What's the meaning of we’re just a number?

[tulipflower]

It’s just the opposite at BC, according to Blackmore. “BC students and faculty are like one big happy family,” she says. “There is a real sense of team spirit. It’s like we’re all in this together. Going to school here is a lifestyle, whereas at home we’re just a number. We attend school to get a degree so we can graduate, get a job, and get on with our lives.

What's the meaning of 'whereas at home we’re just a number.'?

Extracted from 'Select Readings', Intermediate level, Chapter 6, Lines 52-56

 

[Barque]

By "home", I guess she means the school (college probably, since she refers to getting a degree) they would have attended in their hometowns if they hadn't come to BC. Perhaps BC refers to (university of) British Columbia?

She means that at school in their hometowns, a student would have been treated as just another roll number on the list of students. There would have been no personal interest taken in them and school wouldn't have give them a sense of togetherness of the sort BC seems to have given them. They'd just have gone to school and got a degree, and not enjoyed it as they seem to be doing at BC.