Anybody have knowledge of Guilford College’s policy regarding airport transportation from the school? The GC website says that transportation is not included to and from the airport, but students can use a service that costs $119 each way. The website also says that a few people can share rides. Does anybody know if people do this? I’ve been researching, and I know that many students are from out of state, particularly the northeast. Do people drive, take Amtrak, fly home? The school seems really perfect for my D, but for $238 plus a plane ticket (we live on Long Island) this could be a deal-breaker. The Greensboro airport is only 10 minutes away, but the cost from there is a lot higher than from Raleigh-Durham. If anybody could shed some light on this, I’d appreciate it. Thank you.
It costs $119 to go to the Raleigh-Durham Airport. Guilford College students will fly into the Greensboro airport. The cost of a shuttle to the Greensboro airport is $20. You can also check out HEAT, a bus system that serves other local colleges and universities and see if it goes to Guilford college. Also check if public transportation (bus) has a route between the college and the airport.
Thanks, but to go to Greensboro is more expensive than RDU. GSO is $269.70 VS. RDU $174.70 currently.
Well then add up the cost of Greensboro in total versus Raleigh in total and there’s your answer.
Costs of flights are going to vary dramatically based on the time of year you are going - that $269 GSO and RDU $174 are not set in stone. But the cost of the ground transport likely is fairly set in stone. So factor that in your calculations.
BTW if GSO is only 10 miles away, wouldn’t an Uber be worth investigating?
Uber’s not going to be much cheaper than the $20 quoted above to get to Guildford from the Greensboro airport. The $119 is to go from Greensboro to the Raleigh-Durham airport. Greensboro is a small airport, and Southwest and many other airlines do not fly out of Greensboro. It often makes sense to pay the $119 in ground transportation to get the cheaper airline tickets out of Raleigh Durham. Depends on where you’re going and when, of course. I live in between both airports and always price tickets from both, and almost never fly through Greensboro.
Are Guilford students allowed to keep cars on campus? If so, you might find that your daughter will find ride-sharing opportunities, both to and from airport and for longer hauls to the northeast. My kids attended a Quaker secondary school, and so they knew quite a few students from NJ/PA area who went to Guilford (their school was something of a “feeder”).
I’m not familiar with Guilford, but I would pose this question to admissions. My S’s college ran some a shuttle to the airports during major school vacations. Or at my D’s school there is a public bus with a stop right in town that goes to the closest major airport which many students use (they can take a cab, walk or get a ride to the bus station).
@Pizzagirl (Not a parent but an NC Resident) Agreed, however PTI will almost always be the most expensive option. Actually, most people around here take the 2 hour drive to RDU over going to PTI, it’s just that expensive. If you’re thinking about bringing her home around christmas, then yeah, that 170 bucks you save by bussing to PTI might disappear
I have a family member who graduated from Guilford a couple of years ago. She flew there several times, took the train several times, and eventually kept a car on campus. I never got the impression that it was difficult for her to get around. I got the impression that enough people kept cars there so it wasn’t particularly difficult to get a lift to the airport or train station if you needed one.
A friend of my daughter went to Guilford. He often found it more convenient to fly into and out of Charlotte (CLT) rather than Raleigh-Durham (RDU).based on flight schedules, airfares, etc. My impression is that CLT is a bigger hub than RDU, though it’s slightly farther from Guilford College—1 hr 13 min to RDU, 1 hr 36 min to CLT by car, depending on traffic, according to Google Maps. Many Guilford students have cars and he was often able to get a ride to/from either airport, or offer to pay a fellow student to drive him. There’s also regular bus and Amtrak service (4 trains each way daily, $17 each way) between Greensboro and Charlotte, 90 min to 2 hr depending on the time of day. Amtrak service leaves you at the Charlotte Transportation Center; from there you can take an express bus (20 min, $1.50) directly to the Charlotte airport. Still a bit of a schlep, but it beats the price-gouging at the smaller airports or pricey commercial car service.
Thanks @bclintonk that’s really helpful. I feel better if she goes there now. I’m not worried about how she’d get back and forth.