I am in my last year of college as well and I just got the Renegade TH. I was originally looking at a Wrangler Sport (starts at $22,900 roughly) but once you add the air conditioning and whatever other basic comforts you want--for me it was a hard top ($1000), air conditioning ($1300), and an automatic ($1200)--it was over $26,000.
I knew I absolutely DID NOT want the Patriot or Compass because they are pretty much regarded as piles of junk and useless as Jeeps, even though they came with a lot of options. I also considered the Cherokee but another caveat of mine was having a 4x4 and that also drove up the price. I will admit it is a more "girly" looking car but I have a guy friend that has a Latitude and he absolutely loves it. I looked at the Grand Cherokee too but decided it might be too big for me.
I had looked at the Renegade but thought it too small and initially found it to look like a Kia Soul or Nissan Cube, then I saw the Motor Trend article where they tested the Trailhawk at the Moab Easter Safari. I absolutely fell in love with the look of the Trailhawk; the black grille, black roof, and the black decal on the hood set it apart from anything I had seen. Plus, I adore the topography cloth seats; they might only come with the TH though. On that note, the interior in the Renegade is far cooler than that of the Cherokee or Patriot. I feel like the Renegade will also hold its value over the Patriot in the years to come because people seem far more excited by it. I haven't read one bad review about the Renegade either and the ones on the Patriot are almost all bad.
At the end of the day it's whatever you want and what you want to spend. I recommend getting the Latitude at the very least because there are more options and you can get one for around the same price as a loaded Sport. Do tell us what you get when you decide and good luck!
. If you're in the north country with snow, be sure to get a 4x4 do you 'need' remote start? Probably not...you see where I'm going here.
