Deepa Patel '07 awoke on a Thursday morning to the irritating wail of her alarm clock. She hit the snooze button three times, repeatedly succumbing to the feeling of exhaustion tugging her back to her pillow. At 9:30 a.m., she finally rose, showered, dressed, turned down the furnace and grabbed a granola bar from the kitchen. She got into her gray Toyota and sped down Waltham's Lincoln Street, braking in the stretches where she knows police give tickets. Traffic is heavy on Lexington Street, so by the time she reaches G-Lot at Brandeis, most of the spaces are full-except for one adjacent to the tennis courts. Breathing heavily, she hikes the countless steps to campus, the place that the majority of the undergraduate student body calls home.

Brandeis' commuter students make the decision to live off-campus for a variety of reasons. Like Patel, some live in close-knit families reluctant to send their children away.

But many students decide to commute for the considerable financial savings-room and board this year cost students around $9,000.

While there are some benefits to going to school while living at home, students say there are also considerable drawbacks.

Eleonora Keselman '06 has lived in Newton since her freshman year mostly because of the relative closeness of the commute, but also at the behest of her parents. She said that, in her experience, the typical commuter student has the same number of close friends as those who live in the dorms, but many fewer acquaintances.

"Every commuter has [fewer] friends than people who live in the dorms," Keselman added. "It's also more difficult to do your work sometimes because people work together in the dorms, but I have to call everyone I want to speak with."

Patel says the sense of social alienation is acute even at the beginning of a student's time here.

"As a freshman, it was really hard because people had instant best friends from roommates and people they met in their halls," she said. "In the dorms you're constantly interacting with other people, an opportunity I missed until I started meeting people through clubs and organizations later in the year."

Julaine Nichols '08, who lives in a Woborn apartment with her boyfriend, said participating in on-campus activities-a social live preserver for Patel-is still a hardship for her.

"I try to be involved as much as possible [in student activities], but I think being a commuter makes this difficult, because I am not always on campus at the right times for meetings and events," she said.

Hemong Koetcha '07 said he found a way to be a commuter and have a functional social life on campus. On a typical weekend night, Koetcha loiters in his friends' rooms in Hassenfeld residence hall, watching slapstick comedies, ordering Domino's or competing with friends on their makeshift ping-pong table. He often sleeps there as well. He said he spends more time in the Brandeis dorms than at his Waltham residence.

But Koetcha said he also misses out on the nightlife at times.

"If people are hanging out in the dorms at night and something funny happens, they have to tell me about it," Koetcha added. "Also, there's nowhere to park when I stay overnight."

Koetcha said he considers himself one of the better-integrated commuter students on campus; others don't always adjust so easily, he said.

Grace Balian '06 said she faced difficulties developing a sense of camaraderie with her peers. Her main contact with students came through classes. This was convenient in one respect, since these peers shared her interests, but as Balian said, the classroom atmosphere hardly fosters a great deal of socializing.

She said that she formed friendships with classmates easily, but that they rarely lasted. She often lost touch with friends at the end of the semester. Already having ample friends in the Waltham area, Balian found exerting extra effort to maintain social ties at Brandeis was too bothersome.

In addition, some commuters said that Brandeis could easily offer a friendlier atmosphere. For example, last year, Residence Life stopped issuing commuter students keys to the outside doors of residence halls. Jason McKnight, the quad director for Charles River, said this was due to "safety concerns," but many commuters said they feel unfairly targeted as scapegoats for unrelated security issues.

"I talked to [Residence Life] about it last year, who said thefts have decreased since they stopped issuing keys to commuters," Patel said. "But I feel like they're just excluding me by saying that I don't belong at the dorms."

Without a dorm room for repose between classes, many commuters utilize the commuter lounge, a room in the Shapiro Campus Center specially designated for commuter use. In its first year serving this purpose, the room is a converted storage area that now includes several couches, a small kitchen area, and a television.

Nichols said she often relaxes in the lounge between classes, and appreciates its existence. However, she added that the space is a bit confined, and the school still seems to use it for storage.

Keselman said she only recently became aware of the lounge's existence. Patel didn't even know where the "mythical" commuter lounge was. These comments also touch on another issue that students mentioned: the poor communication links between commuter students.

Commuter Sagar Patel '08 said he only knows a few other commuter students, but that he would like to meet more, perhaps through meetings or activities especially for commuters.

Students overwhelmingly said parking was the most exasperating part of being a commuter student. Parking lots G and T are designated solely for commuter students. The administration directs overflow to J-Lot, but commuters dislike the long walk to campus when they have morning classes, especially in the winter.

As a result, commuters say they are less than eager to leave and return to campus more often than necessary.

"Lots T and G are always full because they over-issue parking permits, and they are constantly giving tickets when you park illegally for any amount of time," said Balian.

Balian offered her own solution to Brandeis' parking problems in disallowing all underclassmen to keep cars on campus.

"Kids who live [on campus] don't need cars-the public transportation is good," said Balian. "As it is, they leave their cars in the lots, wake up and go to class. I have to drive here every morning, and I need a spot."

According to Director of Public Safety Ed Callahan, Brandeis tries hard to accommodate everyone who needs a parking space, including commuter students. He added that the University added a new motor coach system from J-Lot that should make it easier for commuters to reach campus.

"Building a parking garage is in the foreseeable future; [the University is] looking into that," Callahan said. "But in the meanwhile, we try to accommodate people and look into any individual situations that come up."

Overall, commuter students say they sometimes feel marginalized, especially underclassmen still searching for their niche. Some feel the need for more unity with the student body, but ultimately, they say their commuter status does not spoil their college experience.

"Living off-campus is just a different experience," Balian said. "Sometimes I wish I had lived on-campus for at least a year, but I'm happy at Brandeis and generally feel just as welcome by the University as any other student.