I had mine go visit the far away colleges alone…#1 has 3 planes and a bus to navigate and I took a deep breath when he went out the door senior year of high school but he did fine and that on the college he attended and graduated.
@mom2and Our restriction on “stay east of the Rockies” was financial as well, and it hardly limited options since have so many schools over on this side 
Kids are funny though. S wanted to be within 3 hours and also have access to “woods”. He managed both.
We started out considering some farther away ones, if they would save money. D’19 thought she would like to go far and it would be SO COOL to fly to college. We visited one with excellent automatic merit. It would take 9 hours to drive and about 9 hours to fly counting waiting at airports. Two weeks after that visit she decided she didn’t want to be that far. We don’t have many nonstop flight options out of Des Moines. We considered one with a nonstop flight but then there was a 2 hour bus ride after that. As time went on she refined her wish list and we saw that a 2 hour drive school met the list pretty well. We decided there was no reason to subject ourselves to travel hassles. She can live far away later, when it can be more permanent and not moving in and out of dorms each year.
Another consideration is that she will be in theatre performances and we would like to attend them. At the close school, we can run down without boarding pets, getting a hotel room, or making my truck driver husband spend tons more hours on the road.
Our D’17 is one hour away and I can say she is certainly learning to be independent even though she’s close. She takes a full course load, works and pays her own rent, cooks her own meals, drives anywhere and everywhere, has dealt with being rear-ended, going to the walk-in clinic, etc. But it was nice when her dad could run up and install a new battery when her car wouldn’t start 
@bjscheel my daughter was in theater also. Yes, we could drive the 2 hours to be at every performance. If she went to Emerson we would undoubtedly miss a few plus the expense from the Midwest. I think a lot of kids /families fantasize about going out east or west from the Midwest till the realization hits. I would of felt awful if we couldn’t be at something to support our kids. My daughter just gave her study abroad research talk. It was so nice we could drive 1.5 hours to get there and take her and friend out to dinner, then drive home. As stated also without having to board the dog.
We had no location restrictions, although I did express my preference that my daughters avoid certain areas. However, I would not have refused to pay our family share if either had picked a school in one of those areas.
I live in Wisconsin. D1 went to college in southern California, worked there for a few years after college, and now lives in New York City. D2 went to college in Minnesota, worked in NYC for two years, and now is in graduate school in northern California. We all know a lot about planes, trains, buses, and automobiles.
As a photographer, I took tremendous joy in taking photographs of all the activities of my sons while growing up, especially sports and performing arts related activities. To me that’s the thing that I miss the most when S2 had to go to college so far away. Wish I could be there taking all the photos. At least I get to watch him perform as a part of the university orchestra since they live stream each event.
No location restrictions, but D had her own.
I can see where distance/location can be an evaluation factor, but perhaps not weighted as strongly as other factors like cost, major, academics, housing, fit. But if it’s a big deal to you, then it’s a big deal.
We live on the east coast, and when we initially started the search I said “no California schools”. However, if my D really wanted to go to CA I would have accepted it. My husband was talking about her applying to St. Andrew’s in Scotland, and I discouraged it. Again, if she showed real interest, I would let her do what she wanted. As of now, the furthest school she applied to is in TX.
My D applied to UK schools and got 3 acceptances (including St. Andrews) and, not gonna lie, my heart kinda dropped when the reality of the options sank in. Like you, if she really wanted it I would have supported, but must say I was relieved when her interests veered back to US schools.
Interestingly, I have American friends in London and Oxford and both of them are sending their kids to college back in the US. Not sure if it’s more the kids or the parents driving that decision but the college experiences between the two are pretty different, based on the research I did earlier this year. But that’s for another thread…
We didn’t put any location requirement, but our kid himself wanted to stay in the West, not because he thought the West people and culture were nicer but because the weather was much nicer. Therefore, he would not have gone even if HYP accepted him, so he didn’t apply to any East coast college. We liked the fact that we didn’t have to take heavy clothing, and one could wear shorts and T-shirt almost every day to classes.
We didn’t put restrictions on distance. It was just one of many considerations. From central Arizona, distance restrictions have the potential to be very limiting. Not so many colleges within a 6 hour drive. My first two kids went to college a direct flight away.
I’d think hard about any college not in easy distance from a major airport. Logistics could be frustrating otherwise. Mine were close enough to take public transport or an airport shuttle between school and the airport but we’ve visited a couple schools where getting to the airport would have been more complicated—a 90 minute rural drive, a three hour train, etc.
In addition I would strongly consider distance restrictions on a kid with major physical or mental health issues to consider.
I didn’t put an official restriction on distance, but I did like the idea of staying on the east coast OR being close to an airport. One of mine wanted to be far from home (wound up about 350 miles away). The other didn’t want anyplace WARMER than Our home state (that was kind of surprising to me, but certainly helped limit the search). He wound up at our state flagship, less than an hour away.
My senior didn’t have strict location guidelines. I would prefer a day’s drive or near a major airport. We live near a major airport. So then direct or at least easier flights are possible. My kid would have loved to look at CA schools but nothing that direction felt worth the expense for his needs and goals. We are in the upper midwest. Everything he is applying to is east of us except our state flagship which is close to home.
I do think many high school students don’t think about adjustment period or the difficulties of being a long distance. I started freshman year at a college than ended up being just a poor social and academic fit and ended up coming home a lot and it was pushing 4 hours of driving one way. I did ride shares mostly. Prior to going I was very excited to move to a different small city. I transferred my sophomore year to a college that was a better fit. But it was much closer to home. I actually came home less from that location just because I was more content and engaged with that environment. So I think my kid could have a great experience at the very close urban flagship he already has a great offer from. A kid close to home doesn’t need to come home. We are not the appear on campus as a surprise type of parent. I do think his further flung schools would need to come in financially such that some travel would be financially feasible and I am more concerned about fit and finding his people at those options.
We started off with a 3 hour radius. We’re on Long Island, so that’s roughly Boston to Baltimore, and west past Scranton. Literally hundreds of schools.
My daughter ended up in New Hamshire-- a 5 hour drive on paper, but it seems to always take 7 hours. But there’s a flight from LaGuardia that gets you there in 80 minutes in a crisis, and a bunch from JFK that will get you to Boston-- from there it’s a 2 hour drive.
That said, my brother in law just died. Even if it hadn’t been finals week, there’s simply no way my daughter can get down for the wake or funeral. Nor can her cousins at Clemson.
@bjkmom sorry for your loss.
@bjkmom -
So sorry to hear about your loss.
Thanks folks. It’s something I reminded my kids of when they were looking at schools-- though I was thinking more in terms of my 88 year old mom than my 60 year old brother in law. But if there’s a family crisis can you get home?
It’s something I mention to my Juniors and Senior students when we talk about distances. If your family can afford to put you on a plane, and there’s an airport handy, that’s one thing.
But I think it’s something that should absolutely be part of the decision.
Both of my kids were very healthy when they went off to college, but emergencies did happen. D1 came down with mono when she was a sophomore. She had many close friends on campus already, but when she couldn’t even get out of the bed to get water and food, it was unrealistic for her friends to take time off to take care of her. I was able to drive up to her school in less than 4 hours and bring her home. She also had a very bad throat infection that needed medical attention very quickly and she was able to come home to get it taking care of.
My kids continued to do a lot of dancing while in college. It was nice I was able to see quite a few performances because their school was within driving distance, not to mention few random visits I made just because I could. My kids were able to come home for every break.
We were lucky there were many options around where we lived. Our thought process was, if they wanted (and admitted) to Stanford then we would consider, but not for Berkeley or UCLA. Same for Rice and Vanderbilt - they were good schools, but we had just of good schools up in the NE, so my kids didn’t apply to those schools.
I don’t think anyone is saying that location shouldn’t be a factor at all. The issue is whether location should be an overriding factor. Do we exclude colleges, which are otherwise great fits (including financial fit), because of their locations? Or should we only consider location when we compare all the acceptances to make the final decision?