Ignorant College Student--Need Advice!

The best way to figure out what a car needs is to drive it. Make sure it's safe first, check the brake pads, brake fluid, oil, tranny fluid, coolant, alignment, etc. Do a complete service, you'll learn so much about a car from working on it and fixing stuff. Buy a small fire extinguisher to keep under the seat just in case. Don't use the triangular Edelbrock air cleaner and try to stay away from paper filter elements in case for some reason it backfires. Start by driving it once a week, start out just taking it around the block. The next week try 2 blocks, then 3, etc.. Make sure the brakes and steering are good, suspension, etc. Put fresh fluids in, check the common parts that wear out, make sure everything is lubricated properly. The absolute best place to start for servicing and working on a car is with a Haynes or Chilton manual, they'll tell you how to do everything yourself and usually you can find them at a garage sale or car show for cheap (used). If you want to work on it and learn from it, chances are spending money wisely on car parts and tools will teach you more than your actual schooling will. I'm not saying you should stop going, I'm just speaking from experience. Either way, getting it running and driving would be the best thing to do in my opinion because then when you go to sell it you'll have a reliable (should be) "driver".