor, staff member or affiliate.