should bring my car to uni?

As the title says. I've heard a lot of people saying they wish they brought their car to Kent as its far from a lot of things, however obviously its going to be a huge extra cost, and i dont really want to be come 'that person with a car'!

Also at an open day i was told students were not allowed to bring cars, but when talking to current students they said all you had to do was pay for parking, so not sure if its new for 2023??

Reply 1

Clearing and Applications Advisor

Don’t bother for first year. You can always change your mind after you live there for a while.

University of Kent

Canterbury

Visit website

Reply 2

University of Kent Reps

Official Rep

Original post by Anonymous

Hi there

I have lived both on and off campus so I'm hoping that I can give you a bit of an insight. I would say that a car is not necessary if you're living on campus. You are not able to apply for a parking permit unless you live outside the exclusion zone so its really not worth paying to park there. You have everything you need on campus and there is a bus stop outside almost all the accommodations. The bus takes around 10 mins to get into town or you can walk into town in about 15/20 mins (although campus is situated on a hill). The only thing I would say that isn't within walking distance is a decent sized supermarket. There are a few co-ops on campus and some slightly bigger shops in town but if you want a big Aldi/Asda/Lidl etc you will either have to take a bus or order in. My flatmates and I found that it was a lot easier to do a weekly Asda shop online and split the cost of delivery. A few of my friends had their cars on campus but if i'm being honest they only ever used it to drive to and from home. There isn't really anywhere to park for free in town so it's not worth driving there either and more often than not we were going out to drink so no one was driving anyways.
It makes a lot more sense to bring your car if you're living off campus as most private accommodations have a driveway or designated parking areas. A car is useful to go to campus for lectures and seminars and again to drive home instead of taking the train. Other than that Canterbury is very accessible by foot and public transport so more often then not its actually longer to drive to places.
I will leave a link to the uni website where you can find more information about student parking - https://www.kent.ac.uk/transport/driving-parking/student

Hope this helps

Best wishes

Joanna
-Uni of Kent Rep