<p>This is not Villanova specific, but what is it like attending a school where you live 4.5 hours away? I have family in Northern VA and around Baltimore but what is it like coordinating breaks and such when you live out of state? Is it worth it?</p>
<p>I can’t answer that question, but I have wondered the same thing. My son’s VU friends live in Virginia, Oklahoma and California! (they don’t go home on weekends ;-)</p>
<p>Well, I guess it depends on your financial situation and how much you want to get home. We live in CT and so are about 3+ hours from VU by car. For his first 2 years, other than move-in and out, we had our son hop on Amtrak and get as close to home as possible. He also was able to find upper classmen with cars and caught a couple of rides that way. He definitely didn’t come home for any weekends, but was able to find his way home for Thanksgiving and the week-long breaks. IIRC, the dorms all close for the Oct and March breaks, as well as between semesters; not sure about Thanksgiving. His freshman year, he had a roommate from CA who also managed to fly home for all breaks, but I know that money was not an issue in that case.</p>
<p>My older son went to college in AZ, so his situation may be more applicable. I dropped him off at freshman year move-in and didn’t get back to campus until graduation. He did fly back and forth at Thanksgiving and the holidays, but never came home for spring-break (somehow a week in Mexico with fraternity brothers always seemed like a better idea 
).</p>
<p>I can drive from Villanova to Baltimore in a little over an hour and a half.</p>
<p>I live in Virginia, probably shoulda mentioned that! Sounds like I would be best to take amtrak and maybe fly if I’m feeling rich! Thanks for the responses</p>
<p>Fly??? You can jump a Septa train from campus to 30th St Station and then on to VA. Where in Northern VA?</p>
<p>I live in Central VA but I have family up in Fairfax! I would never fly though, the train is so much cheaper. I can get off in Richmond</p>
<p>So getting back to your original question, it would be no big deal getting back home for Thanksgiving or spring break. But hey, I had been known to make weekend 3 to 5 hour road trips when I was in college.</p>
<p>Ya i realized how easy it would be with the train accessibility and prices, i never thought about that. Also, when Im a junior I would have no problem driving back and forth. I was thinking about having to get my parents to make the 5 hour trip back and forth every break and how ridiculous that would be.</p>
<p>My son was considering schools that were 4 or 5 hours away. Picking him up at breaks would have given me time to have uninterrupted conversations with him…then we would listen to music the other 3.5 to 4.5 hours.</p>