"Don't go to a school too far away in case "something" happens." What is that 'something' if you're of this opinion?

No, to paraphrase what I said earlier upthread and someone else I think also did, people coming from countries where conscription happens are used to seeing people in the army by 18 and therefore have a different view of how much of an adult they are considered to be at that age.

Aside from the obvious of COVID and how it was nice to be able to drive up to grab all of her stuff and drive it back in one trip when school shut down last spring, our daughter’s best friend from HS died suddenly at college during their first year. It was very helpful to drive up and help her process and provide some support to our daughter in person and not try to do everything on the phone. (Although we did not adopt her friend, she lived with us during vacations and was really part of our family in every way…I think our cat is still absolutely heartbroken. As are we of course)

We offered to bring our daughter home for a bit, and in retrospect we probably should have, but it was important to be able to to be with her within hours and let her process, vent, be sad and angry at the world etc. It was also helpful to lay eyes on her for a few days to be able to see how she was doing and to make sure she was making use of the resources on campus to help her to process and grieve.

This all could have been done at a school further away, and we could have been there within a day or two with flights, but my wife and I were a mess as well and it was much easier and quicker to be able to just drive up as quickly as possible.

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Two of my kids went to college an hour away but are now on the opposite coast, one for 7 years and the other permanently.