Kim Scroggins / Special to The Recorder

On a campus of over 11,000 students, it seems that as the years progress, more of the student body is choosing to commute or leave campus after class. In turn, Central’s night and weekend life have begun to suffer.

Even though there are nine residence halls located on campus, Central has become more of a “suitcase” college where more students are choosing to commute from home.

Over the past few semesters the Student Center has become increasingly more active as students now use it as a place to kill time before their next class.

Students come and go in waves leaving the Student Center either jam-packed or completely empty depending on the time of day.

With the increase in commuters, parking has become more of a struggle as well. In the Student Center parking lot, cars are seen “vulturing” or circling for spots. With some lots being assigned to faculty or on campus residents only, choices of where to park are slim. Spots are even harder to find during the afternoon, when the garages are just as full.

With Welte being the most popular garage, it’s hard to find a spot at all after 12 noon. It’s even harder if you’re hoping to find a spot on one of the first two levels. Lately, it’s even been hard finding spots on the roof.

With the fall in the economy recently, it’s understandable if more people are choosing to commute to help save money.  However, there may also be other factors that cause students to commute such as being kicked out of housing or switching student status from full to part time.

The number of students who still live on campus has started to become noticeably smaller, and has caused more rooms to be used as singles than there were just last year. Even some of those who live on campus drive home on the weekends because of how quiet it is.

I remember back to my freshman year, before I had a weekend job back home, Central funded a group called the Weekenders that would provide those still on campus with activities and things to do. Lately, there hasn’t been as much activity as there used to be.       

With efforts made by the Devil’s Den to bring people out so they have something to do, Thursdays are slightly more productive than other days of the week. However, nightlife on campus has been reduced to however many people on campus feel like going out.

Because of the school’s location, commuting proves to be a more convenient way of getting to and from classes. But with the number of commuters rising, the school should consider making the layout a little more commuter friendly.