A college age car *should* be a vanilla sled. It will get dings and dents, it should be reliable and reasonably cheap to own. Get A/C and auto trans, avoid the weird CVT.
USA build- under 100k miles
Honda/Toyota/Lexus- under 200k miles
A few that my kids got good service from as they passed through this life chapter:
Ford Fusion, Toyota Avalon, Lexus RX 300, Saturn, Honda Civic DX. A 20 yr old car that has been well maintained can be a great find and under the radar for most.
VW Passat was a reliability nightmare. Daughter was stranded 6 times in 2 years.
These cars are brilliant and if well maintained will easily go 250k miles without burning oil or any major breakdowns:
https://www.cargurus.com/Cars/l-Used-Lexus-RX-300-d568#listing=242356889
https://www.cargurus.com/Cars/inventorylisting/viewDetailsFilterViewInventoryListing.action?zip=9 1730&maxPrice=5000&distance=50000&entitySelectingHelper.selectedEntity=d291#listing= 263251323