Macalester has an insanely good location for walkable restaurants and such plus easy public transportation around the Twin Cities.
Rochester’s River (Main) Campus is in a very nice setting but actually not really all that well-located for walkable amenities, but they have an extremely well-organized shuttle system that definitely eliminates the need for a car.
I think of it this way: if we’re curating a long list of schools, there are a bunch of variables to consider that would make those schools more or less desirable for my particular kid. This question was inspired by my conversation with a Rhodes mom at church yesterday, as well as a visceral memory of how lazy one can be in college about running practical errands (especially when it’s cold). 
Well…if having a car on campus is important to your student and you wish to do that, then just look at schools where this is allowed. Other things I would look at:
Honestly, if a family decides having a car is something they want for their students, that is fine.
I am not sure this would be a top criteria for my kids, but it could be for yours.
With Amazon and delivery, my kids really did not do a lot of errands requiring a car. And now there is also Uber and Lyft. My kids used zip cars.
Ah, you misunderstood me. It is important that it be safe and convenient to get places without needing a car…be that on foot, on bike, or in shuttle.
I can’t say definitively that we would never get our son a car while he’s in college but it’s not our preference. So that’s a plus for places like Oberlin or Dickinson (as described above).
Fwiw, my kid had a car at school after freshman year. Because the parking was far away and the shuttle to town was frequent and close, the car only was used for longer excursions.
I had a car (way back when, at a school not on your list) and parking was also distant and inconvenient, so again, while students had cars, there were disincentives to casual use.
You probably know this, but Princeton set the bar ridiculously high for you in this category.
I think that is possible almost anywhere. I’m going to guess that most residential college students do not have cars.
Not just in this category! 
I think it’s a great question / scenario.
You don’t want to be at - Elon - for example - which isn’t near much but a strip.
A car is an unnecessary expense and diversion (you can leave campus) and your kid doesn’t drive and there’s no reason that is forced.
So not on your list but in the same vein - would be Kalamazoo. I just keep thinking of more urban schools or those that have things nearby.
I tend to think kids can survive without cars - and either Uber/Lyft, school transports, public, or friends. I’m not a fan of borrowing cars. I told my son - absolutely not in lending it out and I’m surprised people would ask - it’s just asking for trouble.
I hope your student is able to find a campus that works for them - and it’s really not just about the car, but is it in society of some sort…
The list you gave up top is really long - so check each on their websites, and I bet you get great info!! I’d think , but can’t say fit sure, that an Occidental could work. It’s near Eagle Rock which has a lot going on.
Good luck exploring your list.
I can tell you about a few of these schools.
My daughter goes to Bates and does not have a car, but many of her friends do, and she catches rides with them (and, yes, fills their tanks every so often). There is a college shuttle that can take students around Lewiston/Auburn – to various stops including big box stores, etc., and that works pretty well (my daughter took it to and from her volunteer job last semester, and for Target runs, etc.). I think there has been, in the past, college-sponsored shuttles to the transportation center and airport in Portland, but I think those fell victim to budget cuts – hopefully they will be back. There is also a bus that leaves campus a couple of times a day for Boston Logan. If your kid goes to Bates, the parent Facebook chat will give you suggestions for a couple of highly trusted cab services that serve Portland, and we’ve used those a few times, too. My daughter would certainly like to have a car, but her existing car is on its last legs (definitely not safe to drive it from Colorado to Maine and back!), a new one will be too expensive (for us and her), and in the meantime, she can survive without it.
We’ve visited Vassar, Conn College, Wesleyan, Oxy, Skidmore, and the Claremont schools. All but Conn College and Skidmore are accessible to a walkable town or public transportation. If memory serves, Skidmore is not far from downtown Saratoga Springs, but it would be a bit of a hike on foot (I could be wrong) – I don’t know if they provide shuttles. With Conn College, you would have to Uber (or something) to New London, and the school does provide vouchers (a few per month). I grew up in LA, and of course anyone in SoCal would want a car, but Oxy and the Claremont schools are workable without one – between public transportation and friends with cars, a student without one should be fine.
I’ve lived in Connecticut, and I loved exploring the area (did a lot of hiking, for example), for which I needed a car. However – that was after college, so my needs were different. I think that for the kinds of outings college students are likely to go on, campus shuttles and public transportation will be all they’ll need.
I have not visited Macalester, but I know you really don’t need a car there – light rail is right there, and there’s a walkable restaurant/retail neighborhood nearby.
So look at campus parking policies (often, first-years cannot have cars), and look at campus transportation assistance (school-sponsored shuttles, vouchers, etc.), and typical transportation choices to and from airports and bus/train stations.
I know Denison best. My son was there for four years without a car, and it was not at all a problem. The village of Granville is just off campus and has everything the students need for daily life. The school also runs shuttles a couple of times a week to Newark/Heath, a larger area about ten minutes away where there is a Target, a Walmart, etc., as well as to the enormous Easton shopping mall about 20 minutes away. Of course, many students do have cars, and my son also had friends and teammates with cars. Of the other schools you mention, Conn College seemed surprisingly isolated to us - nothing within walking distance, although maybe the schools run shuttles into town. Kenyon has a small shopping and dining area right off campus, although quite a bit more limited than Granville. Kenyon and Conn both came off my son’s list at the end in part because of their locations. Bates and Oxy seemed quite livable without a car. Bates is right in Lewiston and Oxy has things in the immediate area as well as good access to LA via public transport. The area around the Claremont colleges has a lot of shops and restaurants, certainly viable for daily life without a car, but the schools still felt isolated to us being out in the middle of the Inland Empire. We also visited Colorado College, but I honestly can’t remember anything except the mountain views! (Last stop in a cross-country tour.)
This is a great question to ask on a tour, btw. While you’ll get the tour guide’s personal experience (which may or may not be representative), it’s sort of a gateway question to lots of other things, like what happens off campus, when and how often, how, who, etc.
My kid at Elon didnt have a car and was just fine.
may be fine - each kid is different. Some don’t leave. Some have friends or take shuttles they offer. Some uber.
I was just noting - OP is looking for walkable and other than the one small block, a school like that doesn’t have.
It’s a fine school - but OP is trying to find schools not like that. I was just using compare / contrast.
Anyway, @Shelby_Balik seems to have a great feel for most of these. I was surprised to read about most having cars at Bates.
I’m trying to remember about Bowdoin, where I walked 18 months ago. I know we ate breakfast not too far from there but trying to remember if anything was in the nearby vicinity.
That’s really what OP seeks/needs/desires I think…substantial adjacent offerings.
Ditto re: Oberlin. My S22 is there with no car and has not asked to bring his car. He has a bike for going to the grocery store or pharmacy (about 1-2 miles away) and also borrows cars from friends when he wants to go a bit further for shopping or dinners. There is a shuttle for shopping and to Cleveland and the town has two electric cars that they can rent, as long as they have had a drivers’ license for at least two years, so I agree that at least having a license is a benefit.
My D graduated from Lafayette (loved it). No car needed. My D took a car senior year but it wasn’t necessary. ETA: Plenty of restsurants etc. that are easily walkable from campus.
Many colleges have vans that go i to town, to nearby malls, movie theaters, etc. Plus kids can always split an Uber if they need to get off-campus.
I don’t know if most do – but it seems as if most of my daughter’s friends have cars. Small sample size, though, and most of them come from the Northeast, so it would be easy for them to bring cars to campus.
That’s a good point. Many universities have Zip cars or other rentals accessible if a student needs a car temporarily. A license is necessary, of course.
At Bowdoin it is easy to walk to a grocery store, pharmacy, a number of restaurants and coffee shops, and some small shops. I went to Bowdoin (a long time ago) and did not have a car, which was common. Even my friends with cars tended to use them more for the occasional excursion and to travel home than for any day-to-day needs. Back then, shopping for clothes or any Walmart/Target type items was tricky because these stores were only accessible by car. But now there is a train that goes to Freeport and Portland and is easily accessible from campus. There are also airport shuttles and buses to Boston. So while a car could certainly be fun for exploring Maine, it is not at all necessary.
Indeed. According to Google Maps, Grand Ave runs east-to-west just south of a couple of the dorms at the northern end of campus and about a quarter-mile north of the ball fields at the southern end of campus – so portions of this road are literally on campus. I hit the little Restaurants icon, and up popped several on or bordering campus: middle eastern, thai, vietnamese, pizza, and burger restaurants… Dunn Bros coffee… and Nothing Bundt Cakes. Not too shabby.