<p>We have chosen not to limit our children and, as previously mentioned, the chaotic state of air travel is increasingly becoming a concern. We're west coasters, and S1 goes to college in NY (no direct flights), where his connections all last year were nail-biters. S2 is looking at East coast schools as well, for a music specialty. Sigh. He is at camp in Rochester now, and had a nightmarish trip--1st plane landed with only 1 wheel at O'hare and took off again to circle. Connection to Rochester had to make an emergency landing (someone passed out) in Buffalo...so they sat on the ground in Buffalo for 90 mins, then made the hop to Rochester. Hmmm...maybe that will incent him to stay closer to home????</p>
<p>Having the same qualms, SJTH. We're in the midwest, but D would like to attend college on one of the coasts, and the most attractive colleges (to her) to date are all remote - i.e., more flights legs, more travel time, more money.</p>
<p>I had told her previously that she should only apply to schools that she would like to attend, then we would pay for the least expensive of those that accept her. (She could "upgrade" if she pays the difference.) I intend to factor travel costs into the equation, so that may be a subtle push for the closer colleges on her list.</p>
<p>^^^
yes what is right for one student may be very different than another student (close or far from home is only one example). That said, for my family it will not be the parents who decide the child should be close to home or if is OK if they look further away ... it will be the child deciding if they want to be close to home ... or whatever geographic decision they make.</p>
<p>Yes, air travel is an issue. The increasing costs are much more than what we estimated two years ago. It will cost us twice as much to fly DD home this Christmas as last. No..the school did not adjust her financial aid to reflect this. AND there are much fewer flights to choose from, never mind the worry about whether the airline will be in business by December.</p>
<p>My parents told me that I could only go to a school in the state of Oregon, our state of residency. It was just not something that I wanted to do, for several reasons.
I'll be attending the University of Pennsylvania in a few weeks.</p>