FWIW, I went to college in CT. My best friend at college was from Houston. Her mother saw the school when they did a trip east to look at colleges. Both her parents came for graduation. Those are the only times she had a parent step foot on campus. I’m sure they would have loved to drop her off freshman year, etc, etc, but it wasn’t practical. She flew, got rides with other people also doing the drive and eventually bought a car so she could drive back and forth. And she didn’t go home for short breaks. Now whether you could convince your parents that such an arrangement might be ok is a whole other story, but if you only go home for Christmas break and summers and spend shorter breaks on campus or going home with friends who live closer to school you will not be the only one.
I like the idea of you getting someone your parents can identify with to talk to them. That may help more than anything.
I’m assuming your in-state school isn’t of the caliber of CMU. Can they be persuaded at all with an emphasis on the superior education you can get at CMU?