: Should I buy my college child a vehicle when I can afford to or make him earn it on his own? I never got things handed to me growing up. I know what it means to have something. To earn something. I also want the best for

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Make a vehicle their reward for earning good grades in college

Then they will have a sense of accomplishment both in school and earning a nice reward. It should meet your goals of wanting your child to know what it means to have & earn something and encourage their success in school.

I would carefully consider the need for having a vehicle in college at all:

Travel time on public transit can be used for studying
A car could be a big distraction away from schoolwork
Parking on many campuses may be very limited and/or very expensive.
Driving to & from school is more time wasted in traffic & less time for schoolwork.

Public transit might be the cheaper, more study time, solution for college. But it does depend on their particular school.

A brand new vehicle is almost always a money losing "investment." I'd agree that the best financial lesson is to never buy a brand new car (as other comments have pointed out).

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Two stories:

First, when I was going into college (1973) my parents bought a crappy copper-colored used car for 0, with the understanding that I could commute to college with it, but that it was my Mom's during the summer. I continued to drive the car to grad school, where it eventually gained one blue door and one green door. It fit right in to the scuzzy student ghetto neighborhood I lived in, but when I got my first full-time job (at Bell Labs - yeah!) I immediately bought myself a new car, after coasting the old P.O.S. into the dealer's lot as it had expired on its way. All along the way I was responsible for maintenance, insurance, gas, etc.

Second, when our kids were of driving age, we allowed them to use the oldest of our two cars, a 15-year-old Camry. Our son delivered pizza with it, and our daughter drove it to the hospital where she volunteered. Our son kept it while in undergrad, (our daughter, following a couple years behind, went to a smaller school & didn't want to take it). When our son graduated from undergrad, we gave him a K allowance to find a car of his own, which he did. Now, 12 years later, after he acquired a PhD, a spouse with a PhD of her own, jobs, and a house, they've traded that car in on a newer used car. Our daughter continued to drive the Camry, crossing the country from L.A. to Florida to Chicago numerous times, and eventually we gave her a similar allowance to find a car when she graduated from undergrad. She bought a very practical car, which she still has as well. She has recently received her PhD and moved to San Francisco, where her practical small car fits right in. While they used the car, they were also responsible for gas, insurance, and maintenance.

Lessons: Kids will do fine with (safe) old pieces of crap cars. Think of it as character-building exercises. Kids might even do fine without a car at all, in the right public transportation situation (neither kid used their car much in grad school, in Pittsburgh and Chicago). Depending on where they wind up, they may or may not see a car as a required status symbol or as a burden (San Francisco and Seattle are very public transportation friendly cities).

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As a completely alternative and outside-the-box option...

Check out this "middle ground" option:

I’m a (quite a bit older) student at ASU -- a bunch of the kids here have these Boosted Boards. Now, I have a car (which I bought myself of course), but I can’t help but feel a twinge of jealousy as a freshman shoots past me while I walk to class, after hoofing it for a mile or two.

In fact, I really want one because they:

Are fully electric
Can have a 20-mile range (and multiple batteries, so you can swap them, extending range with each battery)
Move up to 25 miles per hour
Don’t need a parking spot
Are easy to carry
Can be taken straight into and out of class

I think many parents buy their college children these because of their convenience, low cost (relative to a car), and cool factor.

I also think many students buy these for themselves because they can be purchased on a payment plan.

Either way, it’s a great compromise between generosity and teaching responsibility, should you choose to purchase one for your son.

A powered skateboard provides quite a lot of convenience getting around, but also incentive for getting a(n even more convenient) car.

As correctly pointed out by @joew , Boosted Boards aren’t ideal for all weather. So, in order to make this answer more feasible as a quality alternative answer... Check out this cool powered skateboard for tougher conditions (even a little off-roading!):

It has a slightly shorter range, and it’s more expensive... BUT it more than makes up for it because it has higher torque and traction, and does far better than the Boosted Board in less-than-ideal conditions, like a couple inches of snow. ;)

Regarding teaching finances and money management, if you want your college student to buy it themselves, both skateboard companies offer loans and payment plans.

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I compromised, sort of.

I made mine earn the money, planning to pay half. When she insisted on paying it all herself, I figured she got the value of money and made her a gift of the car. She quickly discovered that the purchases was only the first of many expenses associated with the car, and was grateful for the cash cushion.

I would not have bought the car outright for her if she had not demonstrated that she had already learned the first lessons of planning her finances.