Most students live on campus for their freshman year (and many stay there longer). Some schools even require that you live on campus for a specific amount of time. Not all colleges are this way, though, and this means that you may find yourself as a commuter student, driving from home (or maybe your own apartment, if it’s not right across the street) to class every day.

Students have many different reasons for not wanting to live on campus. Some can save money by living at home, with their parents. Others may want to live on their own, but not right next to campus—maybe they found a good deal on an apartment a little farther away. The reasons vary, but many students find themselves driving (or riding their bikes, or taking the subway or the bus) to school.

Finding the best mode of transportation is key to having a successful year as a commuter student. If you live really close to campus, you can walk. A little farther out, riding your bike is a good idea—not only will you save a bunch of gas money, but it’ll help keep you in shape, too! And if you’re really serious about it, you can ride your bike all year (this is easier if you don’t live in a state that gets a lot of snow, but it’s possible everywhere). If you’re close to mass transit, you can hop a bus or a train to get close to campus—you can often get student passes that can save you a lot of money on this type of transportation. Keep in mind that when you’re taking mass transit, you’re not putting miles on your car, and not only will you not have to pay for gas as often, but you’ll cut down on maintenance as well. But, of course, sometimes driving is the only option. And that’s how it is for a lot of people.

I strongly encourage all commuter students to spend as much time on campus as possible. Get involved with some groups—sports, intramurals, honor societies, language clubs, and study groups are all good ways to meet people. Maintaining social connections with campus can be tough when you don’t live there, but it’s certainly possible, and it’s important to meet people outside of class as well. Go to your school’s sporting games, and theater productions, and social gatherings, like outdoor movie nights and dances. Staying connected is important.

Many schools have organized commuter student centers or groups, as well—see if your college offers special resources for commuter students that you can take advantage of (see NYU’s for a good example). It can be a good way to meet people, and you may find that there are many valuable resources that a commuter center has to offer.

Depending on when your college starts classes, you may be moving in for the first time in the near future. Leaving home and moving to campus is a big change—getting off on the right foot by having a successful move-in can help you make the switch as comfortably as possible. The move-in day (and the entire move-in week) can be a little stressful, so make sure that you’re prepared and ready to go. Once the day arrives, use some of the following tips to make sure that it goes as smoothly as possible.

First, and most importantly, have all of your stuff packed! If you’re running around your house the morning before you move in looking for a table fan, a desk lamp, an extra blanket, or your toothbrush, you’re going to start the day stressed. Get a move-in checklist and go through it several times in the weeks before you move in. Make sure you have everything together, packed, and ready to go. “Packed” doesn’t mean “together in a pile”—get all of your things into some bags and boxes so that you can just walk them out to the car in the morning and be done.

It can be really helpful to talk to your roommate about when you plan on showing up to move in. Depending on how large your dorm room is—and how you both like to do things—you may want to coordinate so that you’re not there at the same time. If you’re both trying to move your things into a small room, it can get pretty jammed and difficult to move around (especially if both roommates’ families are there helping out). Try to plan so one roommate gets there in the morning, and another arrives in the afternoon. It’ll be much easier for everyone involved.

It can be very helpful to have a plan on where you’re going to put your things—check out the floor plan for your room a week or so before you move in and start thinking about how you’ll organize it. Find out how the beds and desks are laid out. Will your bed be lofted? If so, you’ll have some more storage room. Does your desk already have a lamp on it? Then you can use yours on your nightstand (if you have one). Knowing things like this will make it even easier when you move in.

After you’ve moved in, start exploring your dorm! Get out and meet your hallmates and neighbors. Introduce yourself, see if you can find someone who’s in one of the same classes that you are, and just get to know as many people as you can. You’re going to be living with these people the rest of the year, so it’s good to start being social as early as possible!

One of the best things you can do to keep your dorm room experience positive is to keep your room clean. I hate to sound like your mother, and I’m sure you’ll hear this from many other people, too, but it’s something to keep in mind. You won’t be able to just show up at college, move into your room, trash it, and move out. You have to leave it in the condition you found it, and you’ll be much more comfortable if you keep it clean in between move-in and move-out. Here’s a list of things to do (and some cleaning supplies to have) to keep your room in an acceptable condition. (If you need to clean up in a hurry, check out this article.)

Many dorm rooms have hard floors—if this is the case, you’ll want to sweet it fairly often. You’ll be eating in your room, so you’ll be adding crumbs to the pencil eraser shavings and other byproducts of an academic existence on your floor. After a while, it builds up. So sweep it! If you have carpeting, or put rugs over your hard floor, make sure to vacuum as well. After a while, it becomes pretty easy to tell if carpet has been vacuumed or not.

If you have a kitchen in or near your room, bring dishwashing supplies, because dishes that haven’t been washed in two weeks are gross. Wash your dishes right after you use them, or when they start building up in the sink, and you’ll avoid the telltale nasty smell of moldy dishes. If you’re fortunate enough to have a dishwasher, you won’t have to worry about this—just be sure to use the dishwasher!

Another thing you’ll want to bring for your kitchen (and bathroom, if you have one) is surface cleaner. Something like Scrubbing Bubbles or another high-powered grime remover is perfect. Use it on your counters, sinks, oven, tub, stove, shower, toilet, and any other hard surface. It’ll take anything built up right off—you won’t even have to scrub (unless it’s impressively baked on there). This is also really effective for taking stains off of a hard floor—if you drop some tomato sauce or cheese on your floor and don’t notice it until the next morning, this will take it right off.

A non-cleaning product that will really help the clean-seemingness of your apartment is an air freshener. Get one that plugs into the wall, a gel diffuser, or any other kind (hanging the evergreen tree car air fresheners isn’t very stylish, but they definitely work!), and put them up in your room. You can find discrete places to put them if you’d like, or make it really obvious—it doesn’t really matter. Just use something to keep your dorm room smelling alright.

While you may not enjoy cleaning—I know I certainly don’t—it’ll pay off. Especially when it comes to cleaning your room out at the end of the year. Not only will your dorm look and smell better than a lot of the ones you’ll see, but you’ll already be a step ahead when it comes to doing the major clean when you move out. I know it sucks to clean . . . just do it, and you’ll be happy you did!

One thing that most college students have in common is their income level: very low. Even if you have a job as a student, you probably won’t get paid very much. And you have a lot of expenses: tuition, books, housing, food, a social life . . . the list goes on. You’ll probably end up taking out a few loans and graduating in debt (as most people do). However, if you just need a few extra 20’s for the weekend, you can try one of the three ideas below that you may not have thought of.

Sell Plasma

Blood plasma is the liquid portion of your blood. It’s the part that everything else—your red cells, white cells, platelets, and so on—is floating in. And there are companies who will pay you decently well if you’d like to sell it. All you have to do is find one of those companies, schedule an appointment, and go for it! The more often you give, the more money you’ll make (you’re limited to the frequency of your appointments for health reasons, though). It’s a pretty easy, fairly painless process that doesn’t take a whole lot of time.

Gamble

Don’t hit the slot machines, or use online betting services. But if you’re good at beating your friends in poker, start putting some money on the table. It doesn’t have to be much—five bucks here and there can add up over time. Play with quarters or half-dollars. Organize a tournament on your dorm floor (beware of anti-gambling rules, though). Or if you have a really high alcohol tolerance, challenge some people to a beer pong match and bet some cash on it. Any sort of game like this can serve as a moneymaker if you’re good at it and people are willing to take you on.

Tutor

You don’t have to be a graduate or a professor to tutor—most schools have centers that you can get a job tutoring at. All you have to do is prove that you know your stuff in a particular area. Many schools have tutoring centers for several areas, including math, English, biology, and history. (You can also establish your own tutoring business.) Figure out what you’re best at and see if you can help people out. This is a great strategy, because you can help people out and feel good about yourself when you’re done raking in the cash.

If none of these ideas suit your strengths, don’t despair—you aren’t assured a life of poverty. Just start thinking about the skills you have that other people may not, and how you can monetize those skills. Maybe you’re very gifted with grammar. So edit papers for a fee. Or you’re a great public speaker. Help people out preparing for their public speaking classes. Everyone has skills . . . if you can identify yours and find others who are willing to pay for them, you’re set!

So it’s your last summer before you head off to college to start your preparation for “the real world,” and you want to do something to commemorate it. You could make a scrapbook . . . or document the summer on a video camera . . . or start a journal. Or you could do something crazy. Something that will probably make your parents shake their heads. Yes, it’s something that you may come to regret a little bit later. But probably not. And it has the potential to commemorate a summer that you’ll never forget. Are you looking for some crazy ideas for this summer? Here are a few.

One option that seems to be a consistently popular one is to do something that will scare you out of your mind. Maybe it’s sky diving. Or bungee jumping. Or even horizontal bungee jumping. Whatever it is, it’ll probably scare the crap out of you. And it’ll be awesome.

A lot of people combine doing something dangerous with the second crazy idea—going really far away. Take a road trip, or jump a plane to another country. Wherever you go, get to somewhere you’ve never been before. Hang out on a beach in Mexico, or head to the Swiss Alps. Maybe you can find a way to make it to Japan. If doing this seems really difficult, and slightly unrealistic, you’re just not trying hard enough! If there’s a will, there’s a way. (Oh, and don’t watch any of those movies that start out with recent high school or college grads going on a road trip that turns into a fight for their lives before you go. Not a good idea.)

Another good way to commemorate your last summer is with some sort of body modification. Get a new piercing or a tattoo! Piercings are fairly temporary, so I won’t offer much caution on those. But tattoos are permanent. So if you get one, get something cool that you won’t regret in six months. Don’t get a pot leaf, don’t get your boyfriend’s name, don’t get your high school mascot (yeah, it’s been done). A lot of people over-think their tattoos and don’t ever end up getting one. Give it some thought, but if you really want one, go for it! Under no circumstances should you get a piece of flash tattooed. Have your own design done.

These are just a few ideas to get you thinking. There are thousands of crazy things that you could do to make this summer a great one. It doesn’t have to be something outrageous, either. Many people come up with great ideas that they don’t even have to leave their neighborhood for. Just keep thinking, and you’ll come up with a great idea to commemorate your summer.

Oh, yeah—don’t do any of this stuff behind your parents’ back or without their consent. That’s just stupid.