It’s so…cute watching the answers from people who live closer than 3½ hours (by plane!) from the nearest even moderately selective university.
More seriously, even if our children go to something local, we’re putting them in the dorms and pretending they’re at least an hour or two away (and no visits most weekends, either). One of our hopes for college is that it’s their graduated entry into independence, and that’s one of the ways we’re after it.
There is no correct answer to this one. My son is 940 miles away, with our family record time car ride for the route being all of 14 hours, and usually taking 16. That said, if he had to get home or me get there ASAP, we could do the trip via plane, door to door, walk-up ticket purchase and TSA body cavity search in 5 1/2 hours. Flights between here and there pretty much every hour on the hour from 6am to 9pm in both directions. The closest school my HS Senior daughter is considering is 475 miles from here. We are fine with it and she is too.
The ability to communicate freely and for free via Facetime and Skype makes the distance seem like less of an issue as well. Gone are the days of one phone per floor in the dorms and expensive collect calls to home (which I was only allowed to make about once a semester).
D is 8 hours away by car, and like @123365 wishes it were 4. The only time distance seems to come up, frankly, is Thanksgiving because the break is so short.
I had one who was 30 miles away and one who was 1000 miles away. It’s not like the one who was 30 miles away came home any more often - once they are on campus, they need to form their own lives.
There is no ideal distance. You shouldn’t go to a college based on it’s distance.
You should go to a college because it’s the right match for your educational needs and future career desires.
I can’t answer this question, but I’m definitely wondering how far is too far. The past couple days I have stayed at a school in SoCal and got to see classes, facilities, stay in a dorm, etc. I really love almost everything about the school but a few times people have asked me if I really want to go so far. I live in NJ and it is about 2400 miles away. NJ isn’t really like Kentucky, either. There are great schools all around that are much shorter distances. My family and I are pretty close but I figure I could video chat them on holidays and call at least once a week. I feel like already during the week we don’t talk too much even though we’re living under the same roof just because we’re all caught up in life. Distance is definitely a decision I am going to need to make within the next year.
Both of our kids are at schools that are an 8 hour drive. They have definitely learned to deal with things on their own. Friends of mine who have kids within an hours drive seem to be often “just running to campus to give her x” or “going to help X because she has a flat tire” etc. those things are not an option for us and our kids know it…they both have adjusted well. You have to know yourself or your kids and if this will work.