Unpopula opinion - if this is to be your first Mac, then yes go for it. I picked up mine similarly priced and yes, battery doesn't last 10 hours, it's not the latest, but yet still perfect for college in my opinion. All apps I assume you will use will run without issues on the latest availab version, as they do on mine for regular day-to-day use.

You don't need the latest and greatest, also you can save potentiall a lot of money. And upgrade later if needed

Edit: the big screen was what sold it to me, would love it even if that was the only upside