Did your parents give you geographic limitations at the start of your search? Or when covid started? If so, it is hard to argue.
We are also in the northeast and my D wanted at attend a LAC. When she asked about a midwest LAC (it was a fine school that a friend was attending) I said that she would have to explain to me why that was a better school/had a better program for her than one of the many LACs we could drive to before I would consider the additional travel time and expense to attend (and that was pre-covid). She could not do that and ultimately found a number of east coast LACs that turned out to be better matches.