First of all, congratulations on your new digs. I just moved to an apartment close to a train station, so it is convenient for me to be carless--not easy in Dallas, TX (as I doubt it is in Alabama). Feels nice, doesn't it?

A tip with the parents--I don't know how your parents will feel about you not having a car. My parents basically forced a car on me while I was in college. Not having a car is equated in some minds with a certain hippiness or slackerdom. Don't emphasize your burning desire to be carless. ("Dear, the kid says he doesn't want a car--that's just crazy--I told you he'd end up a communist if we let him go away to college. Take him to the dealership and call me when it's time to work out the financing. This will pass over once he's behind the wheel like a decent, red-blooded American.") Instead, emphasize the frugality of it, emphasize that by not having the freedom to run around everywhere/anywhere in a car, you will stay in more and focus on your studies (even if this isn't true). Begin by acknowledging their benevolent (if misguided) reasons for getting you a new car, then begin your silk-gloved refutatio. Read, if you have the time the sections on ethos in Aristotole's Rhetoric. Of course, your parents may be down and none of this will be necessary, but alot of parents are gonna think you loco for not wanting a "free" (they are never free) car.

(By the way, I took the car they forced on me, waited a few years and sold it after it was in my name, then bought a bicycle and motorcycle. Hi Mom!)