Ryerson University students prefer commuting over residence, poll says
The sixth percent of Ryerson students live at home.
In a new poll conducted at Ryerson School of Journalism, out of 1,302 students, 60 per cent of the university students said that they live at home with immediate family.
While only 23 per cent of students said they live on campus/residence, 17 percent of students said they live off-campus.
Emotional support at home
Students say they live with their families because it helps them feel emotionally supported.
Jasmine Saini, a first-year nursing student at Ryerson, said, “I live with my family, so I have some sort of support rather than being by myself,”
“ I’m not used to Toronto, so I prefer to be where I’m most comfortable.”
It can help students to feel linked with their roots when they live with their immediate family.
“I don’t mind commuting because it lets me stay connected with my family and my culture. I’d rather go back home to Brampton and have a nice meal and warm house than stay alone with random people,” said, Tanvir Singh, a business management student at Ryerson.
Major delays on TTC
As well, 69 per cent of the respondents take TTC/GO Transit.
Recently, the TTC has had many major delays and it’s affecting Ryerson students as it’s their main method of transportation.
“I take the TTC and they always have delays, I am late all the time because of the recent TTC cleaning and service delays,” said Kirti Vyas, a third-year journalism student.
While 38 per cent of the students take more than 50 minutes to commute to Ryerson. 15 per cent of the students commute for 41 to 50 minutes.
Only 26 per cent of the students commute for 1 to 10 minutes.
Ajay Jammu, an accounting and finance student, said, “The TTC delays affected my commute like twice because I got late for my class.”
Financial support from family
There are many reasons students may choose to live away from campus, including cost savings, or off-campus family or work commitments.
“The reason for my living with my family is because I only work part-time and live at home, I don’t have to pay rent and can put my money towards paying for my tuition and books etc..” said Dineth Gunasekaran, a first-year biomedical student at Ryerson.
Ryerson students prefer commuting over residence because students get emotional and financial support from family yet still get affected by major delays on TTC.
First-year Ryerson School of Journalism students surveyed 1,302 Ryerson University students in person and online between Feb 27 and March 3, 2020.
Results for the full sample have a margin of error of plus or minus three percentage points, 19 times out of 20; it may be larger for subgroups.