Parking in the streets can be tricky because the parking spaces are unreliable--and anyway, it's against College rules. And for those who do try their luck with the streets, street cleaning can lead to frequent tickets--or worse.

"Cambridge does street cleaning once a month on either side of the street at about 10 a.m.," writes Mary E. Bridges '01, a Quad car owner, in an e-mail message. "If you forget to move your car, it will be gone by about 9:30. You have to pay a visit to Phil of Phil's Towing and pay about $65 to get it back."

On the other hand, parking in the school's lots can get costly, according to many students.

"I parked in the Soldier's Field lot in the Business School freshman and sophomore year, and that was $650 per year and very inconvenient," Lewis says.

"On the basis of my personal experience of having a car and driving in Cambridge," he writes in an e-mail message, "I would recommend that Harvard students keep their cars at home, take public transportation whenever possible, use the Shuttle Bus Service and perhaps have a bicycle."

The Wheels Are Worth It

But with a bit of Harvard creativity, some students say it's not all that difficult to find a way out of this multitude of costs.

"If your car is registered to your campus address, you can get a resident parking permit from the city of Cambridge," Lewis says. "The cost is $8 per year. It's a great deal that very few students are aware of."