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Wonkhe SUs · The 2026 webinar box set

Commuter students

Everything SUs need to know about commuter students – now the majority, not the exception.

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Mack Marshall runs through everything SUs need to know about commuter students, now the majority in UK higher education. We cover the definitional headache, the crucial difference between commuting by choice and by necessity, why the deficit model is out of date, how the classroom and the commute itself become spaces for belonging, and what the data (from Royal Holloway, HEPI/University of Lancashire and Ireland) really shows. We also look at the OfS risk register, the transport-policy blind spot, what access and participation plans say, and what would actually help.

What we cover

  • Defining commuters – why it's a "wicked problem" not worth 12 months of a working group, and why relocated students who commute often don't show up in the data.
  • The majority, not the exception – there are now more commuter students in the UK than traditional residential students.
  • Choice versus necessity – the crucial split (Royal Holloway's research): necessity commuters report much worse outcomes on socialising, belonging, workload and wellbeing.
  • Ditch the deficit model – commuters aren't a synonym for disadvantaged; HEPI/University of Lancashire found they attain 2 percentage points higher despite lower self-reported belonging.
  • Wellbeing and safety – Irish research on the WHO wellbeing index, and why female commuters with longer journeys report sharply reduced wellbeing, linked to safety on public transport.
  • Belonging lives in the classroom – with commuters less present on campus, pedagogy must build belonging in the one guaranteed space, and the commute itself becomes a "third space".
  • What helps on campus – flexible timetables, lockers, showers, commuter lounges (Leeds, Winchester), and even hotel rooms for 9am exams and late events.
  • The transport blind spot – the OfS flagged commuters in its Equality of Opportunity Risk Register, but it regulates providers not transport, and government policy (Better Connected, Project Coral, the rail freeze, the £3 bus cap) misses students almost entirely.
  • What APPs say – how universities define and target commuters (St Mary's Twickenham using ONS travel-to-work areas), and why most interventions are really about understanding the population.
  • Count them and make them visible – Susan Kenyon's "magic wand": better data and visibility to the institution, to each other, and to transport authorities and government.

Things to read

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