The three- to four-hour round trip train rides that Daniel Garcia makes daily from his home in Round Lake to classes at the Illinois Institute of Technology are adding up.

Factor in bus and El transfers, and Garcia spends five hours each day commuting to and from school.

Garcia is a sophomore materials engineering major at IIT. When he started classes there a year ago, his parents lived much closer to campus, but since moving to Round Lake, which is about 10 miles south of the Wisconsin border, his transportation costs have soared.

His fares on Metra’s Milwaukee District North line add up to $170 per month and he, like many students who commute to colleges and universities in Chicago, could use a break.

A coalition of students from several colleges in Chicago is trying to help by lobbying for legislation that would give their peers who commute a discount on Metra fares – 40 percent or more, depending on how far they ride on Metra’s rails.

In Garcia’s case, a regularly priced 10-ride pass would cost him more than $50; a pass with a student discount would be just $30.

But the student discounts first need to cross a formidable hurdle: a committee in the state legislature where the plan has been stalled since April. The bill hasn’t been amended yet to include the discount, but the group thinks it could move out of a committee and come up for a vote in the Legislature by February.

The group, the Coalition of Chicago Colleges, is entirely student-operated. It made Metra discounts one of its first priorities when it was created in February, pulling together student government representatives from many of the colleges in Chicago.

Anthony Catalano, a sophomore economics student at Loyola, said the group hasn't worked on the discounts in recent months, but he said the issue is still an important one for many students.

"I don’t see how any student, especially a commuter for that matter, would not be interested in trying to receive any kind of a discount," he says.

Catalano's parents live in the suburbs and he travels back home most weekends. He currently pays about $40 for a 10-ride pass. With a discount, he says he would only pay about $20.

Currently, Metra gives discounted 10-ride passes to elementary and high school students. “Student” isn’t clearly defined, though, and the coalition of students hopes to amend legislation already in a legislative committee that would make the term apply to college students.

Garcia points out that younger students don’t have a need to use Metra much, especially if they’re in public schools where transportation is likely provided.

“The only people that would benefit who are in grade school or high school are private school students,” Garcia says.

Since the cost of discounted Metra fares is reimbursed from state funds, extending the discount to college students wouldn’t cost the transit agency anything, says Garcia, who has been following the issue closely.

So far, Metra hasn’t seen the proposal, says Meg Reile, a spokeswoman for the agency. She said Metra doesn’t yet have a formal position on the issue.

“If the legislature passes something like that, we would comply, but as far as having an opinion on it, not really,” Reile says.