<p>If you are oos and need to fly home how hard is it to get to the airport? Do ppl use shenandoah airport at, all and connect at Dulles? How do you practically get to and from Dulles from here? What is the easiest way and how much does it cost?</p>
<p>my son will start his junior year at jmu in about 10 days. he has unofficially had a car with him in harrisonburg since his freshman year. he really only uses the car to drive back and forth between home and school. i am not aware of any of the other jmu students we know who live near us travelling to and from jmu by airplane.</p>
<p>How are the academic supports there? Do they exist for the core classes?</p>
<p>Northeast mom- here is one way to get from campus to the airport: JMU has a shuttle (called Home Ride) from campus to the Vienna metro stop. Take the Vienna metro down one stop to the West Falls Church metro. From there you can get a shuttle to Dulles Airport. The shuttle generally leaves campus late Friday afternoon. On the return trip, the shuttle leaves the Vienna metro late Sunday afternoon. There is also a ride board on campus and with so many students from No. VA., rides may be easy to come by.</p>
<p>Thank you Arlingtonmom. I did have this information from the JMU website. I have been told that it does not really workout for oos students. I was curious if anyone uses SDA Airport, or has any other ideas. Greyhound bus terminal in Harrisonburg no longer exists. I thought that S could use that to get to Dulles. Greyhound also closed their Dulles terminal this month.</p>
<p>Virginia has very few travel options beyond the automobile (sadly). I've never heard of anybody using the Shenandoah airport.</p>
<p>Amtrak goes through Staunton, 20 miles south, three times a week. Amtrak goes through Charlottesville about 60 miles Southeast twice a day. There's another airport in Charlottesville and one in Roanoke. </p>
<p>Really, ride-board is the best option, getting you into the NOVA area. Once there, public transportation options abound.</p>
<p>I went to college in Ithaca many years ago, and getting home to New England was almost as hard as this.</p>
<p>Redbeard, that is interesting about Ithaca. I wonder if transportation is that tough today from Ithaca. I don't know much about it, except someone I know has a D that started last year and there was bus for her drops her off 15 minutes from her home in New Jersey. Ithaca offered her some nice merit aid as well (which is why her parents allowed her to go there). My S is considering Ithaca too, but we have not visited yet. There are 2 schools on his list that we have not seen, and Ithaca is one. Ithaca just got its aacsb accreditation (this is a business school accreditation that is important for grad school). Business is Ithaca's weakest area, but now maybe that will change. At least if he went there, he would be able to get home:).</p>
<p>Can you tell me where in NOVA he should be dropped off to get to the airport by public transit of some kind. I obviously know nothing about this area.</p>
<p>Right. Actually, I went to the <em>other</em> university in Ithaca;-) Transportation problems were the same, though. There was a bus for NJ and NYC, but nothing, alas, for Boston. Scheduled air service connected to Philly and NYC (as it does today) and Washington (then, not now).</p>
<p>As for my current back yard (NOVA), the best place to get dropped is the West Falls Church Metro station. It's right off Interstate 66 inside the Beltway. There's an express bus that goes to Dulles from there--I've taken it before and it works. He can also take the Metro to Reagan National, which is right on the Metro line. (Orange line to Blue, but the maps are easy to figure out). </p>
<p>If the ride won't drop at West Falls Church, then the end of the line is Vienna/Fairfax--closer to JMU because it's further West. The Friday bus drops there as well. You would take Metro two stops to West Falls Church, and proceed as in part a.</p>
<p>For Metro (including airport transportation) schedules, fares, etc., google wmata. </p>
<p>Another option is a ride who lives in the Herndon/Sterling/Reston area of NOVA. That's close enough to Dulles to drop your son at the airport.</p>
<p>My Daughter graduated from JMU's business school in May, and I have a warm spot for Madison. </p>
<p>I'll check back if you have further questions...</p>
<p>RB</p>
<p>RB- sorry I did not think of Cornell! Thanks for the transportation tips, I will need them if he goes to JMU. We loved everything about it except for these transportation headaches!</p>