@TiggyB62 I like the Amtrack idea. It would be fun to try that from Denver, for me, if he does choose Cornell, thx. Used to take Amtrack from NY to Boston all the time. Such a nice ride. Denver -Syracuse sounds like an adventure !
Are there sleeping cars? I guess I’ll go check that next!
@TiggyB62 It may make sense in the winter, to Amtrack to Chicago and fly from there, as I think about it. We have relatives in Chicago. This would work well for my son. I feel good, this is a good suggestion, thanks. (now he will probably choose UIUC, just as I calm down about Cornell and winters! )
A little upstate NY meteorological advice - Syracuse has more lake (Ontario - look at a map) effect snow than Ithaca, so Ithaca should be a safer bet snow wise. Airlines might favor Syracuse though, since it’s a bigger city with more passengers, so if they have only one plane to go at the origination city, they might favor Syracuse. The weird thing about prices, is that when I bought my daughter’s fall and Thanksgiving break tickets to come home to Detroit (I’m a forward looking engineer dude), the fares were the lowest that I’ve paid for any flights in a very long time, about $200. Not enough savings to compensate for the $'s I’ll pay to Cornell though…
While Syracuse, Rochester and Buffalo are in the infamous “snow belt”, Ithaca isn’t.
Though it does get some lake-effect snow from Cayuga Lake though. And it still gets its share of snow.
I flew from Syracuse to Toledo while going there. It’s not as big of an issue as you think. It snows a lot, but they are also well equipped for it. It is NOT worth taking a bus to NYC or anywhere else to fly out. You can get from Syracuse to a hub. Hub to Denver no problem.
My son mostly flies out of Ithaca. We are on the East Coast. Thanksgiving was easy because I had booked ahead. Winter break was awful because (United) flights kept getting canceled. United finally paid for a ticket on Delta since they had no more flights for several days. Delta flight got canceled but I was able to rebook him out of Elmira. That was a $100 cab ride to the airport! He had no trouble flying back to Ithaca after break. For spring break (now) all the flights out of Ithaca were gone so I booked him on Delta out of Syracuse along with a $40 bus ticket there. His return ticket is on United to Ithaca.
@Dragonflygarden this year for spring break, my DH and I took a few days off work, drove the 12 hour road trip, stopped at Niagra and then made our way on Friday to Ithaca to pick up our D for spring break. We did some hiking on Saturday around Lake Seneca and saw some awesome waterfalls this time of year before heading back to Chicago. We are driving her to Detroit to fly back to Ithaca.
@TiggyB62 Nice! We visited Niagara Falls at drop off in August. We really enjoyed it 
DS chose Cornell for grad school. ! Thank you for all the helpful hints. I will capture these hints and give them to him. Elmira is half the distance that Syracuse International Airport and Delta flies to Detroit and back. That may be a good option as the parking is only $50 per week at Elmira Corning Regional.
Congrats to Coloradoson.
He chose well, I think. And I hope.
He will be walking in the shadows of giants, among the brilliant people in that department.
Ithaca is wonderful.
Visit him around October 15th, you won’t regret it. Make him take you to the state parks.
DS prefers Syracuse over Ithaca due to supposedly lousy cab service within Ithaca, never a direct flight and many possible cancellations or delays due to non-direct flights. Ithaca limo works for him - longer ride to Syracuse but frequent bus service and many direct flights. No cancellations so far for flights either!
@cd2015 Thanks. I guess I need to book my own flight home, so I will look at Syracuse I think. We are driving from Colorado to Ithaca next month, to help him move his car there. He found housing with other grad students already, so he is all set. Its exciting to see him take this big step. He has been in Cleveland for four years, it will be a nice change for him, and a lot more like Colorado, it seems. I used to live in New Jersey, so I have a sense of what the fall is like, and that will be wonderful. Colorado has no fall colors and few trees compared to Ohio or New York State.
Daily bus service from Ithaca’s State Street bus terminal is offered to both SYR Airport and BUF Airport. The service is direct (i.e., no change of bus required), but it is not nonstop. Fares and schedules can be found at www.trailwaysny.com.
Local bus service between the ITH Airport and Cornell, Collegetown, and downtown Ithaca is provided by TCAT. The ground transportation page of the Airport’s website, www.flyithaca.com, provides links to the pertinent TCAT route schedules.
As of October, 2017, all scheduled air service on American, Delta, and United in and out of ITH is on 50-seat regional jet equipment.
@Guv, about how long does it take to ride that bus to Buffalo? Me and my son have flown out of Elmira, Ithaca and Rochester so far. It turns out he cannot leave his car on the Ithaca streets in the winter, so he has to park it at an airport or store it, if he leaves Ithaca in the winter. Still, its all going very well. Some houses do have off street parking
but he shares a very nice house in an area without off street parking. He parks on the street, which is not a problem, he just has to move his car around every few days, in the winter so they can clear his street of snow.