Students who wish to have a car with them while attending college are finding the going more and more difficult as colleges across the nation. Some schools have a blanket ban — forbidding all freshmen students from having cars on campus — while others are using various enticements to discourage students from bringing their cars from home.

Schools With Restricted Or Banned Parking

At the University of Miami (FL), incoming freshmen can bring a number of personal items with them to school including a laptop, gameboy, and other electronic devices, but the school now forbids freshmen from bringing their car.  The school provides bicycles for rent and touts Zipcar, a private company that rents cars to college students as ways for students to get around.

Bowdoin College in Brunswick, ME also bans first year students from having a car while attending school. The school admits that they want to improve the college’s environmental image with Dean of Student Affairs Tim Foster explaining that the decision was specifically designed to make Bowdoin greener.

The University of New England has yet to ban cars from campus but they are offering freshmen free use of bikes to help them get around. At the same time, the school jacked up the parking fee for freshmen from $80 per academic year to a whopping $300. Like many other colleges and universities across the US, the company has made arrangements with Zipcars to provide transportation options for those students still wanting access to a car.

In Wisconsin, Ripon College has offered a nice incentive to freshmen students who agree not to drive to school: the college provides a brand-new Trek 820 mountain bike, a Trek Vapor helmet and a Master Lock U-Lock - all to keep - if they pledged to leave their cars at home. I’m not sure how that works in a long and tough Wisconsin winter, but Ripon’s plan seems to be the most generous one out there.

One way to reward good academic progress is to give the right of having a car on campus only to those students who have good grades. In 2006, North Carolina A&T University issued a blanket driving ban to incoming freshmen, but promised to lift that ban for the Spring semester for students with a 3.2 or better GPA. The Greensboro school long had a problem with providing enough spaces for students to park on its urban campus.

Are Schools Going Too Far?

Although colleges and universities can basically set whatever policies they choose when it comes to their students, the difficulties and safety issues for some remains a concern. Foul weather can hamper bike riding while leaving campus at night can put students in danger, especially female undergrads who need the safety of their car for transportation to and from campus.

Finally, though not having a car on campus isn’t a hardship for some, colleges could unwittingly pull the welcome mat back from those students who insist on having a car with them. After all, if you pay $20,000 yearly for school, there is a certain level of convenience that you expect to have, resulting in some students going elsewhere for their academic pursuits.

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Tags: bicycles, bikes, Campus Cars, college freshmen, Zipcar

We all know that car theft remains a persistent problem, an issue that overwhelms some police departments particularly in urban areas. For college students who must rely on personal transportation, having a car on hand is convenient, but is fraught with risks. Finding parking can be a challenge, paying for gas and upkeep gets expensive, and securing your ride from thieves can be daunting.

That old 1994 Nissan Sentra your mother handed down to you when she bought herself a new car may not seem like something that thieves would want, but a survey by the National Insurance Crime Bureau (NCIB) reveals that a ‘94 Sentra is a favorite for thieves. The reason? Not for its value as a complete car, rather for the worth of its individual parts.

For the past two years the most stolen vehicles in the nation were:

  2007 Ranking                   2006 Ranking

1. 1995 Honda Civic                    1. 1995 Honda Civic

2. 1991 Honda Accord                   2. 1991 Honda Accord

3. 1989 Toyota Camry                   3. 1989 Toyota Camry

4. 1997 Ford F-150 Series Pickup       4. 1997 Ford F-150 Series Pickup

5. 1994 Chevrolet C/K 1500 Pickup      5. 2005 Dodge Ram Pickup

6. 1994 Acura Integra                  6. 1994 Chevrolet C/K 1500 Pickup

7. 2004 Dodge Ram Pickup               7. 1994 Nissan Sentra

8. 1994 Nissan Sentra                  8. 1994 Dodge Caravan

9. 1988 Toyota Pickup                  9. 1994 Saturn SL

10. 2007 Toyota Corolla                10. 1990 Acura Integra

The NICB study (HotWheels 2008) confirms that theft of older model vehicles has remained constant for the past several years. Thieves continue to target these vehicles because they provide the best market for stolen vehicle parts.

But the news isn’t completely grim when it comes to car theft. The FBI’s preliminary Uniform Crime Report (UCR) data shows that motor vehicle theft is headed for an 8.9% decrease in 2007; that data will be finalized later this year.

The NICB advises that all motorists consider employing several methods to combat car theft from the commonsensical (lock your car doors and take the keys with you) to the more aggressive which includes installing warning and tracking devices, even an immobilizing device which would prevent someone from starting it.

Students who live on campus should contact their school’s security force to find out which lots on campus are the most vulnerable for car theft. For students living off campus, a call to the local police department should reveal which neighborhoods are particularly at risk.

(Source: http://www.nicb.org)

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Tags: automotive financing, Campus Cars, car protection, car theft, used cars