With another monster storm about to wreak havoc, including at several colleges, an important element for all parents to consider is what is the evacuation plan for the school and your child when something like a hurricane hits. Especially relevant to out of state students!
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Even beyond an evacuation plan, it’s a good idea for college students to have an emergency kit…We’re in California where earthquakes - including major ones - are always a possibility. Amazon sells many options (just search “earthquake emergency kit”), but you can put one together yourself. It doesn’t have to be fancy, but I would recommend anyone living near a fault be ready with one (which applies to students at many California universities).
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Absolutely.
I note there are some areas usually rated as less prone to mass natural disaster (not a lot of hurricanes, earthquakes, wildfires, tornadoes, large floods, or so on). Here is a “fun” study if you are interested:
But even the states low on that list face something that could affect a college, particularly at a bad time for an individual student–snow storms, for example.
So not that it is necessarily the only factor, but thinking about how your student would be able to travel if necessary in such a situation is maybe worth considering among other practical issues.
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We’re in CA here with our earthquakes and wildfires, but one of our good friends has a daughter who attended Tulane 2019-2024 where she experienced more than her fair share of storms - most notably Ida in 2021 - which hit right when kids were starting up their terms in August. She had a minivan which she was able to drive to a relatives’ house in LA, but many kids were bussed out of the area and it could be pretty stressful. Something you might want to check out with schools in these flood/disaster areas is how much mold etc. can build up in the housing, if that is an issue for your student’s health.
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There was a comment on a different thread a while back about a kid(s) that were experiencing allergen problems just by being in a different location than “home”. Could be tree pollen or anything else. Yes, mold is going to be more of an issue in the South. Dry air (winter) is going to be more of an issue in the North. All things to consider for sure.
CA is far too large a state to group the entire 1000 x 500 mile size as having a shared natural disaster risk. I also live in CA. I have low earthquake risk because I live far from major fault lines. Similarly I have relatively low wildfire risk because I live far from forest areas. I also have low hurricane, tornado, flood, blizzard, extreme heat/cold, extreme storm, extreme wind, and nearly any other natural disaster risk… except drought. The latter can be challenging when trying to maintain vegetation that requires regular water, such as a lawn. However, it’s not something for which I’d need to be concerned about having an evacuation plan.
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We had hiccup last year in Memphis due to snow…Pipes burst. Kids were asked to leave campus. Some were placed into shady motels with cold pizza once a day. DD got very lucky. Some friends of one college friend adopted 4 students for several days 2 hours away from Memphis. There were no in person classes for more than a week. We were very grateful to people who adopted DD.
This year at least DD has a car with her, so she does not need to rely on other people so much.
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Yes, but many California colleges are on or near fault lines so this would be relevant to many students, including out of state students, who may be less aware of the risk and how to prepare for it. If it does not relate to your specific situation, then sure, you can ignore it. But is does apply to many in the state, including college students. As they say, know your risk.
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Yes, there are both higher and lower risk areas in CA. There are some areas with near zero risk. One could make a similar comment about the USA as a whole. An international student who was attending college in the USA might have higher risk at some colleges in the USA and lower risk at other colleges in the USA. Different colleges in the same state or country often have completely different risk of natural disasters, with different types of natural disasters having higher or lower risk.
My point is why focus on the state in which the college is located, rather than the actual risk level?
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Last year kid got stuck in Atlanta for 3 days for a snow storm. This year kid got a hurricane day. And after school is out for the summer, tornadoes are not uncommon
That state list was intended just as a starting point for conversation, not a final definitive answer.
Of course if you have a convenient source for looking up much more localized risk levels, that would be super cool, so please do share.
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We were considering a house in Florida but for various reasons, hurricanes being one of them, have decided against doing so. So, I would not be surprised for the substantially increased frequency of hurricanes to deter students as well.
I would also think LBTGQ students might hesitate to go to school in places that were hostile to their existence. But, I would not imagine thinking about that by state. I understand that Auburn is a liberal enclave within Alabama and that the Research Triangle Area of NC could be a welcoming area even if other parts of the state are not.
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If the student in question is a young woman, she had better imagine thinking about that by state. A “blue” area in a red state is still governed by the red state.
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The preceding sentence before quoted mentioned a LBTGQ student being concerned about areas hostile to their existence. Different college campuses in the same state can have different types of support for LBTGQ students, different degrees of LBTGQ representation in the general student population, and different degrees of general hostility. A student may also want to review specific policies that interest them, such as situation with housing options, roommate assignment, bathrooms, etc. Simply looking at whether the college is in a red or blue state is unlikely to be sufficient.
That said, there are some state specific legislations that are common among all colleges within the state. I suspect you were hinting at access to abortion, which of course does vary by state (among other factors).
Natural disasters and weather are definitely a deciding factor for my 11th grader.
This thread is about hurricanes/natural disasters. Move on from LGBTQ, abortion access red/blue states. That has already been discussed in other threads and should be in the political forum.
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