<p>There are some schools that have a parent thread to assist in their school specific questions, not sure if there is interest here or not. Thought I'd give it a shot.</p>
<p>As a parent (of 2 recent alums) and an alum myself I’m happy to try to assist if there is interest here.</p>
<p>Well, since I started it, Let me ask a couple of questions. First of all – Where is the best place to stay when visiting if we want to be close to campus? I had a hard time trying to figure places out when we visited last summer. Also am I correct that things close by fill up at times?</p>
<p>Also do you know the best way to get from JFK to Swarthmore?</p>
<p>Happy to help too if I can. I’m another parent of two, one recent alum and one senior, and like dadx3, I’m also an alum myself. </p>
<p>The best way to get from JFK to Swarthmore is to drive, really, taking the NJ Turnpike to the PA Turnpike exit (#6) to the Blue Route (476) to the Swat exit (#3). It would be easier just to fly into Phila. airport, which is a half-hour drive (or less), if you can. </p>
<p>There are perfectly fine hotels in the airport area, lots of great hotels in Philly, and a handful of places out closer to the school. If you’re flying and not renting a car, staying in Center City makes more sense, because you can take the SEPTA train (the R3, formerly the Media Local) directly to the foot of McGill Walk.</p>
<p>Things don’t really fill up unless there’s something major going on in the city. And Swarthmore rents dorm rooms out to families of graduating seniors when commencement rolls around, if you’re looking that far ahead.</p>
<p>Thanks so much for the info. As far as the travel from JFK, I was more concerned when S is coming on his own. As we live in Switzerland, there are a lot more flights into JFK and they are a bit more cost effective. I wasn’t sure whether there were any shuttles or if he is totally on his own. Husband and I went to Wharton, so we are familiar with Center City (though a bit dated). I felt for move-in it might be more convenient to be close to campus. When looking for a hotel last summer close to school, I really didn’t seem to find anything.</p>
<p>When we’ve come to campus for events we have usually stayed at one of two motels in Springfield, PA on the Baltimore Pike. They are the Days Inn and the Rodeway Inn. Neither are at all fancy, but they are relatively inexpensive and only a 5 minute drive to campus (both would require a rental car for you). Some previous threads here on CC have complained about these motels being dirty, but we have not had problems, or perhaps our standards are not too high. There are a couple of B&Bs in Swarthmore itself, presumably within walking distance of campus, but I think they book up well in advance of college events, like freshman orientation and graduation.</p>
<p>In terms of flights from PHL or JFK, it is clearly more convenient to arrive and depart from PHL. The college probably has shuttles available to PHL, and in any case a shared ride from a fellow student or even a taxi is quite feasible.</p>
<p>It is possible to get from Swarthmore to JFK by public transportation, but it is a multi stage journey. One possible route would be:
- Take SEPTA to 30th Street Station
- Take Amtrak from 30th Street Station Philadelphia to New York Penn Station
- Take the E train from Penn Station to Jamaica
- Take the Skytrain from Jamaica to JFK</p>
<p>Depending on the connection times, this trip will take about 3 hours and cost about $85 (with much of that being the Amtrak fare of $73 for advance purchase regional rail). If you are willing to take a local SEPTA train to Trenton and then NJ Transit NE Corridor from Trenton to NY Penn, you can save about $60 in the fare, at the cost of an additional 1hr plus in the travel time, plus one more connection and its attendant risk of missing the connection/delays etc.</p>
<p>There are also buses from Center City Philadelphia to New York which are cheaper than Amtrak.</p>
<p>Ok great, thanks! Husband and I always did the SEPTA to NJ Transit when we went to NYC, but for the weekend, not to catch a plane.
We would also like to know if there are any activities that come up between now and when they start orientation for either ED admittance a or regular admittance?</p>
<p>Also wondered if there are any activities (Parent’s weekend or Family weekend) during the school year that we should try to come over for. We don’t come over that often, but if there is something would be good to know, just in case.</p>
<p>As a parent, what occasions (other than the obvious beginning and ending) should we not miss?</p>
<p>Thanks again!</p>
<p>Swarthmore used to have their Family weekend in the spring, with the logic that since the college no longer has a football team, there was no reason to have Family weekend revolve around a sporting event as many other colleges do. And for first year students, having family weekend only 7 weeks or so after the start of their college experience means that they may not have learned the ropes of the place enough to be able to show their parents around confidently. Another reason was that for musical and dramatic performances, 6 weeks of rehearsal isn’t enough to have as polished a performance as they would like. </p>
<p>A few years ago they changed the schedule to have Family weekend in the fall, but have an Arts weekend in the spring. There are spring sports events that weekend, but also an emphasis on the performing arts.</p>
<p>I actually liked the previous schedule somewhat better. A first year student is still pretty new to Swarthmore in the third week of October, but should be much more at home, with deeper relationships with other students, faculty, and involved in activities by the middle of Spring semester.</p>
<p>So my take would depend a bit on what activities your student is involved with. If they are on a sports team that plays in the fall, then the official Family Weekend might be the time to visit. If they are involved in a sports team that plays in the spring, or involved in a performing arts production, then I’d prefer the spring Arts weekend.</p>
<p>Another alumni parent with a current student. We often stay by the airport. It’s just a quick drive up 476 from there (or 420). We went to Garnet Weekend this fall and had a lot of fun.</p>
<p>I have a graduate of the class of '07 and a current student at Swat. We also discovered after time that there are many options in all prices near the airport. You can get to Swat in ~15 minutes once you learn the local roads. 
My son who is the current student knows a number of international students and believes that they fly into PHL, rather than deal with all the public transportation necessary to get from JFK to Swat. Of course there will be extra costs tacked on for the public transportation needed to get from the NYC area down to PHL, so will that make up for some of the differential in the cost of the flights?
Happy to help anyone with other questions, of course.</p>
<p>Swat parents help!!! Any comments or advice about the health insurance. I have coverage for my son, but wondered if there are benefits to getting the school provided insurance as well. Does it make student’s lives easier if they have it? Are there issues like needing to pay versus free treatment on campus? </p>
<p>Thanks for any insight you can provide.</p>
<p>For our two kids at Swarthmore we did not purchase the college health insurance - they had adequate coverage under my family health insurance policy. You might want to check with your health insurance to see how it would cover claims from your son in the Swarthmore area. As far as I could tell, not having the college health insurance did not make my kids lives any harder. The college health insurance is not required in order to use the college health services on campus.</p>
<p>Unless your own health insurance will not cover your son in the Swarthmore area or would charge exhorbitant deductibles, it doesn’t seem worthwhile to spend the ~$1,200 for the college’s health insurance.</p>
<p>Our experience was much the same. We checked over our own coverage every year, and felt it sufficed. Like dadx3, I can’t see any way in which not having the college health insurance on top of our own caused any delays or difficulties of any kind for either of our two. And during their time there, they each had at least one dramatic health event, so it’s not because they didn’t need to avail themselves of college and other health services.</p>
<p>Phew, that’s a relief. That was what I had hoped! </p>
<p>Thank you both for responding right away…hope you’re having a great summer!</p>
<p>GvaMom,
Our son is going to be a senior at Swat this year, and we also did not purchase the College’s health plan. After checking, we felt that our own health coverage would be sufficient. It has been. My son has used the health center for relatively minor things and we have never been billed for anything he needed there. When he needs a prescription filled, there is a Rite-Aid pharmacy fairly near by which will deliver prescriptions to the health center.</p>
<p>Thanks so much for the info. It looks unanimous…and confirms what I thought to be true.</p>
<p>We had no problem with our health insurance working for our daughter, just interesting comparisons. The week before she went back to Swat her sophomore year, both of us had contact with a bat in our house (different bats) and had to take the series of rabies shots. My set cost $25,000 in the Midwest; hers cost $50,000 because the treatment was billed to the hospital emergency room (even though she walked through the ER to another area of the hospital) and was supposedly required by PA law to be done by a physician (no physician was present as far as she knew). Our insurance company did not bat an eye about paying off both claims.</p>
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<p>Did they pay the claims right off the bat or did your agent have to go to bat for you?</p>
<p>Great response Coase!</p>
<p>Here’s a stranger question. Does anyone know anything about the possibility of driving lessons somewhere around Swat? Driving age here is 18 and the driving test is brutal thus there wasn’t enough time between the end of school here and Orientation,etc. to get all the work in.</p>
<p>Then the other question is whether you think there would be enough time to actually take driving lessons while school is in or if there is enough school work and other activities that it would be a bad thing to even consider. Thanks as always!</p>