[1speedbike]

I live in jersey, go to school in the city, used to work in the city. It's a pain in the ass. I would NEVER try and commute into the city or navigate the city on a daily basis in my own car. I drive to a park and ride, take the bus, then take the subway.

Whenever I drive in (special occasions, etc), I try to borrow a car if I have to, but it's so much easier to take the subways. Subways are your friend in NYC. When I drive in I'm usually going to Queens or downtown Manhattan, and the routes to both get ridiculously clogged during the week. Well, the routes anywhere in NYC get ridiculously clogged during the week. But when I drive in I make sure it's noon on a weekday and I'm out by 3, it's past 7 or 8 at night, or it's a weekend. Driving around any other times is near futile. It's way faster to take the subway, or even the bus, or even walk depending on where you're headed. And I didn't even get into parking rates lol.

A good choice would be to get a place in Brooklyn, buy a parking spot there, where it's much cheaper, and take the subway into school in Manhattan (I'm assuming that's where your grad school is), and have the car as a weekend thing or when you need to leave the area. Even in Brooklyn where the train lines aren't as close together and their coverage is more limited, it's easier to take the subway or bus than a car.