<p>Hi, my daughter has been accepted ED II to the class of 2010! I'm thrilled and I'm in shock. We didn't get quite as much financial aid as we expected and now the reality of paying for college is sinking in. She may or may not be taking a car, but we live in Oakland (SF Bay Area) and even if she does have a car at school, for the shorter vacations it seems that flying is the way to go. Any ideas from current students or prospective parents? I saw one post that suggested getting an Alaska Air credit card which sounds pretty clever, especially since they fly into OAK. Other thoughts? I love everything I've seen and heard about Whitman so far--including the location--but I don't love the plane fares.</p>
<p>Congrats to you and your daughter. My daughter got in EDI. There is no really easy, or cheap, way to fly into walla walla. The closest "major" (I say that tongue in cheek) is in the Tri-Cities (Pasco, Kenniwick and Richland) - it is 45 minutes away. Spokane is about 2 hours (Southwest flys into Spokane). And then of course Seattle and Portland -- both about 4 hours away. </p>
<p>I know at certain times the school runs buses to PDX and SEA-TAC, so that might be the cheapest way to go.</p>
<p>Congratulations!</p>
<p>"And then of course Seattle and Portland -- both about 4 hours away." </p>
<p>I would not choose this route: the drive is very long and exhausting. I had to drive there from Seattle for my admissions interview. I drove on Friday and go back on Sunday...I was tired the whole week. (well, maybe I am exaggerating a bit, but you get the idea;).)</p>
<p>Yes, WF, it is long. But then again, I have been known to drive 14-16 hours to get to a dog show, so 4 hours is just a warm-up for me!</p>
<p>Congratulations! My son will be a first year in the fall as well. It is hard to get there from here but once they (and we) are into the routine it will probably seem simpler. The school does run a bus to Portland for the major school breaks. (You can read about it on the Whitman website parents' page I think). I also expect that Bay Area kids with cars who are driving home may be happy to get local riders for the trip. The small community lends itself to that kind of thing working out. We may also have to brace ourselves for finding that on short vacations (at least after the first few), they make other plans than coming home!!! My sense when I went to a local Whitman gathering was that the kids find the transport piece pretty workable once they are there.</p>
<p>Thanks, it's great to meet some new Whitman parents and hear what current students have to say about their school. (Mmaah, where do you live? BTW, I sent you a private message but you need to delete stored messages before you can receive it.) Off topic, but I am told by a freshman mom that Whitman has an on-line simultaneous core course for parents. Apparently she loves it and has made friends among parents by participating. Amazing! As for the transportation, it sounds like you just make it up as you go along. I can live with that.</p>
<p>My daughter was admitted ED1, and we're also in the Bay Area. A few weeks ago a current student called my D from the admissions office, just to see if she had any questions (you may be getting a call like that sometime too). She wasn't home so I took the opportunity to ask questions, one of which was about transportation. He said that a lot of kids bring cars, and that Bay Area kids do share rides back and forth. It's a 14-hour drive.</p>
<p>After some research we decided to get an Alaska/Horizon BofA credit card. Although there is an annual fee, the mileage plan is very competitive. Alaska pretty much has a lock on flights into WW airport (Big Sky is more local.) It may vary coming from other destinations into SEA airport, but from OAK the majority of flights have rather long connex periods to catch the second leg from SEA to ALW (that's Walla Walla airport). There appears to be no Portland to ALW flight, so we would have to fly an extra needless hour north to SEA to make the ALW connex. That's an extra hr flying, an extra hr or two waiting and another hr flying. It turns out that, at least in the case of the Bay Area or areas south of Portland, if you rent a car at PDX and drive the 4 hrs to WW it basically only adds approx. an hour or a little more (depending on which connex you would have made) to the entire trip! In addition, you save at least $100 per ticket by not flying the final leg--for which they charge an arm AND a leg. And one other thing: it sounds very likely that we will want wheels in WW when visiting (if your kid doesn't have a car.) Car rentals don't charge for mileage, just by the day or week and renting a car at PDX costs almost $10 less per day than renting one at ALW! So for us, driving the second leg saves a fair amount a money and only uses an hour or so extra time. The drive along the Oregon side isn't exciting, but it's straightforward.</p>
<p>The Alaska mileage plan w/BofA credit card starts you off with 6000 free miles. They offer a $50 companion flight once a year, and anytime you pay for a ticket you rack up double the miles. It is very likely we will be able to pick up the 20K miles it takes for our D's round trip flight at T-giving if we purchase one companion and one regular flight for Family Weekend. They have no blackout dates and they often have a good selection of discounted flights. </p>
<p>Okay, that's our plan, anyway. Now all Whittie parents need to lobby relentlessly for the school to take credit card tuition payments. My brother lives on the east coast and my nephew goes to Lewis and Clark. That school takes plastic; my brother says he easily makes the mileage to pay for all Daniel's airfares.</p>
<p>A couple of small corrections:</p>
<p>The flight time difference from say, SF to Seattle vs. SF to Portland, is not one hour, its about 15-20 minutes. An added bonus is you get to fly over Mt. Rainier, Mt. Adams and Mt. St. Helens. Tickets to Portland may be cheaper.</p>
<p>The drive from Portland along the Columbia River Gorge is spectacular!</p>
<p>I've thought about getting Alaska Air Visa too for flights from So Cal to Portland should my daughter choose Lewis & Clark. But since mileage accumulates to primary cardholders mileage plan account (according to their Terms and Conditions), how do you plan to use awards for D's flights? I'd love to find out.</p>
<p>By the by, I read in some faculty meeting minutes that Lewis & Clark is discontinuing accepting credit card payments for tuition as part of a cost-saving measure. It will save them some $300,000 in fees paid to the cc companies. Apparently other colleges have followed this same path.</p>
<p>Minimom, I did ask about that and was assured by an Alaska Air rep that you may cash in miles for a ticket in anyone's name--doesn't even have to be a family member. No more plastic will be sad news for my brother, if that's the case.</p>
<p>Somebody's: do you have a D or S already at Whitman? Definitely going in the fall? I didn't mean to dis the Portland to WW trip. I did think the trip along WA side was a little more scenic. We did catch a glimpse of Mt Hood on the way to Portland on the Oregon side, though, and that was exciting. Of course it disappeared pretty quickly! I actually am very fond of the environment around WW.</p>
<p>leonsdaughter: D is accepted for the fall--not sure about her ultimate destination. I prefer the Oregon side because the highway is better. As far as the scenery, its about that immense river cutting through the Cascade range, the change of climate driving East, the winds that roar down the Columbia, the pioneers. OK, I think its fabulous, but its OK if it doesn't do much for you!</p>
<p>Somebod (there's an abbr. for you), actually a day or so before we made the drive my husband and I were killing time in Tacoma (while D visited UPS) and we spent the morning with dozens of schoolkids at the local history museum where we watched an unbelievable film about how the Indians leaned out from platforms built precipitously over the roiling river to catch salmon in baskets. Seeing what that water was like before the dams, and then trying to imagine it as we drove along the river was mind-bending. It must have been staggering. Roll on, mighty Columbia. I am looking forward to some great hiking in the area around WW when we drop D off in August.</p>