Our kids got $7 bikes from the police auction that no one wanted to steal. Those lasted them all thru college. Parking and parking tickets are a MAJOR hassle and expenses at many campuses.
It depends. Urban/suburban/rural campus; dorms vs. off campus apartment; part time job or internship and where located; cost of parking; etc. etc. etc. NYU is a different proposition than Iowa State obviously.
My kids had beater cars at school for last two years while living in apartments where there was free/available street or lot parking. Cars were an expense, but then also provided some savings since they were used to get the kid (and gear) from home-school-home and also were used by family when in town visiting.
Sure you can do fine at many campuses with bike, skate board, Uber, public transit and ride bumming. But depending on the set up, cars make sense too.
There is a big difference when a student like @maya54 's is required to have a car for clinicals, or if your student participates in an activity that requires one (e.g. ski team) . Otherwise cars are just a distraction, and it is almost always cheaper to use zipcar, uber or a cab for grocery runs etc.
Lots of schools have Zipcar type services, but the utility of them varies widely from campus to campus. My kid’s school had like three Zipcars for 8,000 undergrads – totally useless. The details on where the cars are located and how many there are makes a big difference.
I think this is a highly individual decision, and doesn’t necessarily set a precedent for your other kids unless you let it.
My oldest was allowed to purchase my old car from us for half the actual value – that was, for us, a reasonable financial compromise. We pay the insurance as long as she’s in school, she pays for gas. Transportation at her (fairly remote) college is poor and this allows her to get around and also to come home. She sees a fair number of medical specialists and making sure she has reliable transportation was more than just “hey, lets go to Target for snacks.”
My youngest is headed to an urban university with great public transportation. No car. No issues. I haven’t heard any bitter accusations about loving his sister more. 
It works for us.
Sounds like you need to have an in-depth family conversation about want vs. need and also reasonable financial ownership. Maybe your kid needs to buy his own, cheaper car. Maybe he really doesn’t need a car. But you can all figure it out together and by the time you’re on to the next kid, unless you just handed over a car to the first one, you just assess again. Good luck!
Cant imagine them not having cars even in highschool. We bot work 50hrs a week and wife travels for work a fair amount.
College that much more so, but I can see tumes qhen you wouldnt all situations are different.
For us I cant see them not having a car.
Three kids away at college.
First kid was 3000 miles away, in snow country, and needed to drive to her internship.
We had to bite the bullet and buy a car. She had to sign a contract with us about care, maintenance, rides, and safety. Fortunately, for us, she has been/was/ very responsible and steadfast about sticking to the contract when dorm mates asked for rides or to borrow the car. She would quote from the contract stating that she did not own the car and was not allowed to do much of anything except go back and forth to work.
** 2nd kid**had clinical assignments and needed a car.
**First kid **was “done with school” and brought car back home to have 2nd kid use car for clinic.
Second kid also had to sign a similar contract.
**[color=red]First kid **walks to work and also has a bike.
Third kid has our 18 yr old Camry. He keeps it at home, most of the time, because the school is in a 'burb, but he does need a car, to get to and from jobs, dr appointments, and inconvenient multiple transfers from trains to buses to trains to get home (4-6 hours) school in a 2hr car ride. He’ll take the car up to school when he knows he has a series of appointments.
Yes, we cover maintenance and insurance, but they cover everything else.
My vote is to let him have a car but devise a contract with him and his siblings to suit your rules.
We didn’t send cars with our kids to college…and somehow they managed.
- If HE has the car...he will likely be giving rides to others. Do you really want that to be the case?
- You need to check a number of things if he actually OWNS the car. First...he will likely need insurance of his own. If you decide he will be registering it in his college state, and getting a driver's license there...he will need to show that he is a resident of that state. Yes...possible. But if he does this...he won't be able to vote in YOUR state...because he is a resident of a different state.
MIKE sure he has sufficient liability insurance.
- If you do decide to let him have the unnecessary, and expensive luxury of having a car in college...I would suggest you keep the car in your name, and let him use it at his college. You will need to talk to YOUR insurance as the car will be garaged in a different state. This might be an issue, and it might not be. As noted...state...and sometimes policy dependent.
- Since he has zipcar available to him...why doesn't he do that?
- My opinion...if he buys the car...he is responsible for everything related to it....insurance, maintenance, gas, registration, every cost. That's the responsibility one bears if they own a car.
“1. If HE has the car…he will likely be giving rides to others. Do you really want that to be the case?”
If he doesn’t have a car, he will likely be bumming rides from others. Do you really want that to be the case?
We have a somewhat similar situation, and were deciding whether to provide D2 a car for sophomore year of college. D1 is at college in a big city with readily available public transportation. She also hates to drive unless absolutely necessary and hasn’t wanted a car.
D2 is finishing her freshman year of college. She is in an area with nearly nonexistent public transportation. No buses, no Uber, no Zipcar. I wish there was something. She gets around on a bike and rides from friends, but was briefly working two jobs while going to school trying to save money for a car. We convinced her to quit one of them and have decided to provide her with one for next year. She would like to have the option of pursuing an internship, but the city with all the opportunities is 20-30 miles away. We had not originally planned to do this, but it seems the right thing now.
None of our kids had their own car in high school, but they drove one of our cars when they needed to get somewhere. DH works long days close to home, so driving dad to work and using his car was usually an option.
I like the Zipcar option for your son, if he just wants a bit more freedom but doesn’t otherwise have need for a car.
My S had a car his last 2 years in college, it was registered in his name and he was able to stay on our insurance policy.
When you are the driver…you fear the liability for any issues that occur while you are driving.
Our kids did occasionally get rides from others…but it was for things like the monthly Costco run forthe house…not for social outings.
So to,answer your question…I would NOT want my kid to have the liability for providing taxi service for others.
“When you are the driver…you fear the liability for any issues that occur while you are driving.”
When you are the passenger, you are at the risk of the consequences of actions that some driver (cabbie, Uber dude, classmate) takes that you have no control over.
Either way, your kid will be riding in a vehicle and be at risk. Whether the kid is safer as a driver or passenger depends on the kid…
: )
We have the same problem…“family car” but it is the last kid who is campaigning for it…sometiems her older sister needs to borrow it but not often. MyDH has a leased sporty car and a job kind of far from home so he needed to use it in winter but doesn’t need it as much in the spring…we usually let her have it if she has a particular need but she is only an hour away from home so it is easy to go back and forth.
She is in an apartment so has to get food…they have a zip car type options as well but she lost the card she needs for that.
Here’s another idea – just make sure all your kids go to the same college; then they can share the “family” car when they are there (ok doesn’t help with the kids not yet in college…). My son’s roommate has an older brother at the same college and the two of them share the “family” car.
Have to know your kids and treat each individually. Who is responsible, who is not (financially and driving wise) ? I would not treat them all the same. If they need and can handle the responsibility, fine. If they don’t really need it and/or have not been responsible, why allow a precedent to override that decision ?
Encourage him to try Uber (and maybe even let him charge it to family credit card, within reason). Kids just don’t understand the total cost of car ownership.
We have three kids each two years apart. We bought a car for D to use as soon as she could get her license, the high school is 45 minute drive each way and she had multiple EC’s. She need a car that she can get a concert grand harp in and out of by herself. She had to take the car to school to transport the harp. We had to buy another car for S1 to uses to get to and from high school and EC’s he will not have any need for a car at the college he plans to attend for the first two years so the car will stay home with S2. S2 will likely attend the same college as S1 so they can share the car for two years. Not sure what we’ll do about cars after that…
Seems to me that the answer is fairly easy. You still need the “family car” for you younger kids. But fortunately your son is a hard worker and willing to pay for a car – he just can’t afford your family SUV. which isn’t for sale anyway. But an SUV can be a hassle for a college student anyway – probably far better for him to get a smaller car that will be easy to park.
When I was a college sophomore – I bought a car for myself and arranged my own insurance. I paid around $300. The car was quite a clunker… but it was good enough for me to use to commute to a summer job. Well before the time I graduated, I decided to get a somewhat better car.
Letting your son figure out his own options and costs, including insurance, is a great life lesson. Tell him you are happy to help him with advice as needed – I know my son used to come to me with a lot of insurance questions, since it’s hard for a newbie to figure out what all the coverage options are and whether they are needed. (For example, no need to buy collision coverage on a klunker, but emergency road service is nice to have).
Insurance companies generally want to know where the car is garaged. But car insurance can be bought online and basically it’s filling out a form – the insurance company isn’t going to be worried about where the kid is registered to vote.
We will provide a vehicle next year for our DD who will be in second year and living in University Apartment. She will need a way to go shop get to jobs, interviews etc. She did not have a car freshman year as with a meal plan and living in dorms she just did not need one. Parking was readily available as well but again she did not need it. Her HS car became DD2’s car to use to get her and DD3 to school and EC’s. WE are going to buy a new (used) car for my wife and hand the 10 year old minivan to DD1 to take to school. they are all 2 years apart so hopefully the 4 cars will cover everyone until all are out of HS. WE cover everything except gas once they are old enough to get a job and when their schedule allows it. All were multi sport athletes and had additional EC that made jobs challenging (choir, band, Cluub sports in off season.) we live in suburban DFW so public transport is non existent and honestly would not accomplish what is needed anyway. I think a car is generally not a winner freshman year but after that unless in an urban type setting or a compact campus setting once you move out of the dorms it becomes a near necessity.