Reasons to take a car to college

"VonBelmont" (jvonbelmont) 01/31/2015 at 00:08 • Filed to: Question time

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So a couple of the colleges I'm looking at offer freshman parking, and my mother absolutely refuses to let me take a car to college. She thinks I'll just use it for "boozing and cruising" like my brothers did, which is seriously something I'd never do. The only things I would use it for would be trips to the store, heading to/from home in case of emergency, or maybe (emphasis on maybe) dropping a friend off at their house before break. I do not have the wild-streak my brothers do, especially when it comes to alcohol and drugs. Believe me, I know.

Like a gun, it would be better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it, and frankly I'm not going to rely on other people or (shudder) buses for transportation.

So, yay/nay on taking a car to college?

Classic Accord and W126 for your time, and probably what I'd save up to take because cheapness and reliability.

Nibby > VonBelmont 01/31/2015 at 00:14

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mm yes euro lamps

Jordan and the Slowrunner, Boomer Intensifies > VonBelmont 01/31/2015 at 00:14

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Pros: It's a lot easier to take your car home, due to a family emergency. You can't just get on the bus and say, "I need you to redirect your path to here, ... miles away!"

Cons: Friends who didn't drive a car to school beg for rides.

Satoshi "Zipang" Katsura > VonBelmont 01/31/2015 at 00:15

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I'd say yay since I had a motorcycle to zip around in/to college. Can't drink.

VonBelmont > Jordan and the Slowrunner, Boomer Intensifies 01/31/2015 at 00:15

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Exactly the point I tried to make, but somehow lost on her.

As for rides, hence why I'd take something uncool to the general public :)

Sam > VonBelmont 01/31/2015 at 00:16

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Let her know that if you do use it for "boozing and cruising" you'll be the one paying the consequences (kicked out of school, losing license, difficult to get a job).

Scary__goongala! > VonBelmont 01/31/2015 at 00:16

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I wouldn't base your final decision for picking a school on if you can bring a car or not. As a freshman I would think you should be eating almost entirely at school dining facilities. Having a car at school is kinda stressful, at least for me it is. Im super concerned about some poor college student hitting my car and driving off while its parked because they are shit heads or don't have the $ to pay for damages. Which is why I don't have it with me at school for now during the winter.

VonBelmont > Scary__goongala! 01/31/2015 at 00:17

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It certainly won't be a deciding factor, but it might play a role. Most of the schools I'm looking at offer it.

bob and john > VonBelmont 01/31/2015 at 00:18

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ohh god. ohhh god.

I'm in this (2nd year, no car) here is how I see it.

I live on campus. So commuting to and from class is walking. no car needed.
trips to the store: I do it once or twice a month. not worth the $ in insurance year round for that
going to parties:

here is the thing: how much are you realistically going to use it? and how much does it cost to insure and keep running? i would LOVE a car up here in thunder bay. but the reality is, i just cant justify it. insurance is too much, gas is expensive here, plus the whole buying a car to begin with.

on top of that. you SAY you will only use it for that. you wont. people will always bum ride off of you. you will get low and want to go for drives. you will end up driving it a lot more then you think.

and remember: a car is an expensive thing to have. and unless your working, (which your shouldnt as a student you should be focusing on school) you ahve no income. having a car on no income...ehh.

I actually kinda vented about it a few months back. you can read it here.


now, if I lived off campus and needed 40 min to walk/bus compared to 10 with a car, thats a different story. then I could justify having the insurance expense and the gas bill. and the up-keep costs.

JGrabowMSt > VonBelmont 01/31/2015 at 00:20

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My parents gave me a choice of my car or a dorm. One or the other, not both. My sisters had all come up with some dumb way to force my parents into allowing them to have a car on campus while dorming, but I certainly won that situation.

I just picked the car. I'd rather commute than deal with a dorm. Drunk, obnoxious people running around at all hours of the night? Fuck that. Relying on anyone other than myself to get my ass around? Nope. Not only that, but where I went to college, the dorm cost would have tripled my tuition for the cheap dorms, and even more for the fancy new ones. I had a fair amount of college fund, but not enough for me to really believe it was a wise decision to dorm. I'll fully admit I had a healthy upper-middle 5 figures for college, no loans, scholarships or grants, but even at that, I paid probably about $9k per semester if I factor in gas, food, books and tuition (I didn't go to that expensive of a school, but colleges aren't cheap either). I was a super senior, but only because I was a transfer student, and my first school screwed me over and forced me into an extra semester, and then screwed me over a second time not sending my transcripts over early enough to transfer into a department, which forced me to take a semester of classes I never needed just so I could secure my spot in the school.

What a disaster...but my vote, car.

Sam > VonBelmont 01/31/2015 at 00:24

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Get a Miata, MR2, or other two seater. Then find something to "haul" somewhere (cardboard box, TV, etc). Boom, no rides.

Scary__goongala! > VonBelmont 01/31/2015 at 00:25

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That is nice though. Most schools don't. When I had my 300TD at school for a little while last year I had to park about 1/2 mile away(this is WV mind you so its all uphill) on a random residential street in front of someone's house. But that whole curb had students' cars parked on it. I left a huge oil spot on the street when I had to replace my oil pan gasket on the spot, still fell kinda bad about that.

bootstrap > VonBelmont 01/31/2015 at 00:31

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Freshman year, there really is no need to have a car on campus. However, if you have a job off campus I can understand the need. Freshman year you should be taking advantage of all the activities available on campus and such.

Axial > Jordan and the Slowrunner, Boomer Intensifies 01/31/2015 at 00:35

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Not if you get a car with only two seats. ;D

Jordan and the Slowrunner, Boomer Intensifies > Sam 01/31/2015 at 00:36

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Even though I was clearly just being an asshole, I used this excuse with my 4Runner. I once told someone my backseats were broke and I needed my front seat for my backpack, as I put my backpack on the backseat. TL;DR, just be an asshole.

Georado > VonBelmont 01/31/2015 at 00:36

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I didn't have a car in college, and I got along fine without one. There was always a friend with one if you needed something. Groups of people would all pile in to go do something on a weekend, and frankly, I was glad it wasn't my car. But during the week, every freshman car sat parked for 5 days.

For your decision, think about the layout of the town. Can you get to restaurants and Target/Walmart on a bike or bus?

VonBelmont > Axial 01/31/2015 at 00:37

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but insurance is higher on 2 sweaters, isn't it?

Axial > VonBelmont 01/31/2015 at 00:46

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Depends on which two-seater you get. Not all of them are Corvettes or Miatas (though Corvettes aren't too bad on insurance since they rarely get wrecked). The CR-X is a two-seater, for example, and so is the Fiero. Neither of those are expensive at all, easy to find sub $4000 being conservative. More aggressive, can find them sub $3000. None of them have airbags, though.

Big Bubba Ray > VonBelmont 01/31/2015 at 00:53

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I don't think a car is really necessary freshman year, but everybody's situation is different. I went to Mizzou my freshman year and I live in St. Louis. It was super easy to hitch a ride with people when I needed a ride home. Beyond that, I would have never used a car.

Pretty much everything you need should be available to you on campus so a car isn't a necessity. One big problem of having a car freshman year is that everybody will try to bum rides from you. Trust me.

Big Bubba Ray > Satoshi "Zipang" Katsura 01/31/2015 at 00:55

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Or a Ruckus! Cheaper than a motorcycle and just as easy to get around on.

bootstrap > Big Bubba Ray 01/31/2015 at 00:55

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Another Mizzou alum! Miz...

Jordan and the Slowrunner, Boomer Intensifies > Axial 01/31/2015 at 00:58

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But I have plenty of room for activities when I want to have a passenger.

BoulderZ > VonBelmont 01/31/2015 at 01:10

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This is all highly dependent on very individual circumstances; however, there are a few hard underpinnings. One, a car (much as I love them) is a huge waste of money. Two, outside of a few basic local routes in real cities, the US makes mobility impossible without a personal car. Three, university is fun but that's a side effect, not the main point or benefit (translation: get in, get a good degree, get out). I had a car for all four years of undergrad. It was probably the right thing, but only barely. Why? My then-highschool-girlfriend-now-wife (18 years married, really?), went to college 4 hours from where I was working on my degree. No busses or trains. I was a six hour drive from my parents' home, also without busses or trains. My car was paid for (I got enough merit scholarships and my parents' handed down their good-condition Toyota pickup), and cheap to insure, maintain, and fuel. Parking was good, secure, and cheap (if not convenient) at my school. All in all, I had compelling reasons to have a car, owned a good and inexpensive one free and clear, and had a university friendly to undergrad car ownership and it was still not an overwhelming slam dunk. Think on it really hard. Like anything as an undergrad (and more so as a grad student), if it's not an incontrovertible necessity, kick it to the curb and don't look back.

Big Bubba Ray > bootstrap 01/31/2015 at 01:10

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Hell ya ZOU! I unfortunately didn't graduate from there though :/ haha

When were you there? I was there 2010-2011

Axial > Jordan and the Slowrunner, Boomer Intensifies 01/31/2015 at 01:13

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Pfff, my car's roomy enough to fit my 80 lb., full-size PC tower and a 27" monitor in its original box with plenty of room to spare. Alternatively, it can easily fit camping gear for two. Or I could sleep in the back. What more could I need? :D

Also, lol, "activities."

Jordan and the Slowrunner, Boomer Intensifies > Axial 01/31/2015 at 01:22

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Bruh

Plus I can go way out in the woods.

ttyymmnn > VonBelmont 01/31/2015 at 01:33

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Don't take a car to college. I'm older than most (48) and I never had a car in college (undergrad). I survived, and you will too. In fact, my college, James Madison, forbade cars for freshmen living in dorms, IIRC. Learn how to ride the bus and bum rides off others. Once you get yourself established, and get your freshman grades in place, think about it for sophomore year. As a freshman, it's merely a distraction.

Axial > Jordan and the Slowrunner, Boomer Intensifies 01/31/2015 at 01:34

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You drive a car into the woods?

Laaaaaaaaame. Hike it, hombre!

Jordan and the Slowrunner, Boomer Intensifies > Axial 01/31/2015 at 01:41

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Nah, hiking is overrated. Besides, I can sleep in this.

Axial > Jordan and the Slowrunner, Boomer Intensifies 01/31/2015 at 01:49

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Then what the heck are you going into the woods for if not to enjoy the woods?

Jordan and the Slowrunner, Boomer Intensifies > Axial 01/31/2015 at 01:51

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You can go farther into the woods to hike farther, or like pretty much everywhere I've been to hike, there is water to fish or animals to hunt.

Axial > Jordan and the Slowrunner, Boomer Intensifies 01/31/2015 at 02:05

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Well, when I go backpacking it's usually longer than a two -day affair. I enjoy the trip to "the spot" more than I enjoy getting to said spot.

Jordaneer, The Mountaineer Man > Scary__goongala! 01/31/2015 at 02:15

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No way in hell am I going to eat at my college dining hall when I go next year, its too expensive, and the food is crap, Granted, I only live about 2 miles from my college that I'm going to go to. so I'm gonna live at home.

promoted by the color red > VonBelmont 01/31/2015 at 02:17

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Yes on the Accord, nay on the W126.

Take either car. Now imagine it covered in bird shit and plant deposits and bake it under the sun. Then imagine your people opening doors into it. Then imagine that you're thirty minutes late for your final so you're driving a bit more aggressively than normal, enough to shake the low oil light on (because it's at the point where it burns oil) a few times. If you're still okay with that then buy the car.

It really depends on how far you'll be living from school. If your dorms are literally thirty feet from the campus (or even across the street) and everything is within walking distance, you should just save your money for an even better car and just spend your money on a bike/skateboard and carshare when you need to.

I got a car sometime during my 5th year as something to get me to job interviews (and later to my job). That car suffered quite a bit of abuse, but meant that I could easily buy things that I couldn't carry on a bike or on a bus - things like toilet paper and bulk croissants. In some ways, car share is a bit better because you don't have to deal with things like failing ignition switches, but you will have time anxiety in the sense that you absolutely must get the car back within a certain time.

Jordan and the Slowrunner, Boomer Intensifies > Axial 01/31/2015 at 02:37

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I like driving off road, it's also the drive there that is enjoyable.

Jordaneer, The Mountaineer Man > VonBelmont 01/31/2015 at 02:41

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Heck yeah, I'm bringing my car to college next year as a freshman, granted I will be living at home, and its a 3 mile journey to the campus, so driving will be the only option, im gonna have to pony up $175 a year for a parking permit, but its a whole lot less than 8 grand a year for a shitty un-air conditioned dorm.

George McNally > VonBelmont 02/08/2015 at 17:50

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Parent of two college graduate kids.......you ain't gonna like this, but when our daughter went to DeSale University for a PA degree.....we didn't let her have a car for her first year. One less distraction for a someone that's 18 years old. Our daughter was/is very mature, but she didn't get the use of a vehicle until her second year of school.

Our son is in college now (he's 21) but he lives at home and commutes to school.