<p>If your family decides that it is not a good idea for the student to drive 10 hours straight, you may want to investigate whether motels at around the halfway point will accept a college-age person as a guest. Some will not rent a room to anyone under 21.</p>
<p>I would just note that people who tried to drive 30 hours straight and DID have issues aren’t around to write about it. I think 10 hours is a lot, and is about the very outer limit, for a young, sensible person. A person who is not sleep-deprived.</p>
<p>My kids drove 10+/day when they would bring their cars to/from school on breaks. I can’t imagine telling them they had to stop for the night after 5 hours. They would fly for shorter trips.</p>
<p>My D makes the 16 hour drive between New Orleans and central Iowa several times a year. She does it alone.</p>
<p>She does usually stop and stay overnight at a friend’s in Memphis to break up the trip. We also have other family and friends scattered along the trip if she were to feel the need to stop other times. </p>
<p>I think she has done all 16 hours alone straight one time when the friend in Memphis was in Paris and not available for an overnight stay.</p>
<p>I think it depends on the comfort level and maturity of the driver.</p>
<p>How often would he be making the trip? Twice a year? Three times? </p>
<p>I don’t think ten hours straight is a big deal. If the weather is bad or if he feels tired, he can do it in two days. Are there interesting stops along the way? And it is true, he may be driving with a buddy. </p>
<p>It really depends on how long your S feels he can maintain attention while driving and if he drives alone of with one or more friends. My son went to grad school about 12 hours away. When he drove with someone they switched off and did the trip in a day. If he drove alone he preferred to stay at a hotel overnight and make the trip over two days. For short breaks he would fly home.</p>
<p>Professional truck drivers are limited to 11 hours of driving in a single day.</p>
<p>Let’s say it is 10 hours at 50-60 miles per hour on average is 500-600 miles or 2 tanks full of gas ($60-90). Take into consideration wear and tear on the car etc., and flying or Amtrak becomes a viable $$ option. </p>
<p>Amtrak doesn’t go to that many parts of the country.</p>
<p>Not as a freshman but later DD drove 22 hrs in 2 days usually 12-13 first day. DH would do it in 3 
</p>
<p>I mention it because, in addition to flying, it is a viable option if it serves both the hometown and the schooltown areas. Definitely safer than a nineteen year old driving for 10 hours! </p>
<p>One thing to add: I would not object to my kid driving for 10 hours to come home or visit friends during breaks, but said kid would be given a choice of paid by me air or train tix OR paying his own gas and car insurance money. Most kids do not need to have a car on campus anyway. There is usually a Zipcar, bike, or bus option. My kid went to school in suburbia and got by without a car just fine.</p>
<p>Flying is not always less expensive. I looked into flying S from Portland Me to Ft. Lauderdale and even on Jet Blue it was $1000. I told him I wasn’t paying that to have him go to his grams for a week and sleep until 2 in the afternoon. </p>
<p>Amtrak is a good option depending on where you live. My S is only 5 hours (300 miles) from home but if he took the train it would take 10 hours. He would have to transfer in NYC to another train. Not that it’s a big deal having to transfer, but my point is that not everyone can get on one train and stay on until the get off and it can take a very long time, too. </p>
<p>Of course not. There are situations that make diving a better option. But there are some situations when driving does not make sense. For example, if my kid went to school in the Bay Area, there is no way they would be driving to school on my buck.</p>
<p>It is only a 5 hr drive from here to Spokane. On a nice summer day. When there is no snow in the passes. On a nasty winter day, that 5 hour drive can become a daylong ordeal. OTOH, Horizon flies many times a day between the two spots…</p>
<p>^ You are lucky. It’s expensive flying into and out of my city’s airport to almost everywhere. I live 125 north of NYC and rt airfare can run rt $350-$1300 (and that is booking well in advance) and almost every flight has at least one stop in places like Detroit, Boston, Philly, DC. It’s crazy. No one ever flies from here to NYC even if you are going abroad. People either drive or take limo service - which isn’t cheap either but it’s way less than flying. </p>
<p>My S had a 15-hour drive to college. He usually flew and drove it twice, since he needed to get a car to/from school. The first time I drove with him and flew back. (I was also able to help him get his new apartment set up.) The second time he did it on his own with an overnight hotel stay in the middle. There was some difficulty finding a hotel who would accept an under-21 year old. He wanted to just drive the 15-hours straight, but I didn’t think it was a good idea.</p>
<p>The son of my friend drove 10 1/2 hours from college to home. Sometimes he would carpool with a friend, other times he would drive alone. He often started the drive at 9 PM or 10 PM, causing sleepless nights for my friend. I would always feel a sense of relief when I saw his car in their driveway the morning after he drove home!</p>
<p>Yes, both of my daughters have done it - ten hours. At least one time (D1 senior, D2 freshman) they were together for most of the trip and could switch off. But they have done it alone just a few times. The scariest time for me was one Christmas break when D2 drove home after finals, and the other three were already in Hawaii waiting for her - if something had happened, we would have been very, very far away to help her. But they were very diligent in keeping us updated on where they were, etc.</p>
<p>This last Labor Day weekend, I drove from Chicago to Los Angeles by myself - did anywhere between 8-12 hour days. It was brutal, but doable. Also much different driving in September than December/January. </p>
<p>My D has driven 10 hours several times…she breaks it up with frequent stops. She loves to drive and really doesn’t mind. Of course, it’s always better with someone else in the car. Chances are there will be someone wanting a ride to a destination along the way. Plus, I worry if it’s one hour or ten…</p>
<p>My daughter is a Freshman 9 hours away. We have chosen to fly her home on breaks. I would be a nervous wreck with her driving that far.</p>