<p>My husband and I were driving today talking about our younger senior son who is only applying to schools a long distance from home. Lat night we had a group of people over our house and when they asked us where he was applying they all seemed so shocked our son would want to go so far from home. My husband and I both wanted to be quite a distance from home back when we went to college and we really support him spreading his wings and experiencing another lifestyle during this stage of his life. So my husband told me today that he thinks we are by far in the minority on this issue and that no more than 30% go to college more than a 6 hour drive from home. </p>
<p>So I am asking your take on this. What % of kids would you say, go to college a 6 or more hour drive from home?</p>
<p>I don't know the percentages, but nationally a very high percentage of kids go to college within three hours of home, let alone six.</p>
<p>Our kid goes to school seven hours from home bycar with cheap, easy air connections. It's worked out fine. My only complaint is that the drive is a bit tiresome when doing it solo, but not that bad.</p>
<p>Im not A parent but Im a young kid who has 2 sisters who already graduated college and im the next one up for College one of my sisters went to AIB(art institute Of Boston..) its not a great school but great in arts..but boston is a good 5-6 hours away.....We worked it out she didnt bring her car there and she took either the 45 minute plane ride(good mileage w/ delta) or took amtrack and It worked out fine..</p>
<p>How far away from home should a student consider traveling to attend college?</p>
<p>Parents' responses
Not applicable: 2.2%
Within 50 miles: 26.1%
Within 250 miles: 17.2%
Within 100 miles: 18.3%
More than 500 miles: 12%</p>
<p>Students' responses
Not applicable 2%
Within 25 miles: 6.3%
Within 50 miles: 6.3%
Within 100 miles: 20.8%
Within 250 miles: 39.6%
More than 500 miles: 25%</p>
<p>remember your six hours by car is going to be longer on a bus or train and a pain in the but for the airport during holiday season (especially if you can't get a straight flight or if you are looking for the most economical fare)</p>
<p>From a parent whose kid is 3.5 hours away by car, 6-7 hours on the greyhound/amtrak, 3 hours on the most economical flight (2 hrs to boston, 1 hour to NYC, not counting having to be at the airport early)</p>
<p>I wonder why parents are so reluctant to encourage/support their kids going far from home. I don't mean to offend anyone but at a time when our kids should be spreading their wings and discovering themeselves, the notion of parents setting limits on the distance from home they can go to college, strikes me as rather selfish. A mother I talked to recently said her daughter wanted to really leave the area and she said, "I just don't want her to go away from the area eventhough I think it would be good for her." And this mother was not going to allow her to apply to schools away from her geographical region. This decision is all about the mother and what she wants. Why should this be about what the parents want? I think it is this that perplexes me more than anything else. I had my opprtunity back then and now it my son's time to move on into the world as an adult and this is the 1st step. If he wants to be somewhere far from home because he wants to simply be far from home or he truly wants to experience life in another part of the country, why not? I want to respect what feels right to him and give him my blessings. </p>
<p>I don't really understand the explanation that centers around money and that as long as parents pay for their college education, they feel entitled to have a say. Why? I do certainly understand the financial implications of a decision to go far and I feel strongly that the implications needs to be painted very clearly to the child and spelled out specifically. If it means they cannot come home for Thanksgiving then that should be conveyed. By all means talk about it realistically.</p>
<p>i'm planning to transfer and most of the schools i applied to are a 6-7 hr drive away/1hr or so by plane...since i live in the bay area and the schools are in southern california. the only school i applied to in northern calif. was sonoma state and thats not too far, but still about a 2-3 hr drive away. i've actually decided to go to sonoma state for the spring 2006 semester, not because it's closer to home...but because i'm waiting on results for the other schools from socal, but those are for the fall 2006 semester. distance away from home doesn't matter, but we'll see...i could end up staying in sonoma or going to transfer again next fall. it also depends on what environment and city they are going to. I'm going from the san francisco area, to a small city and school that has only 7,000 students..very different from the urban city lifestyle and school of 28,000 students i previously went to</p>
<p>California residents often seem to be mentioned as one of the larger represented peoples at various schools across the country, including the northeast, which is pretty far away from California. Some kids go hours away from home, some stay very close. Oh, a 6 drive can also be considered a few hour plane ride.</p>
<p>From a parent whose kid is 3.5 hours away by car, 6-7 hours on the greyhound/amtrak, 3 hours on the most economical flight (2 hrs to boston, 1 hour to NYC, not counting having to be at the airport early)</p>
<p>trying to figure out if it is only 3.5 hrs by car- why so long by train?
true greyhound is limited to same roads as private vehicle- but trains can be a heck of a lot faster- even with scheduled stops.
It takes about 3 or 4 hours to drive- depending on traffic- but much less stressful to spend those same 3 or 4 hours on amtrak( of course I am not counting the runs that are coming up from san diego during winter- and have to make visual checks at every crossing in the mountains- it was hours before it even got to the station so my daughter could board- it would have been faster if I had driven down- picked her up and drove back!)
It is a very short plane ride( not counting time dealing with airports) but pennies per mile the train seems the best bet.</p>
<p>I agree that depending on the student and the circumstances that students shouldn't be limited to attending school close to home
However, especially when you are discussing schools which have a national/international draw , attending a school in the same region in which they were raised doesn't necessarily mean they are afraid of "growth".</p>
<p>Short drive from house to triborough bridge, 95 north, to 91 then straight shot to Hanover (leave early before the traffic hits, once out of CT we are home free)</p>
<p>Amtrak is just as long because of the number of stops in small towns 13 stops between NYC and white river juncition. </p>
<p>For tomorrow the train leaves from White river junction at 11:05am and arrives in NYC at 6:25 pm. NY to boston is a shorter route but you really are not making up time because it takes 2 hours to get from boston to hanover. That's why at the end of the school term, I just closed my eyes and charged her a plane ticket home.</p>
<p>On thursday, dartmouth was selling tickets for 2 buses they were chartering that would go directly from Hanover to NYC. Daughter said there was a line like they were giving out free tickets and it quickly sold out.</p>
<p>DD is applying to colleges far away. The trip home by plane is about the same as the drive to get her brother (round trip....6 hours). It's a bit more expensive to fly her, but not more time. We support her taking this opportunity to go to a different part of the country than where she has always lived. It helps that we have relatives near where she is applying to school.</p>