<p>I'll be a junior next year and up until this point, I've been excited about bringing my car up to campus. I applied for a parking permit in mid July and was going to leave it at that.</p>
<p>Then I received my financial aid package, and saw just how expensive next year is going to be, which leads to my question:</p>
<p>Is having access to a car on campus worth the $300-$500 price tag? What do you guys think?</p>
<p>Why do you want a car on campus? Will you be using it to get to a job off campus? Will you be regularly commuting home? Will you be using the car at all? Or will it just be sitting there?</p>
<p>Do you have a real reason for wanting a car or do you just want it around “just in case”?</p>
<p>I survived without mine for the two years I was there and I was someone who all but lived in my car prior to attending UCSC. However, home was also only 100 miles away so I had no issue going home to pick it up over a weekend to have for a week or two when I absolutely needed it. Had I kept it on campus, it would have been an expensive storage as I rarely needed a car. My costs also would have gone up significantly because my insurance was drastically lowered while I was away from home (more than 100 miles away discount) and the cost of gas.</p>
<p>In contrast, I have a friend who brought her car to campus the moment she owned one and could have it. She lives in SoCal and she uses her car to return home for holidays so that her costs are lowered (it was often cheaper for her to drive than to fly as she could share the gas costs with friends) and it was much more convenient to be able to leave on her schedule rather than a flight’s schedule.</p>
<p>If you can answer yourself honestly with a good reason why you need your car (and not just want it), then go ahead. But don’t forget to factor in additional insurance costs and gas as well as general maintenance. It will end up being a lot more than you think.</p>
<p>It’s different for everyone what is best and it will depend on what your individual situation is.</p>
<p>I live in SoCal, so it would be nice to be able to drive myself back, but in the end I decided to not bring my car up as (like you stated) there would be too many other costs to worry about. </p>
<p>I didn’t really think it would be worth the added stress given the fact that I’ve survived two years without a car just fine.</p>
<p>Not to sound crass, but… given the party nature (and long walks to get to some parties which would turn into car usage if a car were available…) of many students and schools, probably it’s best to not bring a car. Arbitrarily speaking, of course.</p>
<p>Even if you are not one of those partaking in the partying/drinking, who’s to say you wouldn’t meet one on the road who is?</p>
<p>Is it too late to buy a perking permit??? I have been debating whether to bring my car or not but now i have finally decided to bring it. the problem is that the porter parking lot (my dorm) is sold out. My choices for parking spaces are OAKES, MERRILL, CROWN, and merrill-crown apartments. Which one is closest to porter??</p>
<p>Oakes is very close to Porter. You’d have to make quite a hike if you pick Crown or Merrill.</p>
<p>Adding to his question: How long would it take to bike to the beach from campus? I surf here in SoCal and I would like to surf up there too, but I don’t want to bring my car.</p>