PA to Bama - there’s no way to do it, other than drive. It’s about 14 hours. We are 1.5 hours from the nearest airport (EWR). There’s no direct flight.
So: 1.5 hours to airport, preferably 2 hours ahead of time, then 2 hours to Charlotte or something, wait an hour, then 1 hour to BHM, then 1 hour to the actual school.
Ugh. Not worth the extra cost.
At the big state school I attended, there was a shuttle that ran to the airport about every 2 hours or so, every day (or at least every day that I ever took a flight, including non-break weekends). The airport was about an hour from campus, and whether I had a direct flight or layovers, it was never a big deal to get where I wanted to go. (The nearest airport to campus was not a hub, nor was my hometown.)
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I made a post about travel once in our college search and some said don’t worry about it they’ll figure it out and be independent and survive the travel hassles. And I know they all do but it is a consideration of how much hassle you want to live with. Good idea to try to work it out in advance to see what the options are.
DD’19 thought she wanted to go far and wide, but she was on a small budget. We found a small OOS public to visit with good merit. 500 miles away, so further than I would want her to drive alone. We drove an hour and flew out of our smaller airport, to St. Louis and sat for 3 hours, then to the next smallish airport, then it was 45 miles to the school. Like 9 hours door to door whether you drove or flew. We rented a car for the visit but she would have had to figure out transportation as a student (no shuttle). Repeat the process going back home. And it was fine and could have been done. But the flights were like once a day, the layover was boring, getting a hotel room in St. Louis if bad weather could be tricky as an 18 year old, etc. She liked the college but three weeks after the visit she announced that she didn’t want to deal with all that to go home.
And that was fine. I was glad we did the visit and let her see what it was really going to be like. Definitely some far away schools are easier to get to than others.
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MSP is a major airport that basically flies everywhere and Mac is a 10 min drive from said airport
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Travel consideration was never an issue for me as both kids wanted to be within reasonable driving distance (and both had their cars with them).
While I agree that the chances are your kids won’t want to come home very often (bittersweet as that is, it’s certainly the hope) but there are major holidays to consider when tens of thousands of other people are also traveling, airline rates are high and winter weather tends to come into play.
Younger daughter’s college is not near a major airport. For major holidays there is a 3rd party bus service that offers rides to the two closest airports (a smaller one that is probably 30-40 minutes away, where having to book a connecting flight is a certainty, and a very large one that is 2.5 hours away).
Seeing the posts by anxious parents on our parents’ page when there are the inevitable missed connections, canceled flights, missed bus connections, icy winter weather, etc., makes me glad that I’m not dealing with those issues. I’m always amazed at the families who commit to the school and then are dumbfounded about how their kid will get there. How do they not look into that ahead of time? Many also assume that a large public university is responsible for hand-delivering their child to their airport of choice 
If my kids had wanted to go a plane ride(s) away, I would have definitely researched the options and costs ahead of time - and had a conversation with the kid about how many times during the year we could reasonably get her home. I don’t think either of them would have been keen on a long flight and then an hours long car/bus ride to a remote college location.
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I 100% wouldn’t support schools that were travel nightmares. There are so many schools, it just seemed unnecessary. Some say it’s a “life skill” to learn to navigate travel. Well, do it another way. Travel abroad during school, go on vacation.
We didn’t want to deal with the costs and the hassles. Especially because we knew our kids would want to be home for Thanksgiving and longer breaks. Ours ended up 2hrs and 5 hrs away.
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MSP is our favorite airport. So easy to get in and out of and usually a cheap flight (at least from where we live). MSP was actually a big plus when looking at UMN for my son.
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Travel was definitely on our spreadsheet when considering colleges. That being said, both kids chose the college on their list that was hardest to get to! Son at Bowdoin. It’s easy to get from the airport to Bowdoin. Less than 30 min drive. Quick cab ride and they group up the Bowdoin kids to share the cost. No school shuttle. But we are outside of Chicago and use almost exclusively Southwest so he has to fly through Baltimore. Oh well. He knew when he chose the school. In four years, he hasn’t had one delay. Pretty lucky.
Our D is at Colgate and that’s much worse. Yes the school has a shuttle but it only runs during school breaks and only goes to and from airport three times on those travel days so you could end up hanging at the airport for hours if you have to take a shuttle that’s much earlier than your flight. One hour drive to Syracuse. Only airport option. She also flies through Baltimore. She’s had way worse luck than her brother with many ten hour plus travel days
they don’t complain. They knew the travel deal. It is a royal pain, though, booking their flights for all of the breaks. Have to get them early for best prices and Thanksgiving has been crazy expensive for both - $600-800 round trip each year. Make sure to budget for all of the flights.
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What do you mean, “pretty” lucky? Your kid should buy lottery tickets…
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I have a Smith grad, and we live in Colorado. Bradley airport (BDL, aka Hartford) is a breeze, and seems to get a new, modern update every year. The only trouble with direct flights was that they arrived at odd times. But bear in mind that there are +20,000 college students in the Five College Consortium, so there are plenty of ways to get to school. There are numerous shuttle companies, and sometimes the colleges themselves will arrange shuttles as well. Weather can cause hassles, but that is true everywhere. I would not cross of Mt Holyoke on account of transport.
Other than getting to/from home, the transport my Smithie enjoyed most was the direct train from Northampton to NYC…
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My kids did not own cars in college, and it would have cost MUCH more for them to have a car, insure a car, park a car at college than the occasional trip home (they took trains or Greyhound/Bolt Bus, but even if they’d had to fly… owning a car is expensive on an urban campus). I was MUCH happier with them taking public transportation in bad weather than I’d have been with them on the roads!
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Depending on where the college is located, things like costs for parking and weather are things to consider, for sure.
We got lucky with older D, as parking in her college town is notoriously challenging (although I wouldn’t consider it a particularly urban area). It was even tough to find parking when we came up to visit. Each place she lived offered it for an additional, but reasonable fee (I hear now that the fees are crazy). The best deal was when she lived in her sorority house, and the parking was free.
Younger D’s college is located at the complete opposite of urban. There is plenty of parking (some lots are more convenient than others) and the yearly campus parking fees are what I would consider reasonable. Parking at most off-campus apartments is included with the rent. She does encounter some winter driving, but I would rather her get experience driving in it.
Every family is different as far as what they can or are willing to provide for travel to & from college. With both kids being less than 3 hours away, having their cars worked great for getting home and to off-campus jobs. And after freshman year, they moved themselves in and out, which is a win for me 
We agree on one thing- ANYTHING that avoids move in/move out after freshman year is a win for sure!!!
One of my kids borrowed my car for a week while at college (had several job interviews line up, the Zipcar locations weren’t very convenient). He learned quickly that owning a car in an urban area-- either in a paid lot or at a meter with a four hour limit-- ain’t as much fun as you think it will be!!!
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It was definitely a consideration for us. We’re near a major hub, so that certainly helps. Neither of mine wanted to be far from an airport on the other end. My daughter is lucky enough to have plenty of non-stop options and is 20 minutes or so from the airport. My son is closer to a small airport, but fewer direct options. It did make for a mad scramble when his continuing flight was cancelled one evening and I had to find a hotel that would take a 17 year old as his rescheduled flight wasn’t until the next day.
There is no need to factor this (and travel for this) into your college process. Your kids can store stuff near just about any college campus for the summer. And the big plus…it’s not all sitting in your living room.
Not always true. Our Colgate D doesn’t have a car and you need one to move your stuff to storage. There are companies that pack your room but they are notorious for losing or breaking stuff and are insanely expensive. She isn’t close friends with anyone who has a car. Plus, even if she was, kids move out on different days when they are each done with their finals so her “car friend” might leave campus before our D can move out. No rentals or taxis or Ubers available in small Hamilton, NY for her to use.
So one of us does fly out to pack her up and move her stuff for her. Not a huge deal. She does all of the packing and it’s ready to go so it’s just moving the stuff. We like going back in the fall for move in to see each of her new digs each year and meeting new roommates!
Some colleges allow students to store their stuff free of charge on campus.
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I think one year, my daughter and her friends rented a zip car for the day to take things to the storage place.
Maybe we need a new thread about getting things back and forth to college. Just one more thing…if your kid lives off campus, they probably will have a 12 month lease…so no moving in and out at all.
In terms of transport for my kid….she flew home with a small carryon bag, and an instrument case. She didn’t mind the long day of travel or switching planes…or dealing with rescheduling for weather. She lived her college and would have used a horse to get there if that had been the only way.
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We considered travel for d20 but didn’t realize how long a day it makes. It is not a question of whether she can navigate it, including all the airline delays and cancellations, but more how long it takes if you are not near an airport. Shuttles offered by schools might only run TO the airport and might not be on a day your student needs to travel. We also didn’t expect the price of flights to increase by hundreds of dollars in 2 years. She doesn’t come home at Thanksgiving because it is such a pain/long to travel - and this is not an east coast/west coast trip.
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Travel logistics went on the spreadsheet (time, ease & cost) for sure.
It also comes to the D/S how likely they are to want to come home frequently or will you just see them at Christmas, Spring & Summer break. Even if travel is a hassle, to only do it 2 or 3 times/year isn’t a big deal.
We’re in the Northeast and my son restricted he search to east of the Mississippi even though I tried to encourage him to broaden it more - if you have to get on a plane does it really matter if you’re going to Ohio or Washington? In any case it worked out.
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