<p>Anyone else live within 30 minutes of school?..D insists on taking all stuff,though winter clothes won’t be needed for months,and i could drop that off in twenty minutes when needed,lol…</p>
<p>Yep, 10 minutes for us. And we have just the opposite problem. Dd1 is probably taking way less than she could thinking I can just run stuff up to her whenever she needs it. And I could, but I really think she should plan ahead a little better. Anyway, she’ll be back at my house over Labor Day. I’ll encourage hauling more stuff back with her at that time.</p>
<p>I am so jealous. Of BOTH of you! :D</p>
<p>I’m not jealous–we’d be stuck doing laundry all the time if that were the case.</p>
<p>Well, Hunt, in an attempt to avoid that situation, we didn’t let d1 keep the car.</p>
<p>Yep. S will be 20 minutes away from home. And 2 miles from my office. Quite convenient, although I think I’ll PRETEND he’s going farther away.</p>
<p>I went to school ten minutes from home and my home parish was the campus church. When I moved in on move-in day my father hauled all my boxes upstairs, gave me a quick hug and said, " Remember, if you need anything we go to eleven o’clock Mass." And he was out the door before I could say " No you don’t, you go to NINE o’clock Mass" It was just his way of saying that although I was close to home, I was still going to figure it out on my own. A great gift.</p>
<p>We live 3.5 miles from our flagship campus. W and I both work there. S is a Junior in HS. We are struggling with whether to have our school on his prospective list as we think he should get an experince away from his hometown. But…the price is so darn good and the programs excellent.</p>
<p>My son goes to school (now a college senior) in town. When he was applying, we told him that we would pretend that he was going out of town. NEVER showing up unannounced.<br>
He loves his college and could not wait to go back (yesterday). Despite the fact that he is only 15 minutes away, I still had a sadness to see him go. </p>
<p>Since I am on faculty at his school and he gets a courtesy scholarship, there is NO bigger bargain in education. He agrees. </p>
<p>As far as getting out of town, my son’s comment (he goes to a top 20 National University), “I have met people from all over the world at my school. I did not have to leave town to meet them and I now know people in every state in the U.S.” </p>
<p>Sometimes, you have to look at the practical side. He will graduate with NO student loan debt. But mostly, he decided to go there and he LOVES IT!! That is the best part.</p>
<p>Heading back now for 2 nd trip with more stuff…1st trip was 1 hour door to door including unloading and walking stuff into dorm…Love how when u r a freshmen,there are loaads of volunteers to move you in…sophmore year, not a soul to be found. ;)</p>
<p>Two years ago we had the same conversation with S1 as RPG did. We all made a mutual promise that there would be no “drop-ins” in either direction. We all agreed to pretend that he was farther away than 40 minutes. It helped that S1 didn’t have a car for the first 2 years.</p>
<p>rpg1, us, too, only my employer calls it tuition remission. Heck of a bargain, and it means we can afford to pay for the dorm.</p>
<p>First year they seem to take everything: clothes, coats, books, CD’s, everything. Then less every year. I think the first year it helps them feel independent, but they don’t really feel independent yet in deeper ways. By the time they do feel truly independent, it not longer matters emotionally, if they leave some stuff at home. At least that is the way I see it after third child (freshman) just took all winter clothes to school as well, despite my planned visit in 3 weeks. (But the older two now seem to have left a lot of stuff here!)</p>
<p>My D1 leaves on Wed and will move in on Thursday. She is spending the day today by taking her younger brother to lunch so they can “hang out” together. Brother btw has special needs and doesn’t like the whole college thing at all. In his words to her, “College is too crowded, it is sleeping , you no go…” She is also downloading pictures to take with her to her new dorm room. She has 12 rubbermaid containers packed, which does not include clothes. I have no idea if this will all fit or not. She has one roommate and has her own bathroom, microwave, and refrigerator in her room. She will be about 3 1/2 hours away from home. Wish us luck in getting it all to fit.</p>
<p>^^OH MY…12 rubbermaid containers? Have you figured out if they are going to fit in the car, never mind the fact that her dorm room may not have it all fit???</p>
<p>My son’s college a about an hour from our house and about 20 mins from my job. He was choosing between colleges all over the country, so it is just a stroke of luck that he ended up so close. Having said that, he told us several times “absolutely no drop ins” and that he does not intend to see us/visit any more often than he would have if he had gone to the opposite side of the country. We will see… On the one hand I hope the lure of his little sisters, home comforts and his car (which we are keeping at our house) will lure him back alittle more often than that. On the other hand, I hope he really adjusts to school, makes friends, joins activities and “really” moves away and feels independent, etc. I certainly have no intention of doing all his laundry as a friend whose kid goes to the same school does!</p>
<p>Haystack, this was true for us as well. Both my S and we (his parents) worried that if he went to our flagship in the town he has grown up in, he wouldn’t really get to spread his wings even though the school has an excellent program in his prospective major and is affordable for us. We arranged for him to take several courses there as a senior in high school, and what he found out was that his experience once on campus was very different from his previous experience as a “townie.” By March of his senior year, when college decision time came around, our flagship was his first choice school. He moved into the dorms for his freshman year and we saw/heard virtually nothing of him for about about a semester. Now, as a sophomore, he seems to feel that he has established himself as a semi-independent adult; he regularly comes over for dinner or goes out to lunch with one of us, sometimes shows up at church, and has hosted his high school age sibling in his dorm room. But except for the fact that we have no travel expenses to speak of, he might as well be attending school in another location.</p>
<p>For the first year, my son commuted. It made all the difference for him (and us) that he dormed thereafter. Finally he got the “real college experience” like all his friends. It was only an advantage that he was just 20 minutes away. We let him decide when he wanted to come home and every now and then, he’d call and ask to get away for just a few hours (especially when studying for finals). We were more than pleased that we could get him like that in a moment’s notice.</p>
<p>Have the same experiences as many have stated…20 minutes away, may as well be 6 hours…We don’t drop in,D doesn’t come home often…however, she is able to join us for family dinners for birthdays,anniversary,etc…Very nice to have the convinience of being close…</p>
<p>Ditto, qdogpa!</p>
<p>My S will be a sophomore. Not sure when the freshmen move in, but the website that tells when the various dorms open says you should move in on the suggested day, as assistance will not be available on the other days. So it sounds like there will be student help for moving in even if you’re not a callow freshman. That’s what I’m hoping, anyway. :)</p>
<p>He’s not taking his winter boots/coat yet. That can wait until late October or so. At that time I can bring his shorts home.</p>
<p>After 3 kids who went anywhere from 3 1/2 to 8 hours away, we deserve one only 20 minutes away!</p>