When I was in U of MN, I lived across the street from an entrance to the tunnels that allowed access to the most of the West Bank campus so I survived without a coat even in the coldest of weather.
I actually found the unrelenting grey of Beloit worse than than the cold of MN
Well it is miserable when it’s super cold. I don’t care how much gear you have, it’s just plain old unpleasant right now here in Chicago and in Ann Arbor where my kid goes. But “ concerned”? No. I was way more concerned about my kid who went to a southern school where they’d get a snow storm once every few years and literally couldn’t figure out that you need to slow down when it snows.
I have vivid memories of walking home from school with a “real” temperature in the -30s and then add a wind chill that put it down somewhere around -70. Everyone who lived closer than 2 miles to the school walked. Buses were reserved for those living more than 2 miles away. Needless to say, we were frozen before we left school grounds, but no one died or ended up hospitalized or similar. Can’t say I want to do it again though. One memory of such a day is enough. There’s a reason I moved south of where I grew up. I like winter, but not that much winter.
FWIW my mom tells me now that school closes if it gets that cold with wind. They have far more snow days now than we ever had in my youth. I mainly recall school getting closed for ice (freezing rain) and once for the Blizzard of '77 (different than the '78 blizzard which didn’t really hit our area). We got two whole days in a row off for that blizzard - unheard of getting two in a row! There were plenty of years when we only had one or two snow days for the whole school year.
My mom laughs at how quickly they close or delay school in my current area of PA. If they used the same standards where I grew up (next to Canada) they would pretty much give the whole winter off.
Houston is very hot and humid in August and September. The rest of the school year at Rice is very nice with a little cold (meaning below 60 for the high) weather in January. Hurricane Harvey hit at the beginning of the 2017 school year. Rice took great care of the students keeping them busy in the dorms with games and activities and feeding them great meals. The deans even stayed on campus throughout the storm. Some cars in the parking lot were flooded, but none of the dorms had any damage. Hopefully another hurricane won’t hit Houston any time soon.
The biggest issues for public schools are uncleared sidewalks and snowbanks so high that small kids walking to the bus can’t be seen by drivers. Colleges don’t generally have those problems.
@thumper1. He/she did not… Lol… My son’s at Michigan and he hasn’t worn his snow boots yet… When I went to visit students running around with light type of pull overs and some with shorts on. It’s like they don’t feel the cold!
Living in Detroit /Chicago my whole life I think I am sorta over this weather. 6-10 inches more tomorrow through Monday. I say this till we get to spring /fall which are really wonderful here.
To OP Eddie Bauer jackets come in handy. Noth Face is so… Well. Yesterday…) :
There are a ton of students from California at Michigan… All running around wondering when they will get their tans back… Lol…
Unless there’s health issues pick the best school that meets your kids needs and that is financially sustainable. They will adapt.
@lookingforward , yesterday it felt so warm that I only wore a long cardigan outside as I visited students. It was only late in the afternoon that I thought “Hmmm, feels a bit cool now.” Then I noticed it was 32. Compared to the previous few days of single digits, it was warm!
@Lindagaf this is so true. Can’t wait to Monday in Chicago… It’s going to be 35… Beach weather… Lol… Then back down to the single digits and below… Agh…
The real problem is not my kids in college in the Midwest. It’s my poor dog. He only gets a quick walk around a few blocks. He is so bored. He wants to go and stay in our backyard but I have to monitor him. He seems to enjoy it but I do worry about cold exposure and frost bite to his paw pads etc. The kids… I don’t worry about so much.
I posted this on the McGill thread. This ought to make some parents cringe. Not only cold and snowy but it touches on that other parental concern: colleges with a hilly campus. 
http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/mcgill-university/2122956-not-a-typical-winter-day-on-campus-but-it-happens.html#latest
There’s no question it gets cold every winter in the Great Lakes, but do note that this is the worst cold snap in Chicago in over twenty years. Having a below-zero high temp is not at all typical. This isn’t Saskatoon or Fairbanks.
My New England kid wanted to go to college where the climate was “pleasant” year round. She went in the east Bay Area…and weather was terrific.
BUT every year in December, she wished for cold weather and snow when she was here for vacation…and some years she got it and some years…none.
This kid was actually more concerned about hurricanes and the like than cold. There were a few colleges that would have been great for her…but as she put it…she wasn’t going to live in “hurricane alley” and wonder if she was going to need to evacuate.
When I went to a large state school in the Midwest they never cancelled class for weather. Then my last year two students were hit by cars that skidded on ice. Luckily neither was catastrophicly hurt though one broke a wrist. The school started to close much more regularly after that.
Similarly my kids HS where many parents had attended as students and “ never closed” for bad weather started to close more regularly after a bus skidded in snowy weather and a student was mildly injured
@homerdog It’s only in places that don’t get a lot of snow (maybe somewhere like DC or Portland OR) where everything shuts down with one inch of snow.
My Midwest raised son says that DC feels much “colder” to him than home. He has had 1 snow day this year and I think that was because it was blizzard like conditions. It has snowed more than average this year and it does 'feel" colder than home because it’s “humid cold”. He texted me the first bad day and thanked me for sending him fully prepared with boots, hat, gloves and a 3-1 interchangeable Northface jacket. He never used gear like that at home because you just put on a hoodie and ran into school from the parking lot. He said his feet were nice and toasty while other kids had to take off their socks and shoes in class because they were completely soaked.
I do standby by my earlier warning that if you are sending your kid who is used to a large amount sunshine to a place where the days are short and it is overcast a lot, you need to be aware that SAD is a possibility. Most kids will adapt, but for those that don’t it can severely affect them. Unfortunately mental health issues seem to be on the rise especially amoung high school and college students.
Yep, my daughter wouldnt go to a northeast schools no matter how prestigious due to tempereature.
Texas, Florida,…and New Orleans raised…50 is cold.
Reminder to anyone whose child is attending or might attend college in a place that gets cold: be very careful when drinking, and keep an eye on classmates who are drinking. Make sure they don’t get stuck outside in the cold.
Re McGill University…in case some of you don’t know, McGill & U of Toronto have a long-running rivalry about nearly everything. I got a master’s degree at U of Toronto, and there were quite a few students & professors there who had gone to McGill or lived in Montreal. It seemed like we spent a LOT of time comparing & contrasting the winters of McGill/Montreal & UofT/Toronto. Of course, given the Canadian hardiness, each side was trying to claim their city was MORE miserable.
I think it’s probably good to try out a different climate for college. It’s always good to know you can adjust, the school will help with the adjustment, and you might even like it. At least that’s what I like to think, with DC in school in MN!
Case in point about being young, male, and not feeling the cold. Intrasquad game today, it was maaaaybe 48 degrees. I was in the stands wearing thick sweatpants/shirt and BEGGING my husband to go get the stadium blanket I left at home. 4 hours later, I think my toes have finally thawed.
18 yr old was on the field in a t shirt & pants. 11 yr old was running around in shorts & sweatshirt, and sweating his rear end off. Little dude even asked the concessions lady if there were any popsicles left from last season! LOL
So yeah, I guess you just get used to wherever you are or you find ways to cope.
D19 is going from growing up in a sunny Southern Hemisphere country followed by high school in NorCal to the northeast for college, but she has grandparents in NYC and has visited often, a number of times in the midst of winter - we’ve been there through near-record blizzards and polar vortexes. She knows what she’s in for! (I almost think those are easier to handle than those hot humid summer days.)