crossTALK with Jessie and Aryn
Freshman with cars vs. Leave them at home
Jessie Heath
At the age of 18, society considers us adults. We can drive. We can vote. We can defend our country. We are free and legal adult citizens of the United States, but more and more colleges across the country are stripping incoming freshmen of their driving privileges. Whether freshmen are coming from ten minutes down the road or ten hours away, they should be able to keep automobiles on campus.
Many college students seek their education far from home. These students need transportation to and from campus during holidays. It is not enough to assume that parents or siblings will come pick freshmen up; some parents do not have flexible work schedules that will allow them to retrieve their child from a college that is seven hours away.
Students come to college with varying levels of needs. Some may come in perfect health with the means to walk down the street to Wal-Mart or Food Lion. Others are not as lucky; some come with weekly or even daily doctor’s appointments for ongoing health problems. I’m not talking about the typical cold that requires a run to the student health center to get Motrin and Mucinex. Some students deal with illnesses that require a higher level of care than university health centers can offer. These students need reliable transportation to and from appointments.
A large part of the college experience is the off-campus community. Having a car on campus enables freshmen to enjoy not only their campus life, but the city life around them. Cars allow students to get involved in the community outside of their campus. This involvement may come in the form of internships, volunteer work or just a night out with friends. These activities require reliable modes of transportation that city transport cannot always meet.
Aryn Hicks
Incoming college freshmen often struggle with adapting to college life. Instead of adapting to life on campus, many college freshmen use their cars as an excuse to not making new friends. Freshmen should not be allowed to bring cars on campus, regardless of circumstance.
Not having cars on campus forces freshmen to participate in school activities. Without an automobile to take them off campus, students get more involved in extracurricular and resident life activities. These students spend more time getting to know the campus community than those who prefer to spend their free time off campus. If freshmen need to go off campus, they have to find an upperclassman willing to drive them. Not only is this carpooling environmentally friendly, but it is also encourages both freshmen and upperclassmen to meet new people. Students with disabilities or extreme medical needs can use city transport to get to and from off campus appointments if they cannot find anybody to take them. However, most Resident Coordinators or Resident Assistants are willing to act as emergency transport for late night gallivants to Urgent Care or the ER if needed.
Organizations such as CRIMP, SAC and the Outdoor Adventure Club provide off campus activities and opportunities to all students. These clubs offer a variety of off campus activities with transport to and from at cheaper rates than students will get by themselves.
While internships and jobs are important, good grades must precede them. Not having a car on campus allows students the opportunity to study more. The better grades a student has, the more qualified they seem when it comes time to apply for jobs.
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