Your Car is Your Friend

Even in these days of insane gasoline prices, many freshmen commute. Think of your car as an educational device, and make it part of your college strategy.

• If you have a choice which car to drive to school (or if you're buying one for commuting), go for substance, not style. You want the gray Toyota Corolla, not the pimped-out ride. People steal things from the pimped-out rides. People back into your car in the lot. Probably the worst choice for a commuter car is the refugee from the Monster Truck Rally. A nine-foot-tall four wheel drive truck with off road lights, tires two feet wide, and a total length approaching 30 feet simply won't fit into most university parking.
• The university cops really do mean every word they say, especially when they write parking regulations. They really will put a boot on your car if you don't have a sticker. They really will charge $300 to take it off.
• Even if you have a rusted out beater car, take it to a mechanic and make sure it will start on a cold morning. Buy that new battery.
• Learn to drive on snow.
• You really do need tread on your tires, especially in bad weather.
  
• Learn to drive in a parking garage. No, the speed limit isn't 40 mph.
• Stock your car with spare stuff: pens, spiral notebooks, an energy bar. Some morning, you'll forget to put those things in your back pack.
• Leave home early. Allow extra time.
• Buy gas on the way home. You won't have time in the morning.
  
• No, you can't use your car to move from one class to another, even on a really large campus. There are usually shuttle buses if it's too far to walk.
• Do a test run the week before classes begin.
• Relax. The first week of commuting is the worst. Nobody knows where they are going; twice as many cars are on campus; nothing seems to work right. It will get better.
• Study the campus parking map to learn where else to park your car.
• Try to find someone to walk with you if you have to return to your car after dark.
  
• Allow time to walk from your car to your classes.
• Don't do road rage.