It’s pretty crazy!
We’re dealing with some of that, too. A great student my son knows had set her hopes on the Air Force Academy and just found out she didn’t get in. So it is off to a very local and struggling college. She’s great and she will make the best of it, but it feels pretty disappointing to her.
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The bike is a tough one for us, too. We’re thinking of buying one second-hand at a local shop once we get there.
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Check to see if the college rents them. My son rented one for $60/semester and it came with a lock. I thought it was well worth it to not haul a bike and then hope it doesn’t get stolen.
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Thanks! Great idea.
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Great idea and I just checked and the school our S24 is planning to go also rents per semester at 75$. We expected rental fee to be high but at this cost, rental makes more sense.
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Renting is a better option as it comes with insurance, most likely. That way you don’t have to worry about bikes getting stolen.
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I just checked WUSTL’s rental program and it looks like it is considerably more expensive than the above. We are driving and I think S24 would likely prefer his own bike anyway, but that was a bit of a disappointment!
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Costco, Target or if you want a cheap one, Facebook Marketplace, etc.
Target has a new 26" Huffy for $129.99 free delivery.
I bought my MBA bike at Target and in the mid 90s and my kid used the same bike at Alabama.
You want a cheap, crappy bike for school - and yes, a lock.
Cheap and crappy - unless the kid is a mountain biker or something - but if it’s just transportation on campus - cheap and junky is fine.
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You and I might, but convincing S24, and just as importantly NiceUnparticularMom, is a whole other question. I note realistically or not, S24 has visions of extended bike rides through Forest Park and such, and he really likes his bike, a Giant Roam (a hybrid style) he got with disc brakes and front shocks. We got it on a clearance sale, so the comparable hybrid-style rental at WashU–which doesn’t have disc brakes or front shocks–has a breakeven of about 3 semesters.
So unless things change, I am pretty sure that thing is going on a bike rack for a cross-country trip. And he has a good lock, and supposedly WUSTL isn’t too bad for bike theft, but we shall see.
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One can certainly choose to bring a more expensive bike to college, but bike theft is super common at many college campuses. So be prepared for it to possibly walk away, never to be seen again, even with a super duper lock on it. Even better if you have a removable seat that you remove & take with you every time you lock it up.
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It’s good that WUSTL isn’t bad for bike theft. That’s how its supposed to be 
We brought S22’s bike to Vanderbilt, going to considerable effort to shove it into the back of the minivan with all his other stuff, only to have him leave it exactly where it started, locked to the bike rack outside his dorm, for the entire year. At least it didn’t get stolen! I just checked and Amherst has a bike share program, so I think that will suffice for S24.
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If the campus is a large one and the kid will be riding daily to class, to her club sport practice several times a week, to get groceries, etc, year-round (California school) as my kid does, a better bike might be appreciated. Freshman year, D21 brought my old hybrid bike that I never ride anymore. It’s an older bike so doesn’t look fancy, but rides well, and we had it tuned up before she left for college. She uses a heavy duty u-lock and has never had a problem with theft these past 3 years, even on a large campus with many thousands of students and bikes. She’s glad she has the nicer-riding bike.
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Some campuses have more of a bike culture than others. My daughter who’s a college junior has ridden her bike nearly every day for the past 3 years, even though she’s had her car on campus for the past year and a half. Biking is the fastest and easiest way for her to get around. That said, D24’s college (SLAC with smallish, very walkable campus) has a 90 minutes per day free bike share program and we’re thinking that may be the best option for her, at least to start freshman year.
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yes, to be fair, I would have been worried constantly if he’d been riding his bike regularly on the streets of Nashville! But before he left he was very worried about how far the first year dorms are from the music school, so he brought the bike
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Street riding in a city can be dangerous for sure. Even on the bike-friendly campuses, kids don’t really wear helmets and there are often collisions with bikes, pedestrians and cars. Ah, youth 
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Even money we are about to do the exact same thing.
One would think!
I note what I have read suggests it might be a different story if you live off campus, so we can reassess if that becomes an issue for S24. But he has had his bike on a campus before (for a six-week summer program), and he gets the drill with registering with campus police and properly using his lock.
This is definitely my S24’s vision, and the other 50% chance is he is right!
Honestly I don’t mind giving him the option, as long as he keeps being safe.
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Fun discussion! There were two campuses D24 eyed and thought BIKE. One because her major building was far from housing, and the other a HUUUUUGE campus that was clearly bike friendly with dedicated bike lanes & signage.
D24 hasn’t indicated she would need one at VT, but they have Gobbler Gears (yes they lean into it, allll the way in) if she changes her mind.
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Just wanted to follow up on yesterday’s commitment freak out. Kid committed to Harvey Mudd College at, like, 10:46 pm. I feel as though a moment of clarity descended for him…just in the nick of time.
Thanks for ”listening” to me kvetch about our non-problem!
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