The automobile is a way of life for most college students. They use it to go on spur of the moment road trips, transport their kegs, visit friends at far off colleges or to just get away from college life for a while.

But not a Harvard.

Here, it's not getting the car that's a problem, finding a place to park it. The Harvard car-owner has three options: park in a Harvard-owned lot, park on Cambridge streets with a city permit, or park illegally.

Those who can afford to send their car to school as well as themselves can park at the Business School, Soldiers Field, or Peabody Terrace lots. Approximately 130 undergraduates pay $315 to park at the Business School, says Jeffrey L. Smith of the Harvard Parking Office. Another 30 students park at Soldiers Field and Peabody Terrace, which costs $65 a month for covered parking spaces and $50 a month for spots on the roof, Smith says.

In the past five years, the number of applications for these parking spaces has been steadily increasing, Smith says. He attributed this to the fact that the Harvard lots provide 24-hour security and a guaranteed space, while parking with a Cambridge sticker or choosing the illegal option provides neither.

Another parking option is to obtain a resident parking sticker from the City of Cambridge. The stickers cost $3 and permit parking anywhere in Cambridge. To qualify for a sticker, a student must have a car registered in Massachusetts and "principally garaged in Cambridge at your residential address," says Mary Monagle of the Cambridge Department of Traffic and Parking.

An additional $3, can buy a permit-holder a set of visitor's permits, which can be used by guests. Students living in dormitories, however, cannot purchase visitor permits.

If students are the gambling type, they can also try to find parking spaces and dispense with either city permits or Harvard-owned lots. Some students have a much easier time finding a parking space.

Jennifer M. Walser '90 found a space freshman year by sheer luck. She brought a car to Harvard during freshman week and left it at the Swiss Chalet Inn near the Alewife T stop for several days. When she returned to get it, she did not have a ticket and figured that the owners of the inn had not noticed it. Walser says that she ended up leaving the car at the inn for most of the year.

Other students rent parking spots in driveways of Cambridge homes. Christopher J. Farley '88 says he has heard of Cambridge homeowners charging $60-$70 a month for people to park in their driveways. Some driveways are cluttered with four or five cars, Farley says.

Students with cars and professors for parents can sometimes use their parent's space. Leif F. Hutchinson '90 says he kept a car in his father's parking space behind the Jefferson Labs for use on weekends.

Yet, there is a risk to this wheel of parking fortune: parking tickets and towings. One day, Walser left her car in Harvard Square. The only parking spot she could find was one which had been blocked off by "No Parking" signs and had a fluorescent "No Parking" sticker on the meter. In a desperate attempt, Walser moved the signs, cut off the sticker, put money in the meter, and left her car.

"Of course, it was towed," Walser says.

Farley says he spent $70 and most of his sophomore year trying to figure a place to park. In his search for a safe spot, Farley accumulated nine tickets. One day he returned to his car to find that police had attached a metal boot to one of his tires for parking in an unauthorized area. Farley had to pay $50 to have the boot removed. He now has a parking sticker.

Allen R. Barton '90, who found the trek across the river unbearable, began parking his car in a private lot behind the Jefferson Labs and received a string of seven $5 tickets. The police towed his car twice. To retrieve his vehicle, he had to walk to Central Square and pay a $40 fine.