Cars and college

Rob Sleeper · #1 08-15-2007, 07:56 AM

Hey everyone,

Just out of curiosity, how important is a car for college? Given the fact that I just have year left in HS, I'm starting the think about these things.

Thanks

Marcus Johnson · #2 08-15-2007, 09:41 AM

Depends on where you're going to school, and how often you're planning on heading home. If I was in the Chicago area, I'd probably skip it.

txstatebass · #3 08-15-2007, 10:34 AM

Here in Tejas, it's almost required. Everything's so spread out. Walking my bass 20 miles to a gig in Austin doesn't sound like fun.

CamMcIntyre · #4 08-15-2007, 02:31 PM

I'm at Roosevelt/CCPA. I leave my car in Indiana. The rare times that it would have been nice are out weighed by the sheer cost of keeping a car in the city [parking alone is a killer]. Public transit goes nearly everywhere i need to go. The only times where i think a car would have been nice is when i'm taking my DB on the busses.

Kam · #5 08-15-2007, 04:17 PM

I wish I could ditch my car...unfortunately I've got a 48 mile one way commute to class..I would try to make it work without one if you can, they just break down and drink gas. One less thing to worry about IMO.

Aaron Saunders · #6 08-16-2007, 11:52 AM

It really depends on what school/city you'll be in.

Last year I was in Toronto, so no, I didn't need it -- extensive transit system covered the whole city. Plus, insuring the car I would've been driving (94 Honda Civic) in the city would've cost a fortune.

This year I'm in Kingston going to Queen's. Kingston (~125K people, as opposed to Toronto's >2mil) is a lot more spread out and the transit system sucks the big one. Insurance isn't bad here at all, and it's only about 30 minutes from where I used to live before I moved out. So yeah, I have the car.

PS: Also, living in rez makes having a car much more complicated as a lot of residences don't plan for student parking. Queen's sure as hell doesn't, the closest place I could park to my classes is literally my own driveway.

Ale · #7 08-16-2007, 01:40 PM

It really depends on where your college is located , and if you have a lot of gigs where you will need the car to transport your bass. Maybe there are good connections with trains and buses in your area and therefore maybe you will not need a car.
The most important factor is probably your gig schedule compared to your financial situation , since having a car also result in high costs. Most of the people i know studying both music or other subjects dont have cars because of the costs , the people who study but still have a lot of gigs have cars.
/A

mcnaire2004 · #8 08-16-2007, 02:47 PM

I am taking my 01 toyota 4runner to college tomorrow. But, then again I have to drive to my lesson, plus my lesson with the university bass professor Scott Ball (he is a dean at another school so I have to drive). Plus, I have to drive to youth symphony rehearsals and other rehearsal. I need my car.