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For many Virginia Tech students, commuting isn’t a choice… It’s a necessity. While first-year students are generally expected to live on campus, housing is not guaranteed for most students beyond their freshman year unless they are part of a living-learning community or another limited housing arrangement. As enrollment continues to grow, on-campus housing has become increasingly difficult to secure. This year, even some first-year students were unable to live on campus due to space limitations. As a result, an overwhelming portion of Virginia Tech students are forced into off-campus housing and, consequently, commuter life.Â
    The problem is that while more students are expected to become commuters, the university does not seem to be expanding support for them. In recent years, students have watched commuter parking become increasingly limited. Some spaces previously available to students have been redesignated for faculty and staff. Yet many commuters have noticed that these reserved spaces often have at least a handful of empty spots, no matter where they’re located on campus. Meanwhile, student lots fill quickly, and students spend valuable time searching for parking. For a university that depends on thousands of students living off campus, reducing commuter parking sends a frustrating message about whose needs are being prioritized. Â
    Of course, many would argue that students should simply use Blacksburg Transit instead. The bus system is an important service, and for many students, it works well. However, relying on public transportation is not always as simple as it sounds. Not every student lives close to a bus route. Some students face a 20-to-30-minute walk just to reach the nearest bus stop before they can even begin their ride to campus. Others plan their schedules around buses that can arrive sometimes earlier or later than expected. The Blacksburg Transit app is helpful, but it isn’t always perfectly accurate or even working, leaving students uncertain about whether they will arrive to class on time. More importantly, public transportation is not immune to circumstances beyond anyone’s control. During periods of severe weather, transportation disruptions can leave students with limited options for reaching campus. When buses experience delays or operational challenges, commuters bear the consequences. Missing a bus can mean arriving late to class, missing an exam, or losing valuable study time.Â
    This leaves commuter students caught between two imperfect options. Parking permits are expensive, parking availability is limited, and transit is not equally accessible or reliable for everyone. And yet these are the same students that the university demands to live off campus. No one is suggesting that Virginia Tech pave over the Drillfield to create more parking; however, the university should acknowledge a simple reality: if more students are required to commute, commuter support should grow alongside that demand. This could mean protecting existing commuter spaces, reevaluating underused reserved parking areas, improving transportation reliability, or creating additional solutions for students who live far from bus routes.Â
    Commuter students are far from a small minority of the campus population; they are the overwhelming majority of the Virginia Tech community. If the university continues to rely on off-campus living as a solution to housing shortages, it has a responsibility to ensure that those students can actually get to campus without unnecessary obstacles. Indeed, at a university built around the principle of Ut Prosim, commuter students deserve better than being told to figure it out themselves.Â