my son will be a freshman starting the fall semester at UF. He wants to take his car with him to Gainesville. He’ll be living on campus, but not sure where since housing has not been assigned yet. His housing application date was late November so he won’t have top priority for choosing his dorm.
My question is where the assigned parking lots are for freshman residential students. I looked at the campus parking map on the UF website but its hard to decipher.
Also I’m not too thrilled with him taking the car, since I think he’ll just become a taxi for his friends to drive them around town. Living on campus, I don’t think he would need a car very often and he could take the bus or use Uber if needs to go to a store. But, having a car will make it easier for him to come home on weekends when he wants to; although he could also use the Red Coach for that.
Your son would have a red 3 decal - most of those are nowhere near dorms. Most likely the car wouldn’t move at all during the week and maybe some on the weekends. http://parking.ufl.edu/parking-at-uf/parking-map/
Back in the Stone Age when I went to UF, I had a handicapped permit, lived off-campus, and still could never find a spot - I would leave for class an hour early just to circle various lots and wait for someone to leave. Your instincts are right. Your son will almost never use the car; leave it home.
Freshman parking is no where close. But it is nice to have a car available to come home on weekends or go out on occasion. (although don’t count on many weekends home other than holidays).
For the most part, a freshman car will remain parked since other means of transportation–buses, walking, biking will just be more convenient in the long run.
It’s more convenient to have the car AT the campus when you DO need it, than to have it at home. I suspect if taking the Red Coach is the only option, he would opt to not come home.
My son lived on campus his freshman year and had a car. It wasn’t too difficult and made things very convenient if he needed anything. If you have a lot to unload after a trip home or to Target, you can temporarily park at your dorm to unload and then park in the parking lot. He says having a car helped him meet more people ( so yes, I guess he was giving friends of friends rides!) Lots of trips to movies and out to eat which were a nice change of pace from campus.
My new Gator daughter will be taking her car in the fall
I would definitely recommend having a car on campus. Parking decals are only $80/semester, and UF students living on-campus don’t really use their cars unless they are going somewhere around Gainesville or to go home. It’s also more convenient to go to the store and buy groceries, rather than having to wait for the bus and only buying so much that you can carry with two hands rather than having the extra storage of a car trunk. As for ferrying friends around, most kids will pay the driver (their friend) for the cost of gas burned, be it $5 or so. It’s a lot less stressful than having to wait for the city bus to go somewhere in Gainesville and having to rely on RedCoach to get home, which I’ve heard horror stories about–kids going to the wrong location and RedCoach already departed, etc.
