My son is a junior at Miami. In 2014-15, they had a very cold, snowy winter. Fortunately, that was the year before my son started. His first two winters were very mild. This year has been colder and snowier than he has experienced so far. Overall, you are only about 30 miles north of the Kentucky border, and winters are much milder than in the upper Midwest. But i did just buy my son a car and I spent the extra $1,000 for AWD. If you already have a car that is not AWD, snow tires on FWD is a better option than AWD without FWD. AWD with snow tires is tops. (According to Consumer Reports.)
You didn't ask, but Oxford is a great little town and Miami's campus is beautiful. Cincinnati is a nice bigger town, not too far away.