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Originally Posted by Metro-One
Last i feel that a lot of people here live in La la land about school. For many students (such as myself) school is only part of your life, there is also family, friends and work. Let's take my first two years of SFU for example, my friends, family and job were all in Maple Ridge, my school is in burnaby, 3 against 1, living in Burnaby at the time would cause more road trips for me than living in Maple Ridge. But since there is no fast effective transit from Maple Ridge to SFU (the WCE is possible, but does not run often enough for it to be effective for SFU) this meant i had to drive in stand still traffic every second day. Also, unlike many people here, i had to (and still have to) pay for my own education, so i do not feel like forking over thousands of more dollars for a tiny room that i can not cook in.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by agrant
I'm not disagreeing with that, but what's the solution? Build 20 to 30 thousand more units on campus and have students live there free of charge?
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Thanks for weighing in, and I'll grant that my rant cannot possibly account for every eventuality. However, I was able to fund my education with student loans (just under 30k, thanks to federal loan reductions), part-time work at a gas station close to my parents' house during summer and winter holidays, scholarship money (both needs-based and merit-based), and occasional help from my parents. It wasn't luxurious by any stretch, but I did eventually manage to find a place I could cook in. I know somebody else with absolutely no parental support (and who wasn't willing to work outside of school - in her case, I suppose this is understandable, though for reasons I shouldn't divulge), who simply went to financial aid, pleaded their case, and received additional support in the form of university money and student loans.
I don't want to hijack this thread into an education ethics discussion, but I'd say it's reasonable for commuting students who need part- or full-time work to consider applying for it closer to where they study, apply the money they would otherwise spend on auto insurance and gasoline towards their education, and take out a student loan if/when necessary. If people choose to do otherwise for whatever reason (remaining close to friends and family is something most can sympathize with), I can understand that, but they should be willing to fork out the extra money for it. At any rate, present economic (peak oil) and environmental trends and conditions indicate that if you're not already thinking along these lines, you will probably soon have to, and your children and grandchildren almost certainly will.
Metro-One, I should add that my rant was directed primarily towards those who attend UBC, not SFU (the geographical frame of my two cents should make this obvious). I'm personally a fan of SFU architecturally (I'm probably in the minority there), but it was a terrible idea to have a university on top of a mountain in the middle of nowhere: It's an idea that could only have come from the heyday of the automobile. The idea becomes even less comprehensible when one considers the dearth of student housing up there, and the fact that the notion of building a "UniverCity" adjacent to the school is a product of only the last 15 years or so. Shameful, really. While I think that Maple Ridgers such as yourself would do well to look for affordable lodgings closer to school, make new friends closer to school and have more time to spend with them (easier said than done, I'll concede), and consider giving up the car, a commute from Maple Ridge to SFU is much less unreasonable, all things considered, than to UBC. It's 32km via corridors lined with plaza malls, parking lots, and close to a freeway, as opposed to 55km through a (once suburban) neighborhood planned around automobile use as the exception, rather than the rule. In SFU's case, the student body's choice of commute is - unfortunately - as much the university's, the province's, and the city's fault as anybody else's.
As for the solution, agrant, again, I'll play it safe by assuming I can't account for every individual situation, but from my own search for housing in Vancouver, I know that there are suites to be rented for quite a reasonable price in the Kits area, and even more - and for cheaper - as far east as Commercial Drive. Thankfully, Vancouver is not solely Yaletown or Coal Harbour. With student loans, and the proximity of these areas to large employment centres, I don't think we need to talk just yet of letting UBC's entire student body live on campus for free. I wouldn't want my tax dollars going to that either! (See the quandary faced by European universities, which are for the most part free for citizens, but have enormous difficulty attracting quality faculty and researchers).
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No offence, Geoff. I understand in part where you're coming from but life is more complicated than that
That would be awsome for campus actually. 
Actually in many regions of Europe and Asia, Japan especially, it is the norm to live with your parents during university. In many areas you do not move out on your own until you have a career (or a family of your own). With living costs rising in North America as well and cities becoming more dense i am sure that will become the trend here as well. In fact it is the suburban life style and the 1950's North American independence mentality of living independently away from family that largely created the "College Experience" of living away from home. Now this is a perfect example of the snake bitting its own tail. Many people here want density and mass transit and are against the North American past ideal, yet it is that ideal that created the living away from home mentality for school.
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