<p>I have a daughter that is 2 hours away by plane. She is covered under my insurance that does not have clinics/hospitals in the state where she goes to school. There are agreements with local hospitals with insurance companies that need coverage in states where they have no hospitals. This is common, people do get sick when they travel. We called the insurance and got a list of the hospitals they have an alliance with much like we do when we travel abroad.
She only had to go to the emergency room once when she needed shots for a severe allergic reaction on a Sunday. We had to pay more for an out of network emergency clinic visit but it was not terrible. Otherwise if she needed the routine kind of stuff for colds or ear issues, the student health center was great and either free or very inexpensive.
One of the reasons we opted to keep her under our normal insurance was it was both cheaper and she was covered all year round, not just during the school year. Most of the routine doctor visit requirements are kept for the holidays or during summer when she visits home.</p>
<p>I have the same concern. My daughter isn’t really “emotionally” mature, and I am worried about her going to school on the East Coast. We are a West Coast family. My husband and I both born and raised in Los Angles, and our kids too. She has been accepted and given a very nice scholarship at University of the Redlands, but she has also been accepted to Syracuse and Ithaca. While I am excited about her acceptance to Syracuse, I don’t think that would be a good school for her. She really needs a smaller school where she can receive a lot of attention from the professors. Also Syracuse gave us a ridiculously low scholarship, and we will have to struggle to pay it. It won’t be impossible, but is will be difficult and stressful, especially on my husband. We are still waiting to hear back from Ithaca about scholarship. Why is selecting a college so hard? LOL But on the other hand, going to the east coast would be a whole new experience! So torn!!!</p>
<p>My older D went to school that took 4 hours by flight and another 2 to 3 hours (depending on schedule) by bus. We could not visit very often but she did come back for holidays. Must have been the best decision we made - she learnt to fend for herself, made a bunch of new friends and met her husband there. We are at the same X roads with our younger one. Send has admissions to two top twenty schools – both great schools – one about 1 hr drive and another 4 hours flight away (thank god there is no bus ride involved here). FWIW - we moved 10,000 miles from home in a pre historic era to go to grad school. Believe me, it toughens you up</p>
<p>My first question is for all of the schools are they suitcase schools (do the students stay on campus for the weekend or do most leave)? If the Florida school is a suitcase school, I would NOT consider it at all. I would also not consider a school closer to you if it is a suitcase school if you want your student to start being independent and involved in the school, instead of coming home 2 or 3 times a month. </p>
<p>My second question is can you “afford” the transportation costs if your student is in Florida. Don’t forget you will have to drive your student down for move-in and probably stay in a hotel, bring him home for breaks (and Thanksgiving can be terribly expensive), pick him up for move-out, and visit for parents weekends etc. There is a benefit to having a student closer to home when you can make a trip to/from in one day. </p>
<p>My third question is will you feel comfortable having him so far away if a health issue comes up? My perfectly healthy freshman developed Type 1 diabetes in March and ended up in the emergency room and hospital for a week. We were 7 hours away so H drove there as fast as he could, and then had hotel expenses for the week. We did establish a network of doctors for him there in case he needed more help, however, most of his doctor’s visits (and dentist visits) are when he is at home at break/summer etc. My other 2 boys (younger) are at and going to school 12 hours away so having my oldest have problems did not stop us from choosing schools for them farther away. </p>
<p>When S3 started looking at universities, I secretly did hope he picked the one 3 hours away as having him closer is much easier for transportation purposes (plus he’s my baby and maybe I would be able to see him more often.) But he chose the best school for him and that is 12 hours away. Please let your son pick the best one for him too.</p>
<p>It is not necessary for you to drive him to school for drop-off. My son is a 1.5 hour plane ride away. We did not accompany him to school. We ordered his bedding and other essentials online, and had them shipped directly to the school. Of course, my son was perfectly fine with this arrangement. </p>
<p>We have close friends an hour from the FL school that we have vacationed with often. I am comfortable that they would take him in for Thanksgiving and any other long weekends. Also confident that if some major issue (or minor) arrived they would be there in a heart beat. We would plan on driving him up to school and using our friends house as a base. Probably would stay over 1 or 2 nights but that is it. We would use the drive as a vacation and maybe hit Disney on the way. The drive there would be fine it is dealing with the sobbing wife on the way home that would worry me.<br>
I don’t think any of the schools he is looking at would be “suitcase schools” </p>