There's a lot to like in this piece on commuter students and the way norms are framed by universities - but there's something off about it too https://www.theguardian.com/education/2020/jun/30/if-more-students-choose-home-over-halls-its-time-to-celebrate?CMP=twt_a-education_b-gdnedu

My issue with it centres on this line "Buddy schemes suppose they yearn for companionship, when many already have full social lives". Our loneliness research last year suggests that it's absolutely true that commuter students want/need friendship at university.

This idea - that residential students need friends but commuters are fine and just want teaching cus, you know, friends already is shared as "true" but is nonsense. It's as nonsense as the idea that we don't need friends at work because we have friends at home.

Only half of commuter students feel that they are part of a community of staff and students, almost 2 out of 10 commuter students have not made any true friends at university and more commuter students report feeling lonely on a daily basis.

This isn’t out of choice – the qual told us that meeting new people and making friends is a key priority for them, mentioning practical considerations (time constraints, difficult commute), not knowing how or not feeling welcome.

So yes we should think about and amend and develop decent programmes in this space and yes let's worry about the default "boarding school" assumptions. But let's not go assuming that social activity or social contact isn't wanted or needed by commuters - quite the opposite.