Auto Insurance
The Worst Universities To Bring Your Car To
The Worst Large Universities to Bring Your Car To
1. UC Berkeley
Berkeley, California
UC Berkeley — also known simply as Cal — was found to be the worst school for drivers. The biggest contributing factors to this poor rating are the Bay Area's clogged highway systems, which make it difficult to get around, and the high cost of on-campus parking, which is $385 per semester.
2. UC Riverside
Riverside, California
In 2016, there were 19 reported on-campus car thefts from UC Riverside — 9 more than at UCLA, which has nearly twice the enrollment. On top of that, insurance costs in the Riverside area are among the highest of those included in our study. According to our research, UCR students' car insurance rates are 80% higher than average across the institutions we surveyed.
3. San Francisco State University
San Francisco
With high gas prices and some of the busiest roads in the U.S., San Francisco State University ranks as one of the worst colleges in the country for car owners. Costing an average of $3.82 per gallon (22% over the average), the price of gas for SFSU students is the highest amongst the large universities we surveyed.
4. UC San Diego
San Diego
Despite San Diego having relatively clear roadways when compared to San Francisco and Los Angeles, UCSD is still one of the worst universities for drivers. UC San Diego students can expect to pay $780 per year for a parking permit, which is over two times greater than the $351 average for the schools we surveyed.
5. Cal State San Bernardino
San Bernardino, California
CSUSB's car-owning students are faced with the high insurance costs associated with being located in the greater Los Angeles area. Furthermore, we found there to be 8.7 cases of auto theft per 10,000 registered students each year at Cal State San Bernardino — 24% higher than Cal State Fresno's theft rate.
6. University of New Mexico
Albuquerque, New Mexico
Located in Albuquerque, which has ranked as the city with the highest rate of auto theft, the University of New Mexico is one of the few schools outside of California to rank among the worst for drivers. At 32.2 vehicle thefts per 10,000 students each year, UNM has the highest rate of car theft of any large university we surveyed. In 2016 alone, there were 140 vehicles stolen from the UNM campus, the most of any college campus in the country that year.
7. University of Nevada
Las Vegas
UNLV scored well for both the cost and convenience of owning a car as a student, due to the relatively open roads of Las Vegas, as well as cheap auto insurance, on-campus parking and gas. However, UNLV also has one of the highest rates of auto theft in the country, at 10.8 vehicle thefts per 10,000 students per year, which was enough to make it rank among the worst large universities in the country for student drivers.
8. University of Maryland
College Park, Maryland
As a result of being located in the greater Washington, D.C., area, UM car owners contend with some of the busiest roadways in the country. Furthermore, University of Maryland students pay $607 per year for a parking permit — 73% more than the $351 per year average across the schools we surveyed.
9. San Diego State University
San Diego
SDSU — at 7.8 vehicle thefts per 10,000 registered students each year — has the 14th highest rate of vehicle theft of any large university in the country. Additionally, it is expensive to own a car at San Diego State: A student parking permit is $542 per year. However, SDSU students can take some solace in the fact that they pay $238 less per year for parking than their counterparts at UCSD.
10. Cal Poly Pomona
Pomona, California
Cal Poly Pomona ranked as one of the most expensive large universities for car owners. Car owners at this university are faced with the highest auto insurance rates and the sixth-highest gas costs of the institutions we surveyed.
Worst Schools for Drivers by Number of Students
Above, we listed the worst large universities (those with more than 20,000 students) for drivers; however, our full analysis included rankings for 75 colleges and universities. For the sake of making apples-to-apples comparisons, we chose to break down rankings by school size: large, mid-size and small. Below are the worst colleges and universities for each size designation.
Universities with the Highest Parking Permit Costs
Of the schools included in our study, the one with the most expensive parking costs was the University of Pennsylvania, by a large margin. For two semesters of 24-hour parking at UPenn, students pay $2,121, which is over 500% more expensive than what we found to be the average cost of parking: $351 per academic year. Parking permits at nearby Drexel University cost $1,329 less per year than at UPenn.
Rank | Name | Size | Cost of Parking (One Academic Year) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | University of Pennsylvania | Large | $2,121 |
| 2 | UC San Francisco | Small | $1,864 |
| 3 | UC Hastings College of Law | Small | $1,680 |
| 4 | University of Chicago | Medium | $840 |
| 5 | Washington University in St Louis | Medium | $795 |
On average, medium-sized schools had the highest parking costs. Student car owners who attend these schools pay $409 per year for the privilege to park on campus, which is 17% more than the $351 average across all of the schools we surveyed. At the other end of the spectrum, small schools had relatively low parking costs: $238 per year (32% less than the average). Additionally, 28% of the small schools we surveyed had free parking for students.
Universities with the Highest Gas Prices
Our study found that drivers who attend San Francisco-area schools were generally subjected to the highest gas prices. At the University of San Francisco, gas costs were $1.31 per gallon more expensive than at the cheapest school, LSU Health New Orleans. Assuming you drive 5,000 miles while you're at school, this variance in fuel costs amounts to a $265 per year cost difference between these two schools.
Rank | School | Location | Gas Price (Per Gallon) | Estimated Annual Fuel Costs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | University of San Francisco | San Francisco | $3.83 | $775 |
| 2 | San Francisco State University | San Francisco | $3.82 | $773 |
| 3 | UC Hastings College of Law | San Francisco | $3.80 | $769 |
| 4 | UC San Francisco | San Francisco | $3.80 | $769 |
| 5 | University of Hawaii | Hilo, Hawaii | $3.78 | $765 |
Estimated annual fuel costs are calculated assuming a vehicle that gets 24.7 mpg is driven 5,000 miles per academic year
Universities with the Highest Vehicle Theft Rate
Four of the five worst schools for vehicle thefts were located in California. Loma Linda University — which is located in Loma Linda, California — had 94 reported vehicle thefts from 2014 to 2016, which is the most of any small school. It also had more vehicle thefts than the University of Maryland, which had 90 vehicle thefts in 2016 and has nearly nine times as many students.
Rank | School | State | Total Vehicle Thefts (2014-2016) | Thefts Per 10,000 Registered Students |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | UC Hastings College of Law | Calif. | 23 | 76.1 |
| 2 | Loma Linda University | Calif. | 94 | 70.5 |
| 3 | Pomona College | Calif. | 30 | 64.0 |
| 4 | UC San Francisco | Calif. | 49 | 51.9 |
| 5 | Rush University | Ill. | 38 | 50.6 |
Schools with the Worst Traffic
D.C.-area schools dealt with the most congested roads, as evidenced by the high average commute time of this region. Drivers who attend the three schools in this area that were included in our study — Gallaudet University, Howard University and the University of Maryland — can expect traffic near campus that is 25% worse than what we found to be the average.
Rank | MSA | # of Schools in Our Study | Average Commute Time (min) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Washington, D.C., Metro Area | 3 | 34.9 |
| 2 | San Francisco Metro Area | 5 | 34.4 |
| 3 | Stockton, Calif., Metro Area | 1 | 33.5 |
| 4 | Riverside, Calif., Metro Area | 9 | 32.7 |
| 5 | Chicago Metro Area | 2 | 31.8 |
Universities with the Highest Insurance Costs
We found that drivers who attend Los Angeles schools have the highest insurance costs, with an average rate of $267 per month. This is 72% greater than the $148 per month average we found across all of the institutions we surveyed.
Rank | City | # of Schools in Our Study | Average Cost of Insurance |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Los Angeles | 12 | $267 |
| 2 | New Orleans | 1 | $241 |
| 3 | Baltimore | 2 | $206 |
| 4 | Saint Petersburg, Fla. | 1 | $188 |
| 5 | Philadelphia | 1 | $178 |
Full List of Colleges and Universities
Each school was then given a score out of 100 points — with a higher score indicating that a school is worse for drivers. We considered three factors: safety (40 points), cost (40 points) and convenience (20 points).
Rank | Name | Size | Safety Score | Cost Score | Convenience Score | Total Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | University of California, Hastings - College of Law | Small | 100 | 90 | 91 | 93 |
| 2 | University of California, San Francisco | Small | 88 | 87 | 91 | 88 |
| 3 | University of San Francisco | Medium | 88 | 85 | 91 | 87 |
| 4 | University of California, Berkeley | Large | 83 | 82 | 91 | 84 |
| 5 | Pomona College | Small | 92 | 75 | 81 | 80 |
| 6 | University of California, Riverside | Large | 75 | 80 | 81 | 79 |
| 7 | University of Redlands | Medium | 100 | 65 | 81 | 78 |
| 8 | Loma Linda University | Small | 96 | 64 | 81 | 76 |
| 9 | Stanford University | Medium | 83 | 72 | 63 | 73 |
| 10 | San Francisco State University | Large | 54 | 73 | 91 | 72 |
| 11 | Rush University | Small | 83 | 62 | 77 | 71 |
| 12 | University of Maryland, Baltimore | Medium | 75 | 65 | 74 | 69 |
Safety scores were determined by comparing schools of the same size.
Methodology
For the purposes of this study, we broke down schools into three separate distinctions. We considered large universities to be those with more than 20,000 students, mid-size (or medium) schools to have between 5,000 and 20,000 students, and small schools to have between 1,000 and 5,000 students. We only considered the four-year institutions with the top 25 highest rates of auto theft within each size designation.
Scores were determined by considering a variety of factors:
- Safety: For safety scores, we compared the average number of vehicle thefts per 10,000 students per year from 2014 to 2016. Data was gathered from the U.S. Department of Education.
-
Cost: To determine the relative cost scores of the schools in our study, we looked at three different factors:
- Parking permit cost for one academic year
- Average cost of gas as reported by GasBuddy
- Average insurance costs according to ValuePenguin auto insurance data
- Convenience: As a proxy for road congestion, we looked at the average commute times of the metropolitan statistical area in which an institution was contained, as reported by the U.S. Census Bureau.