<p>"Northstarmom, I’m sure that Grcxx3 has thought of that. So did we, even from way out of state.</p>
<p>The positives outweighed those negatives for us.</p>
<p>Is there a reason why you weighed in on this particular thread in such a negative way? Are you and your children only interested in schools with big airports? That seems like it would narrow down your list pretty quickly."</p>
<p>Why are you attacking me? I simply made a comment. People who haven’t lived in places with small airports that also are in snow country may not have considered how expensive and inconvenient that can be. I grew up in such a place and now live in a place with a small airport. </p>
<p>Everyone in my family has had to spend nights in large airports because storms and other problems prevented our getting home sometimes for even longer than 24 hours after we were supposed to arrive.</p>
<p>I also know what it’s like to drive miles to a distant airport only to find out that flights are cancelled due to weather.</p>
<p>If it’s expensive now trying to get to Va Tech, flights are likely to be even more expensive during the times that many students are flying to college or home. </p>
<p>Because the OP is fortunate enough to live near a hub airport in the sun belt, I’m guessing that she may not have experienced these concerns before, so may not have considered them when thinking of colleges for her student. Consequently, I raised them so she and he can consider them when weighing places to apply.</p>
<p>And, yes, when my kids applied to school, we did consider the difficulty in getting to their college. Fortunately, the U.S. has thousands of excellent colleges, so such considerations didn’t put a crimp in my sons’ options.</p>
<p>“You know, they do eventually get home, and they learn to handle all kinds of setbacks, and sometimes they even make it home on time! Maybe some kids aren’t ready to handle that kind of responsibility, but my children have been traveling long distances since they were very small and are undaunted by airports and airlines and flight connections. If I’m not mistaken, Grcxx3’s boys are, too”</p>
<p>My sons also had lots of flight experience including traveling abroad and flying thousands of miles away by themselves to summer camps. However, when it comes to sending a student off to college, I do think that many people don’t think much about the transportation aspect until, for instance, they find that they have to pay very big bucks to transport their kid to and from college several times a year or their kid spends Thanksgiving in a distant airport after missing flights due to weather conditions. It also can be a big hassle for parents to fly in for things like parents’ weekend. </p>
<p>It’s not a matter of whether the students can fly by themselves or can handle such situations: It’s a matter of are these hassles and expenses that you and your kid want to deal with as part of their college experience? For some people, it may not be a big deal. Others may prefer to avoid such hassles. I put myself in the latter camp. BTDT, and now I do my best to avoid such situations.</p>
). As for cost…pricey tickets to get my son home for holiday is a very different concern than pricey ticket to go up and visit a campus that he is just “thinking” about.</p>