3000 miles plus the bus ride at the Dartmouth end plus the miserable drive to SFO at our end. So? That never even entered into the conversation.
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When oldest was looking at colleges, she said she’d have no problem going to a college on the opposite coast. Then when it was decision making time, she decided she’d rather stay closer to home. She’s four hours (or more depending on traffic) away by car and 2.5 by train. It’s a very easy train trip.
Youngest doesn’t even want to go “away” to college. She’s got another year and a half before she has to decide though, so she might change her mind.
Oldest son is 2,700 miles away. We live an hour from our airport and he usually flies to a neighboring airport that’s an hour away from his campus because it’s cheaper and offers more flight options. The school has a good bus service for that airport thankfully. He only comes home twice a year but winter is always tricky. Last year he had delays getting home for Christmas and this year he had delays returning back to campus due to awful weather back east. That’s my only complaint about his school choice.
Younger son is a junior and is thinking he might want to stay closer to home to have the option of coming home more frequently than his brother does.
Just have to add…there are other advantages to having kids far away.
In the summers, we would schlep two hours away and haul all the college stuff home…where it hung out in our living room until we loaded up the car again…and took it back. Oh and we took less and less back every year…
The far away kid…rented a storage unit with several friends…and flew home with the clothes she needed for,the summer, and her computer. We never saw that college stuff in our living room…and when college ended, we told her to donate much of it.
In addition, we never had to spend 6-9 hours or more driving back and forth to get the across the country kid. We just drove the 30 minute drive to the airport on our end. Way easier than driving round trip to get close to home kid.
I agree thumper ^^
About 2,500 miles for both high school and college. He flies. It is what it is and was never a consideration for either school. Both schools either provide(d) airport transportation (at a cost) or were close enough to a local train station to take a train to and from the airport.
All of which is not to say that we would not have liked to see D more often during the college years, but phone calls and Skype and Facetime and iChat [changing with the times] satisfied a lot of that – and got us used to the summers she spent on digs even farther away in Greece.
Roughly 3,000 miles, from the West Coast to the East Coast. We don’t drive it. Luckily there is a direct flight. We went with fit, program, and academics over proximity. My daughter has college friends from as far away as the UK and China who can’t get home easily, so there are plenty of friends around on the shorter breaks.
Personally, I’m of the opinion that distance from home is the least important factor to consider when selecting a school. We’re from NYC and our DD goes to school in WI. Going home means taking a shuttle from school, a bus ride of a few hours, a short flight, a cab once in NYC. It’s a full day of travel but nothing incredibly insurmountable.
We’re looking for schools for our DS now and the furthest we’re looking is TX. I think West Coast schools would be a bit too expensive, travel cost wise. I also wouldn’t like my student to drive long distance by car. They won’t get a car to begin with. Maybe in their junior/senior years but not as a freshman. Besides… Students are poor, they can’t afford a car.
Well we live in suburban DC and S attends college in London. Not year/semester abroad, he is there full time.
DD#1 is 1,172 miles (17 ish hours from home by car, although we have never driven it). DD#2 is looking at a school 2343 miles from home (honestly have not looked at the transportation yet because I suspect with will be a non-starter) and another school 916 miles from home (10 hours by car and the nearest affordable airport is 1.5 ish away from school)Closest school either looked at is 2.5 hours from home (on a good day without traffic, lol and that never happens)
Distance wasn’t a concern for us, as it’s really only one of the expenses we have to pay. I think eventually they’ll only come home for thanksgiving and Christmas so the flights won’t be too costly over time.
If we had to pay the full costs of room/board, we’d pay more attention to the cost.
D is a freshman and is 15 hours away from home. We were lucky to be able to have her home for fall break, Thanksgiving and winter break. I drove her to college to drop her off and then she has flown the other times. While the college provides a shuttle to the major New York airports (for $40), when she flies back to school she has to fly to LaGuardia, take a shuttle to Grand Central, two hour train ride and then a Lyft to campus. It has been a big pain and more expensive than I thought (flights on SW are mostly reasonable except for Thanksgiving, but the other stuff adds up). However, she has definitely gained some valuable life skills and so far hasn’t had any major problems or delays. The distance has been hard for both of us but I’m hopeful that the academic experience will be worth it in the end.
@missbwith2boys what do you mean by this? It would,only apply if a student had some kind of scholarship,that paid for room and board. If a kid goes to,college far away…someone has to pay their living expenses…right?
Things to consider: Cost of travel. Driving means gas, maintenance, time, and meals; flying means cost of ticket, getting to and from airport, luggage fees, and meals/snacks.
How will a longer distance impact the money you save by going to a cheaper school that’s farther away?
Life skills. My son has to fly to and from school. He had never flown solo until his first break, and his flight was cancelled. He ended up in a hotel that night. The flight the next day was also cancelled (Spirit Airlines!), so he had to rebook with a different airline. Great learning experience, and he had a blast! Now he’s a pro at handling flight issues.
Wear and tear on you if you have to drive N hours each way, each time. My back can’t handle long car rides and he doesn’t drive, so flying was it. If an on campus car isn’t an option, and there are no othet students headed your way, are you okay doing multiple trips per year?
Your child’s personality. I never went home except for Christmas because I was 2500 miles away. All of my breaks were at other people’s houses. Is your kid okay with this scenario? My son isn’t, so he comes home every break, which gets pricey.
I live in Wisconsin. D1 went to college 2,000 miles away, in southern California. She came home for Christmas and during summer breaks each year. I went to the campus twice, for move in and graduation. D2 went to college in Minnesota, approximately a 4 1/2-hour drive one way. Her college is on a trimester system, and so she was able to come home before Thanksgiving and stay home until early January, when the second term started. She also came home for the spring breaks. Both daughters were accepted at UW-Madison, 20 minutes away, but both preferred going to a smaller school. Travel costs were more than I expected for D1, but I’m glad we didn’t rule out the California school on that basis. She has said repeatedly (including just a few weeks ago) that going to that college was one of the two best decisions in her life.
Our 3000 mile away kid understood that we would not be flying her home for Thanksgiving…just to turn around and fly her home again two weeks later when exams ended.
That’s one of the reasons we asked our kids to apply to schools near a friend or relative IF far away. She spent Thanksgiving and two spring breaks with a well loved aunt and uncle.
We flew her home for Christmas and summer. She knew that was the drill before she applied!
But wait…the kid who went to college 2 hours away…yes, he came home Thanksgiving, and Christmas…and spring break. But he wasn’t here in the summers.
I think total days…we saw the far away kid more days per year than the one who was 2 hours away.
One was just under a four hour drive. The other is a 10 hour car ride or about 75 minutes by plane- she is 30 min from the airport.
Oldest daughter went 7 hours away but was directly on the Amtrak line so that is how she came and went except for move in/ move out. Son is 9 hours away. He flies in and out for breaks. Move in / move out we drive. Youngest daughter is looking at schools all over. Flying is easy and cheap with credit card miles/ points so we have no distance restrictions on her.
My niece is going to be about 1,100 miles/16 hours from my home and 4 miles/5 minutes away from my vacation home. She will be about 900 miles/14 hours away from her mother. We are gifting her a new car when she gets there and plan to visit her frequently. As far as travel accomodations, we will most definitely be flying to and from her college town or having her fly home. It is expensive but in my opinion worth it in the long run.