Since everyone is picking college from the list think about location twice.
I just had a panick call from DD.
She attends Rhodes College in Memphis TN and we are in Metro DC.
There are very few direct flights and they are very expensive between DC and Memphis. Also direct flights are sometimes canceled due to changes at airlines.
She had pre-booked flight on Southwest for today with 1 hour connection in Chicago. All was great until she got notice that her first flight will have 1 hour delay…
After frantic call to Southwest, she is leaving to airport now on Uber(skipping afternoon classes) and flying to Houston…sitting there for 4 hours arriving to Baltimore (instead of original flight to DC). That was the only available flight to get her home today.
Well, she is still lucky. College is relatively close to airport…so she can hop on Uber quickly and it does not cost fortune, and DC has 3 airports so there are some flights.
On the other hand, older DD is in Atlanta. There are always direct flights between Atlanta and DC for bargain prices with Marta (local subway) going to airport.
I agree…but these flight cancellations and delays can even happen at large metro airports. My worst experience flying ever was actually flying out of Atlanta. I got home that day…but I honestly wondered if I would!
It sounds like your DD was very resourceful and did what she had to do. That’s terrific.
My kid went to college all the way across the country and had travel issues multiple times (and not teeny airports either). She was very very good at dealing with these travel issues!
Well I told her to call Southwest, but she did great. Packed in 10 minutes 
. Already at the gate 
I’d definitely prefer convenient direct flights from our airport to an airport within a reasonable drive or with a regular, not-too-long shuttle service from the college.
Not sure this is on S24’s radar, however. The issue may take care of itself, but if not it might sort of be on NUM’s secret agenda for post-admission visits (to point out what it took to get wherever).
Well, except for St Andrews. I can handle a connection or some planes-trains-and-automobiles for that.
My kid knew how to handle connections, cancelled flights, delayed flights, changed flights, really she was and is great at dealing with these things.
She does this better than I do!
Dream about shuttle services to airport on regular basis. I have heard that some colleges have shuttles but not on regular basis. 1 or 2 a day would not solve situation since you do not want to sit at an airport for 3-5 hours depending on flight time.
Rhodes used to help students to get to airport but not anymore.
The school my boys go/went to had a shuttle service that was decent, but they both drove their cars from freshman year on. Our younger son will be driving the 500+ miles home today starting in about an hour.
That is a lot! I would prefer at least 2 drivers in a car in such situation.
He actually prefers to do the drive alone, but this time he’s traveling with a teammate. I made the very same trip when I went there, but with no cell phone or GPS/Waze. It’s not a hard drive at that age.
Sorry to hear about your daughter’s travel delays. Good advice to consider airports and related transportation logistics. A major airport with direct flights to our city was an important factor during the college selection process.
Rideshare prices have increased but the train is still a very good option for my son. There is a stop on campus and it takes him directly to the airport. The university also runs a shuttle during major breaks (e.g. winter, spring, Thanksgiving) that leaves campus every hour during a 12-hour window.
The Philadelphia airport is the closest but I like that my son has the option of the NYC area airports too. He can easily hop on the train at 30th Street Station to get into the city. I have done that a few times and just taken the train down to Philly. It’s super convenient.
Definitely something to think about. Yes they will probably survive/figure it out when problems arise but do they want to have to? A decision to make as a family.
DD’19 was all into getting away for college. We found a good deal on one 500 miles away. More than I would want her to drive alone. We flew to visit it, and I made her lead the way. One hour from our house to smallish airport, 3 hour layover in St. Louis, 45 minutes from smallish airport to college. Only one flight per day offered on SW. Two weeks after the visit she decided she didn’t want to deal with that. Visiting was very valuable.
Closer airports, nonstop and more frequent flights would have made it more palatable.
Totally agree. This is 4th flight home this year and 3 times she complained (and she is not complaining person. )
First time she barely made connection (Direct flight was canceled. The delay for the first flight was announced at last moment. Connection was very tight in Atlanta. In the end she got lucky. First flight arrived on time and second got delayed. ) One flight back was through Orlando. After trip she said she would never fly through Orlando again. Airport was too busy and she could not even get to outlet to charge laptop and do something productive during 5 hour layover (that was after Thanksgiving…)
And now today’s adventure…But it does not look that she is interested to transfer since she is happy so far with her college choice.
There is a lot of variety. You have everything from a regularly-scheduled bus or train service that is part of the local transit system, to colleges arranging a service but only around breaks, to an on-demand sort of system . . . . Just one of those things to research.
I mean, I certainly don’t want to, so for visits I would be renting a car if it was not a viable rideshare situation.
If S24 understands the deal and still wants to sign up for that sort of travel day because he likes the college that much better, OK then.
I used to do some really long drives as a young adult. Like 19 hours in a day to go see a friend sort of things.
Now I stop for power naps, and would never do that sort of thing even with another driver. But such is life.
Hard to imagine not keeping this in mind! That said my poor kid has to fly from one small non-hub airport to one tiny non-hub airport. It’s an all-day endeavor and that’s without winter weather, cancellations and delays. He is doing awesome with it though. Last spring when he was 18 he had to get a hotel and rebook his ticket due to a missed connection. Didn’t have his bag, either — it had gone on to his final destination! And I’m sure there’s plenty of internationals on here for whom travel is truly a hassle.
I will note these kids have no idea what a full chaotic travel day was like back before we had phones with maps, entertainment, airline apps, restaurant finders, and so on.
But in the event that system also fails, the world will burn anyway. So I guess I would go pick them up . . . .
I flew in and out of DSM for my four years, I can’t even remember how I got from the airport to college in the middle of the cornfields. But I do remember a group of us students waiting on connections at O’Hare and ordering drinks at 10:30am. I almost missed my flight because I misplaced my paper ticket. 
From Memphis to DC? No way. You can pay me thousands, I would not do it… For me there are only 2 trips to Memphis: move-in day freshman year and graduation day .
Agree with everyone on thinking about airports and travel related issues. Also, think about cost of those flights. We were lucky with our oldest - plenty of non-stop flights offered daily to the closest airports to her school, cost fairly steady. Same with our second child.
With S24, there is a huge range of flight costs depending on the schools he is choosing between. One school has plenty of direct, non-stop flights available to/from with (again) fairly steady flight pricing. The other school has basically 2 non-stop flights a day, tiny planes and wildly fluctuating pricing for seats.
So #1 is definitely a front runner.
You will probably not be shocked that the second college is higher on S24’s list right now. 