Extension to this, if your kid has a medical condition, make sure to Google Map local area health providers and distance to a major medical facility.
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During college I used to drive from Virginia to Toronto by myself in a world without gps 
it was character building.
That said, being in the PNW we are conscious of how hard it is to get here from lots of places. D23 is in Texas which works fine because sheās in a major city, but S25 is looking at some remote LACs that are going to require some reflection.
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Seems like this could be another barrier to college for some students in rural areas (some of which are outside of reasonable commuting distance to any college). In some such areas, the nearest airport may be a small one that requires a connection to get anywhere other than the (monopoly at that airport) airlineās hub on the one or two flights per day, so any airline trip is an ordeal and a risk of missed connections. If the college is also in a remote area, another connection at the other end adds to the issues.
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And cost of travel is not in any FA package either.
Some schools include transportation in their cost-of-attendance numbers that they base their financial aid offers on.
However, actual transportation costs can have a huge variation. A student who lives in walking distance from the college has less actual transportation costs than one who lives in a distant remote area a considerable distance from a small airport with a monopoly airline from which a two connection flight is needed to get to the nearest airport which is still a considerable distance from the college.
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Yep this is our situation. We have to take an early am hopper to Seattle, Denver, lax or sfo to get anywhere. All her possible schools are going to be a day of travel each way.
Except at Clark if you are on the west coast. They give $5000 per year for helping with travel costs. I thought that was pretty generous.
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Have to admit that while easy airline flights home etc wasnāt a big priority to us when DS was considering schools, we have been thrilled that direct flights from DC to Jax are easy to book. (We live a little over an hour from Jax).
I am very pleased we donāt have to stress about connecting flights.
Andā¦now the DC metro goes to Dulles airport, too, so we have two airports to choose from if need be.
Very happy.
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BWI into DC is relatively easy as well - so three airports helps a lot in the DC area. It is the beltway that hurts the most in DC.
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Our problem is not DC but Memphis. There are very few airlines that fly to Memphis. Only American has direct with very few Southwest flights. Traffic in DC is a norm. Several times DD was waiting too long for pickup due to accidents on roads.
Another thing that limits travel is arrival and departure time. It is not safe for DD to depart from or arrive to Memphis late at night or early in the morning and use Uber at such time.
My S22 attends a school on the opposite coast. He only comes home at semester break which has worked out fine. We still get him over the summer and during the long semester break. Thanksgiving is a bad time to travel anyway, and Spring Break is perfect for exploration with friends on his side of the country. I would not choose a school based upon ease of travel home. Itās only four one way flights per year this way. Four months apart (mid August to mid December and then mid January to mid May) is fine for a young adult. We text frequently and talk on the phone when he is chatty or when I just need to hear his voice. Iāve learned to text first and give him the space he needs. S20 (also OOS) was similar, but calls much more frequently now. We did visit S20 once during his UG years and will likely visit S22 at some point as well.
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All sounds great, except when school sends email begging parents and students to leave campus on Thanksgivingā¦ That was a surprise. They apparently provide 0 services. (Like no food. No anybody but security. ) School also literally closes campus during winter break and move students off campus to alternate locationā¦
Older daughter never left campus for Thanksgiving at public college, so we were not ready for this and did not buy tickets in advance. DD begged to take her out at any cost since she did not want to be alone for 5 days among empty buildings.
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We have hosted dozens of college kids over the years for holidays-- major holidays, minor holidays, etc. Our synagogue does active and frequent outreach to various local colleges reminding them that any kid that canāt go home or doesnāt want to go home or canāt afford to go home can just shoot off an email to the hospitality coordinator who will arrange pickup, drop off, a bed/meals, etc. for as long as they need. Various other community organizations do as well.
Itās not that hard. And my basement and garage are usually stuffed over the summer with boxes from kids who didnāt want to or couldnāt pay for summer storage. It started with my kids friendsā¦ but itās now word of mouth! (anyone need a few Ikea bookcases which were abandoned a few years ago?)
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Thanksgiving will be hard for us if my D decides to go to the east coast. One reason I am sort of liking DePaulās schedule. They get out for their winter break at Thanksgiving and donāt go back until Jan. This would definitely work in our favor.
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You just need to be open minded, resourceful and creativeā¦ and ready to travel only with backpack.
We got Spirit for Thanksgiving. DD flew toā¦ Philadelphia where we picked her upā¦
In less than 6 months she was flying:
Southwest
United
American
Spirit
Delta
I even used Pricelineā¦
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This is us. I have one college kid that flies direct into Seattle but the other kid goes from our small non-hub airport to a really small regional airport in his college town. We also have a 90 minute drive time to get to the nearest airport from home. Then I think of these international students who can take over a day to get to their respective college, often needing to use a hotel, bus, or train somewhere in the mix. So it could for sure be worse.
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I think it is bad the first year, or even semester, and then they meet other kids going to the airport, or to a town near them, and they car pool or hitch a ride. My daughter needed to fly out of Orlando unless she wanted to pay a lot and change planes in Atlanta from her college town. Orlando airport was about an hour away and a $3 toll. There was a shuttle that was between $60 and $90 but she always found someone to drive her for about $10 in gas plus tolls. And then she got a boyfriend and he had a car so he had to drive her.
My other daughter was about 2.5 hours away, but that was 5 hours round trip for me. She had a friend who lived about half way and sheād coordinate with him and Iād pick her up at his house.
And then after that first year they never come home on a regular basis anyway. The one near Orlando played a sport so never had a spring break to travel. The other one would pop in when she was in Denver doing other things - going to sporting events, going to a haunted house, going to the airport to visit someone else. IMO, it is a freshman issue that gets resolved.
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The good news about Midd is that it now has an Amtrak station! My daughter and I just booked train tickets there from Philly for accepted students dayā¦
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It was just finished a year before my kid graduated. However, she has taken the train there to visit a couple of friends who āFebbedā themselves (if you havenāt yet heard the term, thatās when students who started in the fall take a term off and graduate with the Febs instead of with the students that they started with)
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We are Californians with a sophomore at DePaul. The Thanksgiving to New Years break is fantastic. My D works at her āsummerā job for that time, earns a bit of money and we get to have all that time with her!
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