<p>Will be on my way from the southwest next week to drop off D (kid #2) in the northwest. Both kids have cars at school but only D is near convenient airport (Portland). Son is at Humboldt which is a long drive from anywhere (there is an airport but flights are very expensive to anywhere but LA using studentuniverse.com). Humboldt has a GREAT parent network that keeps everyone informed of road closures (hourly due to slides in the winter) and ride sharing info. Students should all check out studentuniverse.com, a division of Orbitz. the flights you want are sometimes hard to find but the prices are hard to beat.</p>
<p>blucroo - Thanks for the tip ! I checked out Jet Blue, and while they don’t service my nearest airport, they come close enough that they are now a decent option. And you’re right, they are considerable cheaper. I really appreciate your suggestion.</p>
<p>Didn’t let distance rule out options but did have ease of getting to the closest airport factor into locale/climate/airport portion of the decision.</p>
<p>DD is one exit away from her local airport and son is a short train ride from two local airports, so both have no problems. Guess they will need to leave earlier to get through security, and pack a little differently. If they can figure out financial aid, registration, adding/dropping, housing/dining plans, graduation requirements, internships…they can handle the airport stuff.</p>
<p>The airport/distance thing again only factored into how difficult it was to get to a nearby airport. Some schools provide shuttles, buses, or in son’s case, a train!</p>
<p>Kat</p>
<p>I find this entire discussion amusing. Where my D goes to school is about the school and what it has to offer her, not about how close it is to home via car, bus, train or plane. We never once thought about the airport hassles (and we are dealing with LAX and Logan!!!) The distance problem is about parents not really wanting to let go. My D is moving from sunny so cal to Boston where she will learn to take the T, deal with snow, learn what it is like to be too far from home to stop by or get her laundry done, etc. Hopefully she will miss home and want to come home for holidays…but it might not always be practical or affordable. She won’t have a car to drive in the snow now, but if she stays in the east, she can learn to drive in the snow too. She will grow and become amazingly self-sufficient. She will learn to deal with airport headaches all be herself, and in this day and age, this will be a lesson much needed. Obviously, I have complained about the headaches of packing and shipping belongings across country; I know I will miss her, I am sure I will cry and initially lose sleep with worry; I will use up my cellphone minutes. But in the end, if she loves the college she has chosen, it will be well worth it.</p>
<p>blucroo said,
I disagree. Now that S1 is getting ready for his sophomore year, I can tell you it’s NOT about letting go. It’s about practical considerations. S1’s school is a little over 100 miles away, yet we hardly saw him after Christmas break. He is busy with his own life, which is as it should be. But for parents who are paying full-freight, the additional costs associated with airline travel and shipping goods can be make or break items. I would love to hear from you NEXT year, when you are getting ready for your second year of dealing with LAX to Logan and back.</p>
<p>"The distance problem is about parents not really wanting to let go. "</p>
<p>I disagree, too. There’s a lot of expense and hassle involved in moving a distance from home. BTDT personally as well as having helped one of my sons do that when he went to college.</p>
<p>I also think that one can gain a great deal of independence by living as little as a two-hour drive from home. I certainly became a lot more independent by going to college 240 or so miles from my hometown. Despite what many will assume was a short distance, there still were lots of cultural things that I had to adapt to, and even differences in weather that I adapted to. I also was very independent, going home usually only about 3 times a year.</p>
<p>I honestly don’t think it makes much of a difference. My kids have lived away from home as close at the neighboring city (a 20 minute drive) and as far as halfway across the globe… and I honestly seem to have more regular and meaningful contact when they are living farther away than when they are home. Yes, its a phone call or email or instant messaging, and it is nice to see them face to face… but it seems when we are close everyone takes one another for granted. At a distance, we make more of an effort to communicate and when we do get together, we prioritize spending time together. </p>
<p>The expense is a totally different issue, but it costs less for my daughter for round trip airfare from west to east coast than it would cost my son to fly to his college only 300 miles away – and the driving time for him is as long or longer than the flying time for her.</p>
<p>Another big enthusiastic second for jetblue. Not only are they convenient and cheap, but almost uniformly efficient, pleasant, etc. I have used them so much, I was just able to use my first round trip award to book a free flight for son to and from NYC (from Oakland) for September. </p>
<p>In some circumstances, going to school close to home makes no difference in the amount of air travel, depending on your student’s activities. My son was on an airplane about as much as off one last year because of his sport (Arizona, Oregon twice, Washington once, Texas once), and by the end of this summer will have flown back and forth to the East Coast twice. He has probably had 10 round trips here, there, and elsewhere this year…and we live 5 minutes from his college! Similarly, kids who are involved in other campus activities or summer internships away from school will be flying as much as kids who are commuting via air to and from school a few times a year. Oh, and there are all those friends around the country who must be visited!</p>
<p>I do get nervous about flying, about security, about all the myriad things about flying that are out of one’s control. And I would understand people who didn’t want their kids to go far away to school (there was a big shift to close-by colleges after 9/11). I am certainly not trying to book exotic vacations at the moment. But it isn’t going to affect where my daughters apply to school!</p>
<p>Extreme case but makes the point.
One student called talked to her mother everyday, when she was in college, as soon as she graduated she moved back home with no indication of ever leaving.
Another student attended college less than 200 miles away, doesn’t appear to even dream of moving back to her home town at this point, and certainly doesn’t call her mother every week, let alone every day!</p>
<p>But we appreciate that she is close enough to visit 
and for her to come visit friends who are also visiting their families.</p>
<p>It isn’t the distance- and personally if I was looking at schools? My time and stress level is worth a lot.
Yes I know that I can"adjust", but a price will be paid.</p>
<p>I would be delighted if there was a program that suited my son that was about two hours away. Since there isn’t, we will have to deal with air travel, or winter driving, neither of which thrills me, however, the college choice isn’t really about me, but what is right or him. So, I will learn to deal.</p>
<p>Well, I have one driving to and from Portland (Oregon) (to the Seattle area) on a regular basis–she sometimes comes home for just 24 hours, mostly to see the dog and do her laundry, I think (and because I always give her gas money if she comes home). The other one flies to and from Boston–but will drive east with a friend this fall (friend’s car), which I think is great, because everyone should drive across the country at least once. (He also comes home for the occasional weekend if air fares are particularly cheap or we have enough frequent flyer miles.)</p>
<p>We certainly didn’t pay any attention to car/plane choices when we did the college search things. </p>
<p>As for the airport hassle, I recommend learning to drop your kid at the curb with his/her luggage and say goodbye there. It saves a ton of money on parking and a lot of eyerolling when you insist of the third or fourth hug (I always get nervous, just being in the airport). Oh, and check in on-line before you leave the house, which really does simplify things.</p>
<p>blucroo:
It’s great that you can afford to not consider about transportation issues, but for many families coast to coast plane tickets are just out of the question. So, I wouldn’t be too quick to accuse parents of being overprotective…</p>
<p>gsp<em>silicon</em>valley wrote:</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>By and large, no. Our little airport (Rochester NY) basically has the same low-stress, short lines, empty look to it no matter what’s going on. And it has to be a REALLY major storm to faze them at all.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Even when considering major commercial airports, San Diego has almost always had relatively quick lines. They may be long, but there are usually 4 screening stations open (compare to 1 when I flew at the height of the no liquids ban at BWI!)</p>
<p>I sent my DD off to LAX this morning from Houston, and while we certainly are mindful of the stress, etc. at these airports, we were just really happy to have her going to a univeristy she loves (because it offers more opportunity in the area of her academic interests than those closer to home). She will be in LA by 10:00 pt! </p>
<p>Last year she was 2.5 hours away from home by car. This year, she will be a few hours further by plane, but much happier with her academic situation. That’s what’s important to us…we’ll deal with the rest.</p>
<p>The distance is more than just parents not letting go.
My D is 1300 miles away from home, and neither her college, nor our town is served by the JetBlue/AirTran/Southwests of the world. A trip for her involves a 2 hour bus ride and at least 2 flights, then a 60 mile car ride back home, if she flies into the cheapest airport. A ticket under $300 is a cause for celebration. Thanksgiving is a non-starter, although I am considering flying her to the grands house, which is 60 miles from a major hub, that will only require 1 flight. This is real money when you don’t get financial aid.</p>
<p>As for separation, in some ways she is less independent than I was in college, when I was only 100 miles away. Independence is a matter of attitude, especially today with cell phones and IM. I could never have flown myself across country, not mention overseas as she will do, but on the other havnd we communicate at least every other day - it is just different, remains to be seen if the change is good or bad.</p>
<p>Cangel, “Independence is a matter of attitude”</p>
<p>Oh, that is so true. One of my son’s absloute, most independent friends is off to community college! He’s paying his own way, and that’s his plan.</p>
<p>“My D is 1300 miles away from home, and neither her college, nor our town is served by the JetBlue/AirTran/Southwests of the world.”</p>
<p>Yes, things are very different for people who don’t live near hubs. I’m also in the situation of not living near a hub airport. It’s a two-hour one-way drive to get to an airport that has service from the cheapie airlines, and that airport also isn’t a hub. It is a 5-hour drive to a hub airport.</p>
<p>I’ve had some horrendous travel problems caused by weather, which caused me to miss flights, have to do unexpected overnights, etc. This even has happened for trips abroad and for trips to visit relatives for the holidays.</p>
<p>Airfares from our local airport is high because the airlines have a captive audience. </p>
<p>It’s a lot easier and probably a lot cheaper to fly coast to coast from major ciities than to fly 400 miles or so from small cities like mine. Heck, flying just 250 miles to the closest hub has at some times cost as much as coast to coast travel to and from major cities.</p>
<p>Anyway, many parents who put limits on how far away students can go aren’t being overprotective, but are being realistic about their expenses as well as travel hassles.</p>
<p>I thoroughly agree with you. Not only is my S going to school in Boston, I am in Fl and a single parent of one child,with no other family around, so if you others think you have it bad : ) I am truly excited for my S, as he picked the school that was best for him, and that is most important. Yes, it will be difficult, but I spent some time up there with him recently, I got to know his surroundings. I would suggest this to parents if you can, cover as much of the area as you can, so you can sleep better at night knowing your child is safe, no matter how far away. I think my S and I covered more time and distance on the T than anyone in two days, lol.</p>
<p>Weenie: I never said it would be easy. We are not getting any financial aid. D will be spending Thanksgiving weekend in Baltimore with relatives instead of flying home, taking the train from Boston (I think it’s about 8 hours.) D will come home when we can get good airfares or have milage to apply to a tix. She is not taking much with her to school because of the shipping costs. </p>
<p>But, it was her choice to go across country. She is going to a school that appears to be a perfect match for her personality and goals and she is thrilled at the opportunities she will have to live in a city like Boston.<br>
The most important aspect of choosing a school was that it would be the right school for her. She worked her tail off in high school, took every AP class offered, aced her classes and tests and we believe she should be able to go to the best school she could get in to or the one she felt was best for her. From the time our D and S were little, we told them that we would figure out a way for them to go to college where ever they could get in, if it was the right school for them. We never told them to that college should be convenient, practical or near a hub airport.</p>