We had no distance restriction when looking at schools - it came down to finances. We had assumed that the state university would be most affordable. We were wrong. It costs less for us to send our son to a private school (a 7 hour drive away) than it would have to send him to our flagship state school (which offered only loans). He received a lot of merit and an additional grant from the private school - they essentially meet our need. The state school would have cost almost $8,000 more for COA. Even if he had gone to school on the opposite coast, that savings would have still exceeded the cost of transportation.
We started the search process with no travel restrictions but looked in areas where we had family or friends within close proximity. The idea of a safety net appealed to us but was not a must. However as we traveled down the school tour road and schools were recommended to us, our west coast child ended up on the east coast. It appears that the next one will arrive on the other coast soon.
In the end the right school won over distance. We are thrilled with the school, the community and the education. The safety net has been created in that many of our child’s friends families have become extended family to her and have generously opened their homes to her.
Technology has really bridged the communication desires. We text daily and skype weekly.
DS has already spent four years almost 3,000 miles away from home at his boarding school. Distance was not a consideration for college. We hoped he would end up closer to home but no such luck.
I have one of each. One didn’t limit the search at all, considering distance (I did hope for close to a major airport, and didn’t recommend those much farther than that). Other turned down almost full ride to stay closer to home.
My older son went to McGill in Montreal. It was just within a 300 mile radius of Boston, same as Philadelphia. The drive to Montreal was much easier and more pleasant than the drive to Philadelphia.
S1 was 700 miles from home at college (S2 was already home – thank goodness, he’s the one who did CPR), but when I had my heart attack and was in a coma, he was able to get home in a few hours. I’ve had significant medical issues since my sons were 10 & 11, and I was bound and determined that my health was not going to keep them from going where they needed to be, though some of my friends questioned this.
I refused to allow applications outside the continental US
curious what school your D attended that wasn’t close to an airport if you don’t mind.
Saint fan, What a cool site!! Thanks so much; I just shared it with a friend whose son is also a Junior. I’ll be sharing it with my Junior homeroom when school resumes next week.
No problem. I just got curious as to how many options there would even be if I gave my kids a radius. Both kids had no interest in staying in Western Washington and after that there isn’t much. D looked at Lewis and Clark and hated it. S looked at Portland State and hated it. Neither kid had any interest in going to school in a place where tumbleweeds are a thing (Central Washington U.)
Playing with the tool more . . . 1000 miles nets us Humboldt State, Oregon, Oregon State, Washington State and Idaho plus a few others. I have to drag it all the way out to 2200 to get D’s LAC and it is the first one of any consequence that you hit east of Whitman. 3400 to get to S’s likely destination - for that I can also get to Russia!
I know what you mean… there are schools in Canada that are closer to us than SUNY Buffalo.
I think our 250 mile radius, give or take a few miles, will certainly be sufficient.
Does that radius site have a way to input what you are looking for (eg colleges)?
You can put a location or pin in via the input fields below the map - I don’t know about adding multiple pins but it could probably be done
We encouraged our D to apply outside of the NE since she wanted to study foreign languages and felt it would be a good experience to live elsewhere. Reasonably priced flights with major airlines was a factor for anything more than a 7 hr. drive. Emory was the farthest school she applied to, but distance was less of an issue because nonstop flights are under 3 hours and we could afford to fly her home frequently. She went with the school that academically and socially was the best fit for her.
When choosing a community college, it was of paramount importance, since I commute daily. When choosing a university, it was the opposite. I very adamantly did not want to go to university in my hometown (which hosts San Jose State University). Nothing against SJSU, but downtown San Jose is something I’ve seen too many times. I ended up opting for San Francisco State University (surprisingly enough, I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve been to San Francisco since my 13th birthday, so it isn’t all that familiar an area), which is far enough away to be separate from my family, close enough to visit easily (My father and I both choose not to own or drive cars, but we have Caltrain and pretty good bus systems), and has an undergraduate program for my intended graduate major (not a whole lot of those exist in my state).