<p>Transfers aren’t necessarily evil, but you have to be savvy about them. I fly Monterey to NYC so I’ve got tons of options with United. But you just have to be smart. For ex in the winter I will NEVER under any circumstances book a flight connecting in Chicago, Dulles or Denver (as much as I like Denver and their free wireless). Winter transfers are always on the west coast. And I avoid Chicago like the plague because of likelihood of delays. San Francisco can get fogged in so I try to avoid that too. The south is a non-issue for me because UA doesn’t have a southeast hub.</p>
<p>Of course, I’ve been travelling alone since I was 10 so my parents aren’t worried about that-hell I book my own tickets and have to tell them what flight I’m on so they can come pick me up! :)</p>
<p>I agree with OP and don’t find it weird at all. There are a number of good schools that will be a good fit for your child, so if they also can be easy to get in and out of, all the better. My son is at a school about a 30 min. bus ride to the airport (that SW flies out of) and it makes our life much easier. D is looking at schools right now, and everything else being equal I would like her to choose one that is easy to fly in and out of.</p>
<p>I thought the only Washington area airport served by Southwest was BWI, which is really in Baltimore, not Washington (leading me to suggest Johns Hopkins or Goucher).</p>
<p>Southwest if now flying into Laguardia…got the ding notice today. There are LOTS of good schools in the NYC area. They also fly into San Jose CA…near enough to Stanford and Santa Clara University. Weather is gorgeous.</p>
<p>likewise, I agree that convenience & cost of transportation (especially on my favorite Southwest) is a worthy criterion.</p>
<p>I’ll add a few…</p>
<p>Johns Hopkins 30 min from BWI, a major Southwest hub. Not quite large enough, but the airport doesn’t get as much terrible winter weather as others farther north.</p>
<p>Vanderbilt in Nashville, another frequent Southwest way-point. Getting closer in size. A bit cooler than your home & it has the ‘seasons’ but lacks the nastiness of a snow-sloppy, airport-closing winter.</p>
<p>The Claremonts…10 minutes from a Southwest terminus, Ontario, but doesn’t fit your cooler weather criterion (certainly less humid) and the schools combined are still small, ~7,000 total (5k undergrad between Pomona, Claremont McKenna, Pitzer, Scripps & Harvey Mudd). [I’m in the process of getting my Southwest Visa because my D wil be going there I’m fairly certain.]</p>
<p>Check out the University of Kansas, about a 45-60 min shuttle ride from KC. Very vibrant campus in a great college town. They also have a 4-year tuition compact that guarantees 8 semesters at the rate when the student starts. R & B can be locked in for 2 years. It is great for budgeting exactly how much a degree form KU will cost. My freshman flies to KU on Southwest from MHT.</p>
<p>I recommend Saint Louis University. Very vibrant campus, great student body and is about 12,000 students. They also give nice merit aid and have over 85 majors. It is a popular school among Texas students.</p>
<p>Include my S in the loves KU group. I don’t think it gets the recognition it deserves because, well…it’s in Kansas, but it really is a great gem in the midwest. Academics are strong and their is great school spirit both on and off campus. Lawrence is one of those quintessential college towns with a unique cosmopolitan feel, not what you think of when you hear Kansas.</p>
<p>I’m flying with DS to Univ of Oklahoma later this month. SW from Houston to OKC, then just a short ride to Norman. Bet they have a shuttle. Also, OSU has a shuttle from Tulsa.</p>
<p>Since Loyola and DePaul have been mentioned, I’ll hit you up with Indiana State. I don’t know much about it, bit it is in Terre Haute, not far from Indy, and Indy is a Southwest city.</p>
<p>I think ease of travel is a great place to start (and end, if possible). Our D goes non-stop from Midway to San Antonio, as do we.</p>
<p>By the way…before you book on Southwest, check other carriers. We have found less expensive flights for ourselves and our kid on other carriers from Raleigh to Hartford. AND the other carrier is non-stop…Southwest has a stop. Ditto the kid flying to CA. Southwest flies to San Jose, but she has only flown Southwest twice. Other times, other airlines were less expensive with less stops or more convenient times.</p>
<p>Well, yes. As a Cornell parent, I have to agree with you.</p>
<p>I believe the classic description of Ithaca is “centrally isolated.”</p>
<p>Those who know Cornell know that its founder, Ezra Cornell, wanted to establish a university with a broader educational scope and more diverse student population than those of most of the other colleges in existence at the time. The well-known quote from him is that he wanted to “found an institution where any person could find instruction in any study.”</p>
<p>There is an old Cornell joke in which Ezra supposedly describes his plan to a friend, who replies, “Gee, Ezra, with a plan like that, your new college is going to be swamped with potential students.” To which Ezra replies, “Wait, you haven’t seen where I’m going to put it.”</p>
<p>I think proximity to Southwest service is a sensible criterion, though certainly not the only one. I don’t mind sending my D away to school but I want to be able to have her fly home from time to time, or fly to see her. It’s true that major cities generally have good air service if you’re not concerned about the cost, but there’s very little price competition between many major city pairs, unless there are two competing hubs involved. For example, Mpls-St. Paul has long been a major hub for a major carrier (Northwest), which means we have non-stop service, and generally frequent service at convenient hours, to most major cities. But in many cases the cost of that service has been sky-high except on routes involving another carrier’s hub–e.g., Twin Cities-Chicago (Northwest/United, Northwest/American), Twin Cities-Denver (Northwest/United, Northwest/Frontier), Twin Cities-Atlanta (Northwest/Delta), Twin Cities-Houston (Northwest/Continental), Twin Cities/Dallas (Northwest/Continental). But Twin Cities-Detroit (both Northwest hubs) often costs two to three times as much as Twin Cities/Cleveland (Northwest/Continental), a trip of similar length (actually, Cleveland’s a little further). Southwest, committed to fighting for the lower end of the market, not operating on a hub-and-spoke system and willing to compete aggressively on prices, brings down airfares dramatically as other carriers fight to retain market share. So if you’re in a Southwest city, need to fly to another Southwest city, and don’t mind a stopover (most college kids don’t), it’s a pretty good bet you can find a reasonable airfare either on Southwest or on its competitors serving the same city pair.</p>
<p>My D is looking at several Philadelphia-area schools. We already had pretty good price competition on the Twin Cities-Philadelphia route (Northwest/US Airways), but with Southwest now entering the Twin Cities market we can be reasonably confident airfares will remain low or even come down a bit on that route as Philadelphia is also served by Southwest. Boston-area schools, not so much; Northwest pretty much has the Twin Cities-Boston route locked down, and airfare is much higher.</p>
<p>I absolutely agree that it’s in the parent’s perogative to set geographical limitations on their kid’s college search. Southwest is the most reliable, dependable airline serving the U.S. these days. And the only one who does not charge for up to TWO checked bags. The thing is, they fly into so many cities, that there is a plethora of options of colleges to look at.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, our kids did not end up in Southwest cities, but are close enough that when we visit, we will use Southwest, and rent a car (one was an hour and a half from a Southwest airport and the other is an hour and 15 minutes). Living in Chicago, I have the option of almost any major airline that’s out there, yet I will bypass O’Hare and drive down to Midway (or take the train) in order to fly Southwest. I seem to have story after story of how they have accommodated us in the past, and story after story of how all the other airlines have screwed us over. </p>
<p>Regarding the Minneapolis to Boston trip, my bet is that they may offer one or two non-stops a day, but most of the flights will probably go through Midway as they are trying to establish Midway as their second hub.</p>
<p>How about USC. I know Los Angeles isn’t cold climate but it is beats Texas.
My oldest is in South Florida. Each visit we check the Southwest fares and we have yet to find a great price. Last time I found a better fare on American that brought her right home to Santa Barbara. For her next visit she is flying on Continental into LAX for 175 round trip.
Though when we have visited family in Tucson we find Southwest to be the cheapest by far.
I have a young friend who is at the Claremont colleges. Her boyfriend is at Cal. If they plan ahead they can visit each other once a month for $29 each way. Oakland to Ontario.</p>
<p>We were on a Southwest flight about two weeks ago that landed at Bradley Airport (Hartford/Springfield) around 11 pm. There were tons of Wesleyan and Yale kids on the flight coming back from spring break, and the Yale kids even had a bus or van waiting to take them to campus.</p>