Eswau

My daughter is wanting to have a bike for her next 3 years of college (on campus). Campus is flat to slightly hilly and will be rode on the paved streets. She's currently renting a generic single speed from the college - but wants a newer one of her own. Not interested in many speeds and the bike will be kept outside locked in a bike rack. I'm more interested in getting something that won't attract a lot of attention and be a target for theft. Looking for suggestions of brands in the middle of the road that will last 3-4 years and beyond, but hopefully stay below $500.
Thanks

Mista Sparkle

If you want to get her anything halfway decent, I would encourage her to keep it inside. Bikes left outside are likely to get stolen even if locked in a rack.

Bikes left outside after a couple years turn to garbage anyway, so I would perhaps suggest a Walmart bike so you aren't out too much. Anything more than a Walmart or comparable used bike is going to be a target.

If she does get something nicer, you certainly want a U-lock. I rarely left my bike locked outside at night, but it did have the cable lock cut one night. It was nothing fancy, just an average department store mountain bike.

That being said, I would suggest a hybrid, they are super useful and great for city/town/multi-use path applications and tend to be a bit easier to pedal than a similarly priced mountain bike.

VegasTriker

You want to buy her what is euphemistically known as a "beater bike". That means a used bike that it is safe to ride but looks like crap. If it is locked outside in all kinds of weather in a place with a real winter (snow and rain) then you will not be so upset when it suffers the effects of being outside. I used to work at a federal facility on the UNLV campus and we had a summer student from the Midwest bring his bike to campus for getting back and forth. It was securely locked outside a dorm and gone within three days. If you want to read an interesting article about the campus where I once was a student, read this: https://uwpd.wisc.edu/news/uwpd-seiz...likely-stolen/. I would not buy a brand new shiny bike of any price for use at college. BTW, that same federal facility where I worked had a locked bike compound but my own beater bike, a $20 Motobecane Mirage disappeared one day. One of the maintenance workers decided it was abandoned so he cut the lock and took it home. I still had the front wheel in my office. I got it back but without a front brake because the thief took off and threw away the front brake when it wouldn't work with the wheel he used as a replacement.

Mista Sparkle

Note also that on a beater bike, the cost of having a reputable shop do a tune up is likely more expensive than the bike itself. Most of the typical tasks related to a tune up can be learned from a couple minutes on you-tube and can be accomplished with a bike multi-tool.