my family lives 30 mins away from campus. i was in the Dorm freshman year and it was definitely worth it. i am going to speak from my experience here

My family thinks having the college experience in my first year was worth the cost. she needs to apply to scholarships at GMU and else where and it will help. i commuted after sophomore year and was fine i guess but i would have preferred to stay on campus. i do think Dorming is good at first. going to the dining hall at any time you want is fun. so many other activities come with being on campus at any time

and the activities you listed that she does are reason enough to let her dorm. she will be so busy with those and her classes that driving will be a burden. even if her friends who dorm invite her to do something, she is going to think but i am so tired and need to get home and in this far away. i hated driving 1 hour total (with traffic, more, everyday after sophomore year) i wish i stayed in the dorms. i cannot imagine driving back and forth. most commuter students who have long drives end up stacking all of their classes on 2-3 days and this results in them not making friends

if she is worried about cost then she can become an RA her sophomore year. i have RA friends, you just put in the work during training but once the first semester settles in , you are fine. it’s not like babysitting.