Well it's a bit different, because your cars probably won't be moving at all for the first few weeks. So if it snows a lot, snow gets under the car, evaporates up, and could lead to rust on the underside of your car. Plus I had a few friends whose batteries died because they hadn't started them up for a few weeks (this was over the summer though, it's possible that the cold weather could help the batteries hold a charge better). I was fine with leaving my truck out over the summer, but I would've thought twice about wintertime, especially since they're parked right next to the water. If
you can get it covered, that should be fine, as long as the cover goes all the way down to the ground.
Or if it's an old car, just roll the dice, and if it rusts out, get yourself a shiny new
Ensign-mobile once you graduate.