While students on residential campuses are figuring out the logistics of traveling home for the winter holidays — and when states and cities soon will be deciding what to do with their shares of the massive federal infrastructure bill — the vast majority of U.S. college students are commuters, many of whom struggle with getting to and from their classes on a daily basis. Transportation can account for almost 20 percent of the cost of college for commuters, according to the College Board; 87 percent of all first-year students live off campus, the nonprofit Higher Learning Advocates estimates.
