When I was touring colleges with my son the question of cars for freshmen came up a lot. Just about all the student tour guides gave the same answer: that freshmen shouldn’t have cars. That was even for colleges that allowed freshmen to have cars.
The reason for their response was that most freshmen don’t have cars. Since freshmen associate mostly with other freshmen, those with cars become very popular to those without cars. The withouts will want to borrow a car or be driven somewhere. That will occur any time of day or night. And the withouts never seem to have gas money. So, to have a car on campus is to be the equivalent of a 24 hour free car rental agency.
My son didn’t have a car freshman year but did the rest of his time in college. By the time he was a sophomore, enough classmates had cars as not be an issue.
These times are different but how much has changed in respect to freshmen and cars is yet to be seen.