What’s In This Guide You’ll definitely save money if you live off campus. But it’s not easy

being a commuter student. This will make it a little easier.

Why It’s Smart to Commute

Did you know 70% of NC State students live off campus? Here’s

what to expect as a commuter student.

Transportation Options

You have to get to class, right? NC State has you covered.

How to Save Money on Textbooks

Textbooks are expensive. Here’s how to avoid breaking the bank.

Computer Labs & Printing

Is it really cheaper to have your own printer? Here’s a list of all

computer labs and printers—just in case.

Best Places to Eat

For days when you just want to grab fast food.

About This Guide

Why The Student Saver exists, basically.

It’s Smart to Commute If you don’t live in university housing—residence halls or university-

affiliated apartments—then congratulations! You’re a commuter

student. Commuting is a smart choice. You will save a significant

amount of money. But it’s not the easiest decision.

You Can Save A Lot Of Money… Did you know that it costs over $8,000 just to live on campus for two

semesters? That doesn’t even include the cost of the classes you’re

actually taking. Ridiculous, right? Living in a residence hall costs $6,020

this year. A meal plan costs at least $2,400. And it’s getting more

expensive to live on campus—last year, a residence hall cost about

$5,900 per year.

You could use that $8,000 to rent a nice apartment for $670 and spend

$270 on food every month. (By the way, that food budget translates to

50 Cookout trays per month. Much better deal.)

… But It Sucks Sometimes Getting involved in on-campus life is hard. Just getting to Main Campus

for club meetings means having to park, catch the bus, or walk to

campus. And that’s before you even make it to the club meeting itself.

Then there’s getting to class. You’ll have to rely on other people to get

you to school if you carpool or take a bus. If you drive yourself, you’ll

have to fight for a parking spot during peak hours. (NC State has a C

rating for parking. Yikes.)

And then there’s the frustration of last-minute changes, like when your

professor cancels class after you're halfway to school.

5 Tips for Success But there’s a reason almost 70% of undergraduate students live off

campus. It’s the best way to save a lot of money. And you don’t have to

feel like you’re missing out on the “college experience.”

Here are a few ways you can make the most of your time as a

commuter student at NC State.

Get to campus a little early. Car trouble, late (or missed)

buses, or heavy traffic can be an issue, so leave for class a few

minutes early.

Join a club. Get involved in one of NC State’s 600+ clubs and

organizations, and meet people who love the same things you

do.

Keep up with what’s happening on campus. Go to a football

game (and park for free on campus), stop by a late-night event,

and follow NC State activities on social media.

Stay on campus between classes. If you have a 3-hour break

between classes, stay on campus. You can get homework done,

study for a test, or eat lunch with some friends.

Take advantage of commuter benefits. NC State offers free

bus service and discounted parking permits for commuters.

Stay Connected Want one more reason to be on your phone all the time? Follow The

Student Saver on social media! (We’re pretty awesome, just saying.)

Helpful Phone Numbers For NC State emergency services:

For all emergencies, call 911.

For a safety escort, call 919-515-3000 or use the blue light

emergency phone.

For reporting safety concerns or complaints, call the NCSU safety

hotline at 919-515-5445.

For counseling emergencies after office hours, call 919-515-3000

and ask to speak to the counselor.

For disability services, call the Disability Services Office at 919-515-

7653.

For NC State academic records and accounts:

For Registration and Records, call 919-515-2572.

For the Office of Scholarships and Financial Aid, call 919-515-

2421.

For the Cashier’s Office and Student Accounts, call 919-515-2986.

Get to Class in Style There are plenty of ways you can get to class from your home or

apartment, and most are free or pretty cheap.

WolfTrails Commuter Program Instead of driving yourself to campus, you can use WolfTrails, NC

State’s commuter incentives program. You get commuter parking

benefits if you walk, bike, carpool, or take the bus.

In addition to the special parking permits, the benefits of getting to

campus other than driving yourself include reducing wear and tear on

your personal vehicle, saving money while commuting, and reducing

your carbon footprint. Here are the parking permit details:

Commuter parking permits are valid in Coliseum Deck, Dan Allen

Deck, West Deck, Perimeter lots, and Varsity lots.

A commuter parking pass is $348, split among all students in your

carpool.

Each carpooler gets 8 daily scratch-off permits for the Varsity lot.

You must live at least a quarter of a mile outside the “Wolfline

buffer” to qualify.

To apply for the commuter incentive program, fill out the WolfTrails

Commuter Benefits Application.

The Wolfline The Wolfline is NC State’s public bus service, free for students and the

general public. Buses run every day that classes are in session, and 11

routes operate during the academic year.

You can get just about anywhere using the bus: Cameron Village,

Mission Valley, Park & Ride lots, etc. These buses serve Main Campus:

Route 2 Hillsborough Shuttle, Route 5 Varsity, and Route 7

Wolflink Shuttle circle around Main Campus.

Route 3 Engineering, Route 8 Southeast Loop, and Route 11

Village Link connect Main Campus and Centennial Campus.

Route 1 Avent Ferry and Route 9 Gorman Street Local connect

Avent Ferry, Greek Village, and Main Campus.

Route 6 Carter-Finley connects the Park & Ride lots with Main

Campus.

These routes generally operate between 7 AM and 10 PM during the

fall and spring semesters. Check the transportation website for specific

schedules, and check the bus map for specific stop locations.

And don’t worry, there’s night service, too. Night bus services typically

begin at 10 PM and run until 3 AM. During the week, these 3 bus routes

serve Main Campus:

The Night Wolf connects Avent Ferry with Main Campus.

Centennial Night circles Centennial Campus and Main Campus.

The Werewolf Shuttle loops around Main Campus.

Download the free TransLoc Rider app from iTunes or Google Play. That

way you don’t have to rely on paper schedules.

GoPass Want to explore Downtown Raleigh or another part of the city? You

don’t have to pay the public bus fare. Students can ride public

GoRaleigh buses and GoTriangle buses for free with a GoPass. You can

order a pass online in the summer for just $5, and it’s good for a year.

These 4 GoRaleigh bus routes stop at NC State:

Route 4 Rex Hospital travels between Moore Square Station

downtown and Towne North Shopping Center in North Raleigh.

It’s in service from 4:30 AM to midnight during the week.

Route 11 Avent Ferry travels between Moore Square Station and

Trailwood Hills Drive. It runs from 5:45 AM to 11:30 PM during the

week.

Route 12 Method travels from Moore Square to Meredith

College. It runs from 5:45 AM to 11 PM during the week.

Check the NC State transportation website for more information.

Where to Park At NC State NC State has parking decks, pay lots, Park & Ride lots, and other on-

campus parking options to make your life easier. You can park for free if

you know where to go.

Free Parking: Park & Ride Lots NC State’s Park & Ride lots are free for commuter students. These lots

are further from campus, but have regular Wolfline bus service

between the lots and Main Campus:

The Carter-Finley Park & Ride lot is at Carter-Finley Stadium,

accessible through Gate B on Trinity Road or Gate F on Westchase

Boulevard. Route 6 Carter-Finley travels to this lot and stops on

the main road through the stadium parking lot. If there’s a game

or concert at Carter-Finley or PNC Arena, the Wolfline bus will

take a detour to the lot through Gate A on Trinity Road. The last

bus leaves at 9:54 PM from Scott Hall.

The Food Lion Park & Ride lot is located at the intersection of

Avent Ferry Road and Gorman Street. Parking is only available

along the perimeter wall for this lot, near Greek Way and Avent

Ferry Road in the Food Lion end of the shopping center. Pay

attention to towing signs! Route 9 Gorman Street Local and Route

1 Avent Ferry both travel to this lot. The last Route 9 bus leaves at

9:52 PM from Greek Way, and the last Route 1 bus leaves at 9:55

PM from Greek Way.

Free Parking: After Hours If you have an evening class, you can park for free on campus. Some

parking lots have time restrictions that end at 5 PM on weekdays.

Heads up! Resident parking areas are enforced until midnight Monday

through Thursday and until 5 PM on Friday. Parking is free on weekends

and on official university holidays. Pay lots have 24-hour towing

enforcement.

Parking Permit Options NC State has several parking permits to choose from. On Main Campus,

commuter students can buy a permit for the parking decks and

perimeter parking spaces. You can buy a permit starting in July before

the start of the academic year.

There’s a credit hour requirement for several parking permits, though.

Check the transportation website for details.

Here are all parking permits available for commuter students:

Off-Peak parking permits ($63 per semester) cover Coliseum, Dan

Allen, and West decks at off-peak times: 7-9 AM and 3-5 PM.

There is no credit requirement.

Varsity Lot permits ($115 per year) have no credit requirement.

Perimeter parking permits ($275 per year) have a 24 credit hour

requirement.

West Deck permits ($310 per year) have a 30 credit hour

requirement.

Coliseum Deck permits ($348 per year) have a 75 credit hour

requirement.

Dan Allen Deck permits ($375 per year) have a 100 credit hour

requirement.

Other Places to Park Hourly pay-to-park lots are another option. There are plenty of spaces

on Hillsborough Street (the closest you will ever be able to park near

Tompkins Hall) and within NC State itself.

The Hillsborough Street pay-to-park meters charge $1 per hour and are

enforced on weekdays, 8 AM to 5 PM.

NC State’s pay lots (located in Dan Allen Deck and Coliseum Deck) are

$2 for the first hour and $1 for each additional hour, up to $10 a day.

Pay-by-Space areas (located near the Belltower) are $2 per hour and $1

for each additional half hour.

Both of these university parking options are enforced weekdays

between 7 AM and 5PM. Only debit and credit cards are accepted; no

cash.

Textbooks (Ugh) Textbooks are really expensive. Prices have doubled in the last decade

(Fun fact: Texbook costs have outpaced health care and housing costs.

Yikes.) It costs hundreds of dollars per semester for books and online

access codes. And nothing’s more frustrating than buying a “required”

textbook and never using it in class.

But you can get all your books without breaking the bank. We

recommend skipping the campus bookstore and buying a used copy,

renting your books, or checking them out from the library.

Buying New & Used Textbooks It’s up to you whether you want to buy a new or used textbook. New

books are more expensive, but you can sell them back at the end of the

semester. Used books are cheaper but are not guaranteed to be in

great condition.

If you do want to buy your books, however, the NC State Bookstore

does have a buyback program, where you can sell your books back (for

a lower price) at the end of the year. You can check the buyback prices

of your textbooks at the Bookstore’s buyback lookup page. You could

also sell your books through other buyback services.

Sometimes, though, you can’t avoid buying new textbooks. Some

classes require supplemental materials, like access codes to online

homework. (And, unfortunately, you can’t buy used access codes.)

If you’re going to buy your textbooks, use price comparison sites like

BigWords or TextSurf to find your books.

Renting Your Textbooks If you want a physical copy of a book just for a semester, consider

renting your textbook. You’ll pay less than buying a new copy, and you

won’t have to worry about selling it later.

Borrowing from the Library Did you know DH Hill has current editions of most required textbooks?

At the textbook circulation desk, you can check out the latest version

of the textbook for two hours at a time. If there is an older version

available in the Bookstacks, consider using it for the semester. Most of

the time just the page numbers will be different, and you can check the

book out for a few weeks at a time.

Exchanging Textbooks NC State students have a Textbook Exchange group on Facebook. You

can buy, sell, or trade books with other students for cheap.

Where to Grab a Bite Eating on campus is expensive if you don’t have a meal plan. Buying food from the grocery store is a great way to save money and have the food you want. You can even buy yourself a microwavable meal and heat it up at school—there is a microwave in Talley next to One Earth. If you need a quick bite to eat, there are vending machines in just about every building. Many drinks and snacks in the vending machines are cheaper than at the C-Stores located around campus. But if you’re dying for Chipotle or fast food, there are dozens of restaurants within reasonable walking and driving distance from campus. There are four main places to find a good restaurant near campus: Hillsborough Street (between the Belltower and Rosemary Street), Western Boulevard (between Dan Allen Drive and I-440), Mission Valley shopping center, and Cameron Village shopping center.

This list of restaurants keeps changing, especially on Hillsborough Street with all the new developments. Check out The Student Saver blog for restaurant recommendations and new places coming to campus.

Cameron Village Cameron Village is just a 10-minute walk from the Belltower on the

corner of Oberlin Road and Clark Avenue. It has the nicer restaurants

and coffee shops since it has a cool live-work-play vibe.

RESTAURANT NAME FOOD TYPE PRICE RATING Ajisai Japanese Fusion Japanese $ $

Baskin-Robbins Ice cream & frozen yogurt $ $

Benelux Coffee Coffee & tea $

Brixx Pizza Pizza $ $ Café Carolina and Bakery Sandwiches $

Cameron Bar & Grill Bar & grill $ $

Cantina 18 Tex-Mex $ $

Chick-fil-A Chicken $

Goodberry’s Ice cream & frozen yogurt $

K&W Cafeteria American $

McDonald’s Burgers $

Moe’s Southwest Grill Mexican $

Noodles & Company American $

Piccola Italia Italian $ $

Starbucks Coffee & tea $ $

Sugarland Desserts $ $

Tazza Kitchen American $ $

The Flying Biscuit Café Brunch $ $ Tupelo Honey Café Brunch $ $

Village Deli & Grill Sandwiches $

Village Draft House Bar & grill $ $

Which Wich Sandwiches $

Hillsborough Street Hillsborough Street may as well be NC State’s Main Street. It’s walkable

and where all of the new student apartments are located. These are

just the restaurants located between the Belltower and Rosemary

Street. There are even more choices closer to Meredith College and

Downtown Raleigh.

RESTAURANT NAME FOOD TYPE PRICE RATING Bruegger’s Bagels Bagels $

Checkers Pizza $

Chipotle Mexican $

Crepe Traditions Crepes $

Cup-A-Joe Coffee & tea $

David’s Dumpling & Noodle Bar

Noodles $ $

East Village Grill Bar & grill $ $

Freshberry Ice cream & frozen yogurt

$

Freshii Vegetarian $

Global Village Coffee & tea $

Gonza Tacos Y Tequila Mexican $ $

Groucho’s Deli Sandwiches $

Gumby’s Pizza Pizza $

H Street Kitchen Bar & grill $ $

Hangover Grill Burgers $

I Love NY Pizza Pizza $ IHOP Breakfast $

Insomnia Cookies Cookies $

Jasmin Bistro Mediterranean $

Jersey Mike’s Subs Sandwiches $

RESTAURANT NAME FOOD TYPE PRICE RATING Jimmy John’s Sandwiches $

Jubala Coffee Coffee & tea $

Kabab and Curry Indian $ $

La Rancherita Mexican $ $

Liquid State Coffee & tea $

Marco’s Pizza Pizza $

Mitch’s Tavern Bar & grill $

Oishi Japanese Cuisine Japanese $

Pieology Pizza $

Pizza Hut Pizza $

Players’ Retreat Bar & grill $ $

Reverie: A Coffee Den Coffee & tea $

Shanghai Express Chinese $ Subway (Dan Allen Drive & Belltower)

Sandwiches $

The Golden Dragon Chinese $

WABA Korean $

Wings Over Raleigh Wings $

Zaxby’s Chicken $

Mission Valley These restaurants are located in the Mission Valley shopping center,

which is located at the corner of Western Boulevard and Avent Ferry

Road just across from Main Campus.

RESTAURANT NAME FOOD TYPE PRICE RATING Abyssinia Ethiopian Restaurant

Ethiopian $ $

Ba-Da Wings Wings $

Baja Burrito Mexican $

Bruegger’s Bagels Bagels $

Burger King Burgers $

China Queen Chinese $

Cloos Coney Island Hot dogs $

Cup-A-Joe Coffee & tea $

DP Dough Calzones $

El Cerro Mexican $

Papa John’s Pizza $

Planet Smoothie Smoothies $

Ruckus Pizza and Bar Pizza $

Sammy’s Tap and Grill Bar & grill $

Waffle House Breakfast $

Western Boulevard This area has most of the fast food restaurants closest to NC State. All

of these listed are located on Western Boulevard between Dan Allen

Drive and the I-440 ramp.

RESTAURANT NAME FOOD TYPE PRICE RATING Amedeo’s Italian $ $

Bojangles Chicken $

Cookout Burgers $

Domino’s Pizza Pizza $ $ Dunkin Donuts Donuts $

Greek Fiesta Mediterranean $

McDonald’s Burgers $

Subway Sandwiches $

Taco Bell Mexican $

The Gourmet Factory Italian $ $

Wendy’s Burgers $

Wicked Taco Mexican $

Campus Technology Things happen. You forgot to print your 5-page English paper or your

computer broke and you need to submit something to Moodle. It’s

helpful to know where you can find computers and printers around

campus.

Computer Labs School computers often have the latest software, which you can access

for free as a student. If you can’t make it to a computer lab and you

need the software for a class, you can use Virtual Computing Lab (VCL)

and have remote access to programs like Matlab or Maple anytime.

You can check the OIT website for lab hours.

LOCATION HOURS PCS MACS LINUXES

DH Hill Library, Room 2413

Open during library hours

32 4 0

University College Commons (First Year College Commons), Room 107

24/7 during Fall and Spring semesters

20 2 2

Honors Village Commons, 2nd floor

24/7 during Fall and Spring semesters

10 1 1

Language & Computer Labs, Room 109

24/7 starting 1 PM Sunday through midnight Saturday; 8 AM to 6 PM Saturday

11 1 0

North Residence Hall, Room 119

24/7 during Fall and Spring semesters

14 1 1

Sullivan Residence Hall, Room 103

24/7 during Fall and Spring semesters

11 2 0

Printers If you don’t have your own printer, don’t worry. NC State has plenty

you can use. This year, prices are $0.10 for black-and-white and $0.25

for color print jobs. If you need to use the printers, you’ll first need to

set up an account through WolfPrint.

The money comes out of your AllCampus account, which you can make

deposits into as needed. The AllCampus site charges a fee for making

an online deposit—$0.25 for deposits $10 and under, and $2 for

deposits greater than $10.

NC State printers have a service called FollowMe Printing, which lets

you hold a print job for up to 12 hours. You can release a print job at

any of these publicly available printers around Main Campus.

LOCATION BLACK & WHITE? COLOR? Biltmore/Robertson Hall, Room 3032

Brooks Hall, Rooms 111, 203, 316, and 320

Brooks Hall, Rooms 209 and 305

Broughton Hall, Room 4161

Burlington Nuclear Labs, Room 2114

Dabney Hall, Room 315

Daniels Hall, Room 203 Daniels Hall, Rooms 226 and 243 DH Hill Library, Rooms 1204, 2413, and the Learning Commons

DH Hill Library, Rooms 1132, 1133, 3413, 4413, 5413, 6402, 7402, 8402, and 9402

First Year College (University College Commons), Room 107

LOCATION BLACK & WHITE? COLOR? Fox Science Lab, Room 152 Honors Village, Room 206 Jordan Hall, Rooms 1102, 1111, and 2105a

Kamphoefner Hall, Rooms 200 and 400 Kilgore Hall, Room 123

Language & Computer Labs (Laundry Building), Rooms 109 and 214

Leazar Hall, Rooms 101 and 240

Leazar Hall, Room 300

Mann Hall, Room 320

Nelson Hall, Rooms 1410, 1422, and 4141

Nelson Hall, Room b410

1911 Building, Room 110

Peele Hall, Room 211

LOCATION BLACK & WHITE? COLOR? Poe Hall, Rooms 106, 400, 417, and 420

Poe Hall, Room 422

SAS Hall, Room 2105c

Scott Hall, Room 105

Schaub Food Science Building, Room 108

Talley Student Union, Room 2241

Talley Student Union, Rooms 3115 and 4121

Tompkins Hall, Rooms 110 and g120

Tompkins Hall, Room 113

Weaver Labs, Rooms 122 and 144 Withers Hall, Room 131 Williams Hall, Room 1400 Winston Hall, Rooms 118 and 133

About This Guide

I lived on campus for my first three years of college, but moved home with my parents my last year to save money. I filled up my gas tank once a week and had long breaks in between classes during my eight-hour days. Saving money was difficult for me during my first semester. It was convenient to eat at Talley Student Center for lunch every day with friends who still lived on campus, but it was expensive. I researched any advice and any resources NC State had for commuter students to see if there was something I was missing, helpful tips or even a commuter student group. Finding information took a lot of digging. Since I didn’t find an all-inclusive guide for commuter students, I decided to make my own. This document became a personal project, which I submitted as a final presentation for a technical document design class my fall semester.

Document Design This commuter guide was created and edited by Casey Reep. This document was last updated

on September 4, 2016.

The title page collage and watermark, titled “NC State Visuals,” in this document is a

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