Fat, Drunk, and Stupid is no way to go through life, USF

[Sellular1]

About being labeled a commuter school, this is a tricky label. It usually stems from the number of students living in university housing. For USF, that only counts as the dorms on campus. Other schools, such as UCF, contract to private apartment complexes as "university housing", so all those students who are technically commuting aren't counted as commuters. Since USF doesn't contract out, all of the students in off campus apartments are considered commuters. This also doesn't account for private condos and houses rented out to students in the immediate areas.

That's the problem with this label. It makes it sound as if students are just living at home with their parents and driving to school each day, when that is not the case. It really is a poorly defined label with no true set of standards, that has a derogatory notion to it.

All I know, is that when I was in school at USF many of the kids would go home to the east coast of florida on the weekends to get their laundry done...

Not anymore. Many of them live off campus (College Court, Campus Lodge, 42North, etc) because the apts on campus are very pricey. If they built some nicer dorms (no Delta, Kappa, and all the other old ones are not nice) that were competitive with the private housing nearby, people would stay on campus. Nobody leaves on weekends b/c we are all at these apt complexes together, or the ones on campus do their laundry there.

May be better now, but I lived in off campus apartments for 3 years and people still went home on the weekends. The dorms were even worse for people bailing on weekends, especially 3 day ones. I lived in Iota and other than the RA, the place was a ghost town sat and sun

[LifeIsBully]

Problem at USF is this. I can choose to stay on campus in a single room with a shared bathroom for $600 a month, or I can go 5 minutes off campus and get a great apartment with private bathrooms that don't run out of hot water by 5am for $500 a month. Kids who live off campus shouldn't be labeled "commuters", they should be labeled "smart".

On campus housing needs an overhaul and less price gouging.

[Hem]

Problem at USF is this. I can choose to stay on campus in a single room with a shared bathroom for $600 a month, or I can go 5 minutes off campus and get a great apartment with private bathrooms that don't run out of hot water by 5am for $500 a month. Kids who live off campus shouldn't be labeled "commuters", they should be labeled "smart".

On campus housing needs an overhaul and less price gouging.

This. This is the problem, and is exactly what I stated above. I lived in Delta (a cinderblock prison) and couldn't get out fast enough. USF needs to drop their prices and renovate the older dorms that are stuck in the 60's.

[Joe]

Problem at USF is this. I can choose to stay on campus in a single room with a shared bathroom for $600 a month, or I can go 5 minutes off campus and get a great apartment with private bathrooms that don't run out of hot water by 5am for $500 a month. Kids who live off campus shouldn't be labeled "commuters", they should be labeled "smart".

On campus housing needs an overhaul and less price gouging.

Living off campus isn't an issue. Those kids aren't really labeled commuters. The things that give us that label are those kids on and off campus deserting the area on the weekends. The lack of student activity on campus and off campus at campus events. The number of part time and night students.

Most schools that have been labeled "commuter" seem to get this mindset that if they build a lot of dorms and make kids live on campus, it will kill that image. That is simply not true.

When I was at USF a lot of time the weekends were ghost towns. When I lived on and off campus.

It has been 6 or so years, I don't know if that has changed.

[Sellular1]

Problem at USF is this. I can choose to stay on campus in a single room with a shared bathroom for $600 a month, or I can go 5 minutes off campus and get a great apartment with private bathrooms that don't run out of hot water by 5am for $500 a month. Kids who live off campus shouldn't be labeled "commuters", they should be labeled "smart".

On campus housing needs an overhaul and less price gouging.

This. This is the problem, and is exactly what I stated above. I lived in Delta (a cinderblock prison) and couldn't get out fast enough. USF needs to drop their prices and renovate the older dorms that are stuck in the 60's.

When I was there, Delta was all girls...

[Ghost]

There are some commenters, I am wondering if they can ever be happy with USF's accomplishments.

Happy, yes. Content, never.

Things will always need to improve. They wont improve unless we have debates/discussions like this. USF is a great school that has come a long way and has a ton to offer a variety of people. It can always be better though.