<p>SteveMA–S did have a car beginning his second year, but it was up to him to find storege and arrange the logistics to get his “college stuff” to storage at year end (even his first year w/o a car). Only essentials came with him at year’s end.</p>
<p>By the end of first year, S had numerous upper classmen friends with cars and this was no big deal to get it done sans parents.</p>
<p>D is at school on the opposite coast. I took her to freshman drop off, visited once in conjunction with a business trip, and will attend graduation. Graduation will be her dad’s first look at her campus. We also saw her a couple of times when we watched her participate in her sport away from campus. We didn’t spend much time with her then as the coach didn’t want the parents distracting the kids!</p>
<p>We live 2,000 miles away. DS is a freshman who decided to stay on campus for extended fall break and not to deal with the hassle of flying during short T-giving break so we went to him. Not sure we’ll do again since we were clearly intruding on his new turf! He came home for winter break (far too long on both sides) and was just here for a week. One of us will go in May with empty suitcases in order to get the necessaries home for the summer.<br>
That’s our plan going forward - going there/back Aug and May just to transport stuff (love Southwest!). Already saw schedule for next year; the school tucks parents weekend between Oct break and Thanksgiving - just can’t afford that many flights so will probably never make it to that.</p>
<p>Steve, ds1’s school offers summer storage. Some things they wouldn’t allow to be stored, so his roomie, who lives less than an hour from the school, took that stuff home with him. I only went sophomore-year move-in because he wanted me to and because it would be a chance for ds2 to finally see ds1’s school. Ds1 does not have a car at school.</p>
<p>No car. Two checked items on Southwest and stored a few things with friends.</p>
<p>D has a friend who goes to school about 1500 miles away and is very close to her mom. They see each other once a month-- either the D’s vacation, or the mom flies to her. D asked if we could do that, if she ends up at a distance and I said of course! I’m guessing that after the first semester or first year, she wouldn’t care about it any more but I know I will enjoy visiting…and it won’t be that often, really, given all the vacations-- might be two or three trips a year.</p>
<p>Far Far West Coast - Far Far East Coast - No visit. Only freshmen move-in days.</p>
<p>They do grow up just fine sans visits, but I like to see the housing, meet the friends, see where and how they spend their time. I saw my L coast D freshman year for parents weekend, and a month ago, went out for a concert she played in. My only time seeing her play in college, and am a little sad for all the missed concerts, which were such a big part of her early years. </p>
<p>Other D, at school an hour distant, had both concerts and tennis matches to attend. I saw a few of each every year. I liked being more involved, rather than distant, and appreciated some dinners with the tennis team, bringing them snacks on occasion. </p>
<p>S was at a school 12 hours distant. I dropped him off a few times, but was very glad to see the school in session finally, senior year, and meet a few friends and get the feeling of his life while classes were in session. </p>
<p>A friend here enjoyed her Ds soccer career (soccer is the mom’s life)at a LAC sufficiently that she quit her job, and got an apartment in the town that fall, (rural New England) and followed the team. She loved it, her D didn’t mind, the team appreciated the treats, and they are a close family regardless.</p>
<p>D is going about 800 miles away. Wife will probably go out for parents weekend. DC United ends the season with a visit to the Chicago Fire so I will go out in late October.</p>
<p>It will be quite a bit different from my parents-- they dropped me off on move in day and my dad came through on business early in the spring semester of my senior year and then they came for graduation.</p>
<p>Took both kids for move-in and move-out most year’s, parent’s weekend and when each of them were either in performances or senior year thesis art show, graduation and one time each dh had business trip in area and took them for dinner/errands in their freshman year. Both did semester abroad first semester junior year so move-in was mid-year. Younger d when back second semester junior year stayed for summer job and so did not see her apartment until came up to see her in performance second semester senior year. Older d stayed at her undergrad school for 5th year post-bac, drove herself up and we came to visit and see her apartment the following month.</p>
<p>D is a 12 hour drive from home. One of us does the fall drop-off, the other does the spring pick-up. In between she flies. We fly to visit her once a semester - usually Parents Weekend in the fall, and for her birthday in the spring. </p>
<p>She doesn’t usually come home for Spring break - she does Alternative Spring Break service trips. Plus her school has a January term, followed by a short break before spring semester but she stays on campus for sorority recruitment during that short break. If we didn’t visit for her birthday (early March), we wouldn’t see her from the beginning of January until mid-May.</p>
<p>My son was a 5 hour drive from home. We did drop off & pickup both semesters, and visited him for Parents Weekend. He came home for spring break and his birthday is in the summer, so we didn’t usually go to his campus in the spring. But often we’d meet him at a relative’s house for Easter, about halfway between campus and home.</p>
<p>D was two flights - or a 23 hour drive - away. She finished in 3 years. Here’s how it worked out for us. </p>
<p>I moved her in each August and visited once a year (first year with Hubby, years 2 and 3 with Grandma). D came home each year for Christmas and the first two spring breaks. I moved her out the first spring; she moved herself out the 2nd spring (yay for rental Smart Cars) and hubby flew down and drove her and her stuff the 23 hours home to Ohio in a rental van after the third year. Glad that’s over. Son is looking at schools 11 to 13 hours away; that is much more drivable (is that a word?).</p>
<p>DD is in the happiest town in U - a 3 hr drive away. I happen to love visiting…jokingly telling DD if she is not available I, and a girlfriend will have a good time without her! As such, I visit about once a quarter, and stay for 2 nights. I see her about 3 hours or so of each of those days, we shop, watch QVC and laugh, go out to a meal or 2. It is low key, and it works for both of us. As a sophomore, she has come home for Thanksgiving, Xmas and spring break. She now has a car and will come home home if she wishes. No one feels strangled or invaded. In fact, when I indicated a discomfort about visiting her dorm room…she gave me a very quizzical look. Then again, I take as many of her buddies as will fit into a Suburban out to as many meals as they want :)</p>
<p>I visit at least once a year for my daughter’s sorority brunch for parents. It has become a tradition for my sister to join us and make a weekend out of it ( she lives south of Boston where daughter goes to school. At times , my mother has joined us too , but is too much walking now for her. Next month we will go and older daughter will also come along. My family is in Mass so it isn’t unusual to visit for this reason</p>
<p>With our older kids (16 hours, 7 hours) we visited them once a year each and did not do move in and move out with the exception of freshman move in and senior move out. The latter was combined with graduation, which was also that years visit. We love our kids, but they usually come home for breaks so it seemed that we were seeing them pretty often. For our youngest (7 hours away), things seem to be different. We went out for parents weekend in the fall and then they offered a ski weekend in February. My husband loves to ski so went out for that. Son also has a HUGE desktop computer and two monitors, so will need to be moved out this Spring. Fortunately, I love son’s college location and don’t mind the trip.</p>
<p>Dropped them off at college and picked them up at graduation. I’m sure if we lived closer, like in the same country, we would have visited. Traveling to visit would have entailed air fare, hotel and car rental plus two full days of traveling. I think they turned out ok. :-)</p>
<p>We dropped DD off for her freshman year 3000 miles from home…and the next time we were there was for graduation. She KNEW this when she decided to attend the school. It was simply too far and too expensive to travel for a weekend…especially with the time change. She came home at Christmas and during the summer. Visited close relatives who lived close to her school for Thanksgiving and spring breaks.</p>
<p>not yet since freshman parents weekend.</p>
<p>My D is starting college 12 hours away in the fall. We will drive down with her to move her in, and if she wants help, we’ll do the same for move-out. I’m planning to go down for family weekend; DH is not going then but plans to go down for another weekend to play golf with her (since she’ll be in a warmer climate and that’s their favorite activity to do together). Beyond that, we have no plans to visit. Her current plan is to come home for fall break, Thanksgiving and winter break, and to go on our family trip for Spring break (we share the same spring break next year). I do think she will come home that often freshman year (she wants to see her dogs!) but I’ll be surprised if she gets home that frequently in subsequent years.</p>
<p>I’m going to visit D1 this weekend as she did not come home for spring break and went to Nicaragua instead. This is the first time I have specifically gone to visit other than move in and move out. She now has an apartment and I won’t be needing to move her out and most likely will not be home for the summer as she has applied for internships. D2 is 11 hours away but only a freshman so still makes it home for all breaks. Between the two of them we get frequent phone calls and texts so sometimes it feels like they never left.</p>