<p>We have a Toyota Prius and our daughter’s college is a 19-hour drive. So … we rented a Dodge Grant Caravan from a local car rental firm (these are pretty popular - we had to get our reservation in early). The rental /gas was about the same as our plane tickets would have been Because a majority of students at her college do not live within driving distance (including many international students), there are three options for summer storage. If you wouldn’t die if something turned up missing, you can store boxes in the attic or basement of the dorm. College security also has a “secure storage” room: you sign valuables in and sign them out. This is for items of value like electronics. Then, a student group on campus has a storage service. Large, athletic guys drop off boxes and tape at your room and return at a pre-arranged time to haul your stuff to off-campus storage units for $30 a box. In the fall, your boxes show up at your room, hauled in by the same large, athletic guys. A number of campuses have these services as fund-raisers for athletic teams, etc.</p>