<p>I’ve seen a lot of posts over the past year about the additional cost of sending a kid long distance to school. Since I just made reservations for April to go pack up my student, I thought I would post some information. </p>
<p>Cost of tickets for parent to fly round trip, one way ticket for kid to get home: $519.00. This is using Southwest and then driving two hours from the major airport. Buying tickets into our secondary airport are much more expensive. </p>
<p>Cost of hotel overnight while packing up kid $177.00 (two star hotel but it offers free parking in Boston). </p>
<p>Meals, etc. while there $125.00. </p>
<p>All told this one trip to get kid home will be about $1000.00. </p>
<p>Note that I have family in the area. I will be flying to their home, borrowing one of their cars, then return the car, along with a bunch of stuff which will get stored at their home during the summer. </p>
<p>Now, I know that I do not have to go pack the kid up. When he arrived last fall as a freshman I did not go. He flew to family, my brother packed a car, drove to the campus, dropped him and the stuff off and left. It seemed economical and easier at the time, though I really wanted to be there. </p>
<p>This time I want to go meet the roommate, the girls down the hall, etc. Off and on this year I have spoken to many of them…some of the kids tell my son they feel like they already know me and also want to meet me. So off I go…</p>
<p>I also know that if your kid is a 6 hour drive away it is still expensive… I am really just posting this because I have never tried to quantify the extra expense. We are blessed that I can book the airline tickets without worrying that I can’t afford them. Son has had a great year and I have no regrets. Just wanted to share this information with other parents who are weighing the expense vs. the school, etc.</p>
<p>just be aware that most kids finish finals, pack up and leave at different times at the end of spring semester.If the object of the visit is to meet everyone you felt cheated out of meeting at the beginning of the year you may be out of luck.</p>
<p>cathymee,
I understand. Thanks for the caution. I’m hoping to meet some of them…the main reason for the trip is that there is no way my elderly parents can help him pack up and I remember my college days where I was taking finals and thinking about packing at the same time…</p>
<p>ebeeeee I took those things (cost, time, etc.) into consideration and STILL feel it wasn’t the best idea. </p>
<p>D is in Western Mass, with her family and friends in So Cal. Many of her friends are “envious” that D is more adventurous and took a bigger “risk” than they (the furthest any of them ventured is No.Cal). She, on the other hand, feels “left out” of their long weekends together. Pres weekend is a prime example, the friends are getting together while she clearly cannot be a part of it. I feel for my kid. </p>
<p>It costs a bomb to fly them back and forth from overseas. It’s a line item on my family spreadsheet. Storing their stuff over the summer is costly and complicated. H has visited twice in 2.5 years, I have visited once. S1 is closer to his college friends than his high school friends. He is only too happy to spend the weekends with them.</p>
<p>S2 had a more dynamic group of friends in high school but I expect he too will find an even closer group in college.</p>
<p>Sure they do but it is pricey and I don’t trust it after reading all the stories about stuff being lost or delayed for a month to get back to kids. I have free summer storage at my parents home, just that they aren’t able to assist with getting it all prepped for storage.<br>
Mainly, I just wanted to quantify the financial aspect a bit for all those parents who are just figuring out with their kid whether they want to look at schools that are a long way from home.<br>
“justaMom” I hear you about the long weekends. We sat down with DS last year and explained that the distance would mean only coming home for Christmas, spring break and summer. He spent Thanksgiving at roommate’s house and also had several other offers…
Not sure about this Pres. day weekend as far as whether others are off campus. He has made friends with several other students who are from a distance so they are generally all around during the long weekends.<br>
DH went to school long distance so had practical experience to share with DS before this decision was made.
DD wants to stay in CA when she goes off to college in a few years. Knows that she wants to be closer to home.</p>
<p>I agree with you, ebeeeee, that there are a lot of “hidden” costs of attending college far away from home. My D is 1,000 miles away and has a car there. My H and I have had to arrange for car repairs long distance for her as she knows little about cars. My H has an employee who is a mechanic, so if she were closer, repairs would be easier. We have a relationship now with a great repair place and phone numbers for towing co. and tire place. </p>
<p>We have a hard issue coming up this spring re housing. D has been in the same rental for three years (soph.-senior). She has to go one more semester; the others are graduating and moving away. She has complete bedroom furniture, kitchen stuff, car. Now she has to figure out how to handle summer storage and one last semester. If it was within driving distance we could just haul it all home and back in the fall.</p>
<p>As a boarder in high school, in 4 years I never saw a long distance parent come to “pack up.” We packed our stuff and sent it to storage or UPSed it home. Adding those costs as necessary doesn’t seem reasonable.</p>
<p>My son UPS’d his stuff back and forth from Gramma’s house. $600 rt. We never packed him up but when I went to visit him I refused to enter the den of All Things Slovenly until he tidied it up. I didn’t want that visual in my brain. DH went in and helped him–which sufficed as a preliminary pack-up of sorts. It took ninety minutes.</p>
<p>ebeee is really not looking for a solution to the pack up situation. I think all the kids have the same situation since finals are at the end of the term. I’ve never packed up my daughter and don’t plan to do it with my son BUT ebeeee wants to go out there and since she didn’t do it at the beginning wants to make the trip out. The expenses will be about the same for drop off or pick up. I’m guessing that many parents do make the drop off trip in Aug. or Sept. I think that expense is a realistic amount.</p>
<p>All…I really wasn’t looking to be talked out of the trip. I didn’t make the trip in August and just want to see the place for myself.<br>
The real point of my post was to quantify the amount so that parents of high school seniors could get an idea of what costs are…
If I didn’t have the money I wouldn’t go. The point is that every time you want to make a trip like this you have to spend money. If money is tight then families might want to reconsider sending a kid so far from home.</p>
<p>I think it’s great you want to go see your son at college. My point is, please don’t scare any more Californians into making their kids stay in state. I can’t tell you how many of the kids I grew up with have been forced to do so by parents who believe there will be so many problems and extra expenses.</p>
<p>It’s great that you want to meet his friends and see where he is, but truth be told, it’s hard to believe he can’t get himself packed. And I’m with Cheers, does a mom really want to go through her grown sons things??</p>
<p>It’s more like $150 lately. They don’t do major airports in SoCal though. However, I’d drive to Long Beach because Jet Blue is soooo much better than most airlines, but 100X better than Southwest!! I have to love someone a lot to go Southwest!</p>
<p>I visit DD in NY every chance I get but provide no packing services! Call me old an fussy, but I just can’t take Southwest any longer. When I was younger I could do it. Jet Blue is exceptional, this from a spoiled traveler with enough business earned miles to usually go business class.</p>
<p>That was quite something Patient! I do know some of Jet Blue’s management and I can pretty well assure you the PR disaster will ensure it doesn’t happen again.</p>
<p>I went to u in Cal while my parents lived in NJ. Fall of Freshman year, they dropped me at the airport in NJ with a suitcase and large box. I flew home once at Christmas by myself, and at the end of the school year by myself - threw it all back in a box and suitcase. I never gave a thought to my parents not being there to help me. Nor did I think they didn’t care - I just knew it was expensive and that was that!</p>
<p>(I’m not saying you shouldn’t go, just that maybe you really don’t NEED to for your S’s sake)</p>
<p>I went to school cross country and always moved in and packed up without parental help. I have no recollection what I did with stuff over the summer but what I do know is that once in a while I have a version of one of those stress dreams, only instead of having a final in a class I didn’t go to once all semester, I am trying to clean out my dorm room and the closet becomes basically bottomless and I don’t know what to do with all the stuff.</p>
<p>So in other words, maybe if my mom had helped me, I wouldn’t have post-traumatic closet cleaning syndrome :).</p>