So how does one get to West Lafayette? What city do you fly into? Does it cost a lot to get from airport to campus?
When I visited over the Summer, I flew into Chicago O’Hare airport and drove 2 hours to Purdue. I believe you can fly in a little bit closer. The best thing is though, when I visited, they said that you can ride the shuttle from school to the airport free of cost as long as your have your student ID with you. I believe that is correct.
Oh, but if someone is just visiting and not a student, they would have to pay? Did you rent a car? If Purdue becomes affordable once the f. aid packages come out, my 17 year old son would fly by himself to visit, but the flight is so expensive, I don’t know that I can afford more on top of that.
@sbjdorlo I explored this issue because we live overseas and my daughter will have to travel to and from Purdue alone if she attends there (which is looking highly likely). There are buses from the Memorial Union to either Chicago O’Hare and Indianapolis. You have to reserve a seat on the buses which I am sure fill up fast at holiday time. Both airports have lots of domestic flights. Chicago is also a major hub for international flights.
@sbjdorlo I visited the campus this past summer and that’s all the information I know, I also did not rent a car.
I think the round trip shuttle buses from Purdue to Indy (really nice airport by the way) is around $40. Not too bad.
Moving in, my dad and I drove from NJ with all myself. I move my stuff into storage units near campus using Zipcar rental cars during the summer.
And I think the bus from Purdue to Chicago O’Hare is around $65 each way.
Flights to Chicago are about $100 less than to Indy, so my son would fly in there. But the transport to Purdue from the airport is a lot. Whew, costs are adding up…not sure it will happen. We’ll see.
My D is a student. She flies from Houston into Indy and takes the bus to West La Fayette. Her friend is from the West coast and she flies into O’Hare. The bus is NOT free and the trip from O’hare takes longer and costs more. You can look up the fares online.
It just depends how you can fit the flight and bus schedules together. On the flight in, you need to take a somewhat earlier flight so you can catch the bus. On the flight out, you need to take a somewhat later flight because you need to take the bus to get there. Don’t take the last flight out though, if it’s delayed or canceled, you may have to sleep at the airport. If you fly into Chicago, watch the weather also.
My apologies, I was in the wrong about the cost. The free travel on the bus only applies to traveling within the city (not to the airport).
Are students allowed to have a car? If Purdue was somehow affordable, we do have relatives in Milwaukee, which is maybe 3 hours away, so there might be something we could make of that. Otherwise, it seems pretty expensive to get to and from campus.
@sbjdorlo
To be honest, if you’re worried about the cost of traveling to and from Purdue, the costs of textbooks are going to surprise you further (freshman year I spend $500/ semester on textbooks alone).
Students are allowed to have a car on campus, but parking spot passes are expensive and the roads and weather can sometimes get nasty. Not to mention people damaging other people’s car’s (rear ending, scraping the sides, knocking off side-mirrors). I don’t think freshmen have a “guaranteed” chance of getting a parking pass either.
I think my oldest son who is at MIT has been really fortunate in that he’s spent basically next to nothing on textbooks these past three years. He shares with friends, uses textbooks online, and borrows from his friends.
My current senior is full time at the local community college, dual-enrolled, and I do know that textbooks cost. He has a small 529 account to cover our EFC plus textbooks for a year, but that doesn’t cover travel expenses.
Theser are just good things for us to think about as my son decides on a school.
Thanks for sharing the link, btw. I appreciate it!
I checked the driving direction from Chicago O’hare to Purdue and find it is a toll way? Wondering anyone has experience on it? Asking because I know some state highway only take electronic device payment which kind of challenging for rental car. I also checked shuttle service from O’hare to Purdue, the schedule seems limited.
Any advice is welcome.
My son and I did the trip back in November.We were visiting a few schools and started in Columbus but did stop in Chicago for a day of sightseeing. I know I used my EZ pass (we are from NY) for a good part of the trip to Chicago from Notre Dame but I don’t believe any of the roads we took were electronic device only. I checked my EZ pass account and did not see any record of use on my EZ pass at all on I-65 which takes you from Chicago to Purdue. Rental car agencies often rent out electronic devices but I don’t know the cost. Is it possible to arrive in Indy. We left from there, beautiful airport and about an hour closer. Was also cheaper to fly out of then O’hare or Midway for us. Hope this helped.
I am not a native but a little google shows me:
From O’hare to West Lafayette, the toll roads are in Chicago, I-294S or I-90E. I-65 itself has no toll.
When you use google map, select “Route options”, check Avoid Tolls, it will show you the route without tolls. It may take a little longer, depending on traffic.