The U.S. News Short List, separate from our overall rankings, is a regular series that magnifies individual data points in hopes of providing students and parents a way to find which undergraduate or graduate programs excel or have room to grow in specific areas. Be sure to explore The Short List: College, The Short List: Grad School and The Short List: Online Programs to find data that matter to you in your college or graduate school search.
Everybody’s college experience is different.
For some students, that experience involves dorm life, roommates and the ability to jump out of bed and walk to class. Others choose to commute every day — a move that saves them money on room and board, which averaged $10,814 for ranked colleges during the 2014-2015 school year, according to U.S. News data.
[Learn toweigh the benefits and drawbacks to living at home during college.]
Among the 247 ranked National Universities that submitted data to U.S. News in an annual survey, Florida International University and the University of Nevada–Las Vegas had the highest percentage of first-year students who lived off campus or commuted each day, at 76 percent. National Universities offer a range of undergraduate, master’s and doctoral programs.
On average, about 19 percent of freshmen across all 247 universities commuted or lived off campus in fall 2014. That’s much lower than the average of 69 percent for the top 10 universities in this category.
Nineteen schools — including Yale University and several other Ivy League and top-ranked institutions — reported no freshmen living off campus or commuting in 2014-2015. Some universities require freshmen to live in campus housing.
[Discover why toconsider off-campus housing as an international undergrad student.]
In addition, half of the 10 schools with the highest percentages of off-campus freshmen fell into the category of Rank Not Published, or RNP, meaning they were ranked in the bottom one-fourth of their ranking category. Three of the five remaining schools ranked in a tie at No. 199.
Below is a list of the 10 National Universities with the highest percentages of first-year students who lived off campus or commuted for the 2014-2015 school year. Unranked schools, which did not meet certain criteria required by U.S. News to be numerically ranked, were not considered for this report.
| School (state) | Percentage of first-year students living off campus or commuting | Total estimated first-year commuters | U.S. News rank |
| Florida International University | 76% | 3,149 | RNP |
| University of Nevada–Las Vegas | 76% | 2,937 | RNP |
| University of Colorado–Denver | 74% | 1,012 | 199 (tie) |
| Cleveland State University | 69% | 1,098 | RNP |
| Indiana University-Purdue University–Indianapolis | 68% | 2,570 | 199 (tie) |
| Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey–Newark | 68% | 692 | 140 (tie) |
| University of New Orleans | 66% | 571 | RNP |
| Louisiana Tech University | 65% | 1,207 | 199 (tie) |
| Wayne State University (MI) | 65% | 1,427 | RNP |
| Adelphi University (NY) | 63% | 614 | 153 (tie) |
Don’t see your school in the top 10? Access the U.S. News College Compass to find data on commuting, complete rankings and much more. School officials can access historical data and rankings, including of peer institutions, via U.S. News Academic Insights.
U.S. News surveyed nearly 1,800 colleges and universities for our 2015 survey of undergraduate programs. Schools self-reported myriad data regarding their academic programs and the makeup of their student body, among other areas, making U.S. News’ data the most accurate and detailed collection of college facts and figures of its kind. While U.S. News uses much of this survey data to rank schools for our annual Best Colleges rankings, the data can also be useful when examined on a smaller scale. U.S. News will now produce lists of data, separate from the overall rankings, meant to provide students and parents a means to find which schools excel, or have room to grow, in specific areas that are important to them. While the data come from the schools themselves, these lists are not related to, and have no influence over, U.S. News’ rankings of Best Colleges, Best Graduate Schools or Best Online Programs. The commuting data above are correct as of July 12, 2016.
More from U.S. News
Consider Off-Campus Housing as an International Undergraduate
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5 Reasons to Rent Off-Campus in College
10 Universities Where the Most Freshmen Commute to Campus originally appeared on usnews.com
