Cars
Didn’t we discuss this already? Cars are evil, polluting devices of death. Unless, of course, you’ve got one. Then they’re really handy.
If you have a car, you may not be allowed to park it. Or you might be allowed to park it, but only a considerable walk (or even a taxi ride) from where you live in the middle of a congestion charging zone, in which case, what’s the point?
Most universities discourage students, especially first years and more especially first years living in, from bringing cars. And often they’ll use charges to make the discouragement stick. Some just ban it.
Others, however, don’t mind so much and even recognise — especially if they’re a bit remote — that they can’t really expect students to cut themselves off completely.
It’s generally down to space. If they’ve got it, the first priority is rarely providing parking for students’ cars. (The Vice-Chancellor’s car? Now that’s a different story.)
There are exceptions: students with disabilities, of course, but even then policies differ from place to place. Also, universities will generally try to let students park somewhere when they arrive to move their stuff in. In some places, though, even that’s difficult.
If you have a car and bringing it to university is important to you, you may have to take that into consideration when choosing where to apply.
Last updated on: 09 April 2009