<p>I agree with many others that this would be a low-priority question for me.</p>
<p>But here’s my own answer, anyway. My freshman wouldn’t take a car to college–hers or mine–unless there were a compelling reason to do so. If she went to our state flagship, about 45 minutes from home, but outside the city, I would consider it. But I can’t think if many other circumstances under which I would.</p>
<p>I am inclined to think that the costs and hassles of keeping a car at college are high, that most of the benefits are of a sort that I don’t think actually benefit most freshmen, and that the risks are high. There will likely be much more consumption of alcohol (and perhaps other drugs) at college than at home. And students do lend and borrow cars. When my very responsible brother-in-law was a freshman at Harvard (he wasn’t my brother-in-law yet), he totaled his roommate’s car. I had to go get his sister’s car and retrieve him from the police station in Lincoln, Mass. He was a smart, responsible kid, but he and his roommate both had typical 18-year-old judgment. (I am sure that remark will offend many 18-year-olds, and I am sorry that it will, but it’s exactly what I meant so say.)</p>