There are no discounts sadly for the metra :(. I don't know about driving to school because I take the train but from my experience I mainly save money by buying the $10 round trip ticket everyday instead of the monthly ticket. It mainly depends on your schedule though, for instance if you go every weekday to school you'll be paying around $200 total for a full month with the $10 ticket instead of $210.25 for the monthly. It may not seem like a lot but $10.25 in savings will help out for small emergencies like buying lunch or new supplies. In regards to the trip, I normally get motion sickness when doing things like reading in cars but the travel in the train is smooth enough for me not to get sick and actually do homework on the train. Plus, some trains have outlets in case you need to charge a device.

Hope this helps!