@anon87843660
I didn’t say “have to drive others around”.
If your kid has car, they will likely shuttle their friends to places where a car is needed to get there…
Is that what you want?
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To me, it was a continuation of the discussion first started in HS “Never get into a car driven by someone who has been drinking. Call me. Even if it’s 2 am, I will come get you”. Except once they get to college, if they have friends with cars it becomes “Call a taxi. Get an Uber. I will not question the expense”.
So many tragedies involving college kids and a “buzzed” driver (as in “he only had two beers” buzzed). YOU saw him drink two beers. But he’d been pre-gaming since 6 pm. Or he drank two beers plus whatever “party drug” you didn’t see. Etc.
Mercifully, my kids were at colleges where owning and parking a car were prohibitively expensive!
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My kid at the rural campus had a friend who had an old pickup. A group were going to the movies and to all fit two would have to sit in the bed of the truck. My kid was not only like no way am I doing it, but no way is anybody! It worked out amicably with no one getting in the bed of the truck, but yes, cars at college can mean bad decisions.
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For freshman, most colleges don’t allow cars (or have expensive, inconvenient parking). Usually where there is a need to go a long ways across campus there are shuttle busses. Plus walking/exercise is an excellent way to counteract academic pressures.
If a student later chooses to live off campus, having a car may be needed. But… it may make finding an apartment harder due the need fof parking. Decide year by year.
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My kid had tanks and humvees in college. Cars were not allowed for Plebes (freshman).
No reason for students to have cars on most campuses, especially freshman, and as noted above, many colleges disallow them until upper years. The OP can safely let this concern go.
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Uber app
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My freshman will pack his car up next week and drive the 500+ miles home for the summer. He drove home for Thanksgiving, winter break and spring break. He hasn’t had any issues, and has no problem telling friends no when they ask him to drive. If I couldn’t trust my son to have a car I likely couldn’t trust him to live on a campus so far away.
Our city still chalks. My work parking lot is 2 hours and they go out and chalk each morning and afternoon to check.
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We went on a tour of a college and this question came up. The student tour guide was the one who said NOT to have a car as a freshman.
The tour guide said that other freshmen will wake you up in the middle of the night begging to borrow your car. And when they bring it back, the gas tank will be empty.
So, if you don’t need sleep and have lots of extra money, bring a car to campus.
My son had a car his sophomore year as he had moved a distance off campus. Parking passes were a “license to hunt” for a parking spot as they sold more passes than there were parking spots.
My daughter also moved off campus (different school) after her freshman year but was close enough that she never brought a car to college. The grocery store was down the street as was the laundromat.
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Yeah. I had no issues with my 16&19 year old driving halfway across the country together to move older S into his apartment for his internship.
Neither of mine every said anything bad about having a car. If they had to drive someone around, either they said no or didn’t care. They never mentioned it to me. Parking for younger S could be a PITA, but that’s part of growing up too. Learning about time management to figure out parking. Or just schedule 8am classes when it’s not an issue. Ha! (That’s what I did in school, but I preferred 8am classes)
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It’s that time of the year when parents are furious because they get tickets picking up their kids for move out, falsely thinking parking enforcement will be more lenient when in fact a lot of revenue is being generated. I’ve had kids on all types of campuses, parking tickets are frequent, as well as tows, there isn’t enough parking, many off campus students are late for classes every fall until they realize they need to leave an hour early or park remotely and take a shuttle. Those with cars are either the driver or the lender. I bought a car my junior year, dorm parking was a 15 minute walk. I bought a 2 seater, best idea.
My parents lived overseas while I was in college, so I had a car to visit grandparents, get to the airport etc. It was a royal pain having a car on a college campus. I had to get a job at Baskin Robbins to pay all my parking tickets!
Once, I parked in the football stadium lot on a Friday. I went back on Monday and my car was gone! Reported it stolen to the campus police, who asked where I parked it, and patiently explained that it had been towed due to a home football game. Apparently, there were “no parking” signs, but I didn’t see them. I would have been much better off just having my bike!
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One daughter is at Clemson, where a lot who live in dorms have to move their vehicles somewhere else during home games.
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Our kid is not going to have a car freshman year at college. Don’t send your kid off with a car just because of perceived peer pressure.
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My son really really wants a car.
My sister told him she’d give him her car.
But I think it’s better not to have a car on campus as a freshman. He really doesn’t NEED one… there are free buses, there’s Uber, Zipcar, and reasonably priced airport shuttles, and anyway it’s a small town where you can pretty much walk / bike anywhere.
I told him he can only have the car if he gets an on campus parking permit (there are very few issued to freshmen).
I still remember my freshman college boyfriend borrowing his roommate’s car for various ill-fated adventures … 
I was wondering if this was going to be one of the threads where it might show a decided CC skew (i.e. 95% of high school kids don’t have the stats and desire to attend “elite” colleges that the majority of posters here seem to have). Well, the answer is NOPE! Whether one is attending No Name University or Big Name University, it appears as though the answer is the same: no cars needed (and rarely desirable).
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I think it depends on the school and the child. At UChicago, my daughter relied on public transportation and ride shares. For her, a car on campus would have been WAY more hassle than it was worth. However, my son has had a car at Davidson since the beginning of 2nd year, and the freedom it has given him has made all the difference with his quality of life. Davidson has plenty of parking on campus for the students with a large overflow lot on the edge of campus. He only drives it a couple times a week to the Harris Teeter, the Lake Campus and maybe a late night food run with friends or the occasional night out in Charlotte. And he’s driven it for the occasional road trip or trip home. He says even though he doesn’t drive it that often, just knowing he can get off campus whenever he wants gives him a sense of freedom that he didn’t have his freshman year when he said he felt trapped on campus (especially in the midst of covid). Yes, his friends have asked for rides but he’s been happy to oblige when he can. He even took another student that he didn’t know well to the emergency room one night. Now that young woman is one of his best friends.
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At many Boston area colleges, the parking fee for on campus parking is about half a semester’s tuition!
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And for kicks and giggles, ask your insurance agent what it costs to insure the car belonging to a 19 year old male which is parked in Boston every night… there goes the OTHER half of a semester’s tuition! And my kid had a perfect driving record!
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Actually…also ask your insurance folks about the “away at school” thing they offer. Some of these are VERY generous!
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