While most Ohio University students dread hiking across campus in the ice and snow when winter weather hits, some have to prepare much more than simply throwing on boots and a coat to get to class.
Each winter, commuter students have no choice but to brave the weather, sometimes driving long distances on unkempt roads, to attend class. They often travel on icy rural roads to avoid inexcusable absences and quarrels with professors.
Crystal Gearhart, a 37-year-old senior studying integrated language arts education, drives an hour and 45 minutes from Senecaville, Ohio, and stays in a local hotel twice a week in order to attend classes at OU.
You bet I would drive in Level 2 (Snow Emergency) weather
even if I drove 20 miles an hour scared all the way Gearhart said. For my hunger to graduate ... I'll take the risk.
Although the university offers no overnight accommodations to commuter students, Gearhart said she would even pay for temporary lodging and meal plans if offered.
Prior to the quarter starting
because I was concerned about winter driving
I even sent e-mails to local churches to see if their parishioners would be willing to rent out a room two or three nights a week
she said.
Emergency housing is available in Bromley Hall on a first-come, first-served basis, said Laura Chapman, assistant dean for Student Services and co-director of Commuter and Adult Student Services. These few rooms, however, are not held exclusively for commuters, and they come at a small fee.
Chapman, who was once a commuter herself, created Commuter and Adult Student Services about 12 years ago upon recalling the struggles and stress she experienced while at OU. She recruited three commuter mentors to provide support for the about 200 commuters the department serves.
Mentor Shana Snyder, a graduate student studying sociology, said she and the other mentors often give out their personal phone numbers in case the students are seeking shelter on winter nights.
The biggest struggle is that you have to be extra prepared and even pack clothes to stay with friends in Athens
she said, recalling her own days as a commuter to OU.
In Bromley Hall, there is a new commuter lounge where students can escape the cold between classes, but when it comes to staying the night, they're left to fend for themselves.
Some commuter students don't have access to the Internet in order to check whether their classes have been cancelled. In these cases, Chapman said, the students are responsible for contacting their professors by phone.
There are no options for people like us
so we fall through the cracks
Gearhart said. The weather is in control more than anything.
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