Bridgewater State University - Alpha Yearbook (Bridgewater, MA)

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many commuters to hold a regular part-time job to meet all their bills. Being a commuter requires them to balance their education, work, and social life just as much as the resident students. The College has made a commitment to commuters by opening the Commuter Center, which provides support services for all commuters. Through the Commuter Center, the College hopes to help the commuters in the creating a Commuter Association where the College will be able to further enhance the programs and services available to commuters. Commuters have an unique opportunity to expand their education and horizions, and they are often working hard to make most of their opportunity. Indeed, commuters have set their own standard of living as well as excellence. COMMUTER CENTER A Commuter Assistant, a com- muter version of the Resident Assistant, mans the desk in the recently opened Commuter Cent- er, located next to the Movie T.V. Lounge on the ground floor of the Campus Center. The Commuter Center is the resource center for the commuting students, as it opened, the Commuter Connec- tion, a newsletter for commuters, inaugurated its first issue. It is published monthly and con- tainins information specifically of interest to commuting students.

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COMMUTERS . . . A STANDARD OF LIVING Some commuters get together in morning before their classes to catch up on of their homework in the Commuter Cafeteria in the Campus Center. The Commuter Cafeteria is a meeting place for many of commuters, and is also the location of the Commuter Ride Board where they can find other commuters from their area so that they can make carpool ar- rangements. Over two-thirds of the Bridgewater State College ' s enrollment commutes to school, and that creates a standard of living . Being a commuter is a unique experience, unlike the residental experience. It is not often from choice, since the College does not have enough rooms to house all those who want to live on campus. Therefore, many elect to live at home or at a off-campus room or apartment. Being a commuter also means having a car. Having to make car payments, insurance as well as school expenses forces

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An Admissions Office staff as- sistant completes another file on a prospective student. During its busiest season, the admissions staff processes over 8,000 forms for all the candidates for admis- sion to Bridgewater State College. RAISING THE Over the last few years, admissions to the fresh- man class has become more competitive. For the new incoming freshman class, Bridgewater re- ceived over 4,350 applications for 1050 openings. SAT scores of the incoming freshman were up an average of fifteen points in both the verbal and mathematics portion. It became clear that Bridge- water was becoming more competitive, attracting academic talented students who wanted to come to Bridgewater State College rather a more ex- pensive private college. It became a consensus that quality rather than quantity of the students was BSC ' s chief concern. As a part of refining the admissions process, it was announced that all stu- dents applying for next year must submit an essay. Also, the admission deadline was moved back from April 1st to March 1st, consistent with other selective college institutions. Many new standards were set in 1988, and the Admissions standards were among them. I