Rowan University is constantly growing as more and more students flock to the university because of its great programs, small class sizes and affordability. However, once students enroll at Rowan, they are stuck on campus. Literally stuck.

One of the major flaws I find with Rowan is not allowing students who live on campus to have a car until their junior year. Rowan does not allow students to have cars on campus because most of its students are from within New Jersey. While New Jersey is a relatively small state, Rowan does not realize how far some of the students must travel to get to Glassboro.

I am from Wantage, New Jersey, which is in North Jersey. It takes my parents three hours to travel from Wantage to Glassboro. This does not become a problem until you factor in that for most holidays, such as Thanksgiving, the school only gives students off for Thanksgiving and Black Friday. No travel day is factored in. When my professors do not cancel class, my parents are forced to drive six hours to bring me home for Thanksgiving.

I am not the only one with this problem. Many of the people I have met who live out-of-state or in North Jersey also have this problem. Rowan requires freshmen students to live in on-campus housing, unless you are a commuter. And after the first year, many students choose to continue to live in on campus housing. At Rowan, approximately 37 percent of students live in college affiliated housing and 63 percent of students live off campus, according to US News. Since Rowan is growing so rapidly, this restriction for on-campus cars is not necessarily easing the number of cars on campus. Many commuters complain about not being able to find parking spaces near buildings so that they can get to class on time.

While there is public transportation from Philadelphia to most places in New Jersey, the cost of fare is high and takes even more time to get home, compared to driving. The policy for cars on campus needs to change. Either Rowan needs to provide its students with an extra day for travelling so that students can make it home for holidays, or Rowan needs to provide more parking and access to cars for on campus residents that live more than two hours away. Visiting with family during the school year allows for students to have a break from school work so that they can be refreshed and more able to be successful in their studies.

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