Bringing a Car Freshman Year

Colleges and Universities A-Z Tulane University
1

Hello there.
I have chosen to do full time dual enrollment for my last year of high school here in Florida. I will graduate with around 45 credit hours of community college classes on my transcript in addition to my high school requirements. While this sounds like an amazing opportunity (which, it is), my parents decided that because there was no school bus to take me to school that I had to figure out a way to get to class. Attending multiple campuses all around the county is difficult, living in a rural area where the only efficient and practical mode of transportation is the expressway makes it worse.
That is how I ended up leasing my first car at 17.

So now I face the problem that in a year, I’m heading to college. Most colleges (Tulane included, to my understanding) don’t allow freshman to have cars. I also face the problem that I can’t really get rid of my car, because I still have three-and-a-half years of payments left, and there is no way I could leave it at home (even if I left it at home and made the payments, they wouldn’t let me. They can’t wait to get rid of me, that would only further compound problems).

However, with my grades and academic achievements and extracurriculars, I feel there is a good chance I could get into the honors program (at least, that is my goal).

My question is, due to the circumstances, is there any way I’d be able to do it? Tulane is my second choice school only because of distance, but I know that some schools have programs where freshman students accepted into the honors program are exempt from the rule, etc.

Any information is helpful. And there is a very good chance that Tulane is where I’ll be a year from today, so Tulane-specific answers are greatly appreciated.

Thanks so much!!

2

No exception for honors students. You would have to have an extraordinary reason, like a medical condition that required you to see a doctor often, to get an exception. However, I have heard that students park near campus where there is street parking. Not sure how difficult this is. Another thing you could look into is if there is a parking garage where you could keep it. I know there is not one near campus, but maybe there is someplace that is accessible from the streetcar. The last thing I can think of is you could put something in Craig’s List or whatever and see if someone that lives in the area might have an open parking space at their house. Long shot but you never know. Lots of students that live off campus don’t have cars, so they might be willing to let you park there for a small fee that lowers their rent a little.

3

Parking around campus is very bad. First off there is a lot of permit only parking for residents only. Another huge problem is street flooding when it rains. I have several friends in that area that have to run and move their vehicles when it rains, sometimes the water is knee deep.
But you’re putting the cart before the horse, apply first, see if you are accepted and go from there. Also you need to be aware Tulane does not accept credits from Community Colleges.

4

Why don’t you see if you can get someone to take over your lease? Have you tried posting on Craigs LIst or auto trader? It seems like a big financial burden if you don’t really need the use of a car.

5

Most leases allow you to have someone else take over your car lease. Like most things these days, pretty easy to do over the internet. Usually less expensive than doing an early termination of your lease.