s/o dorms...how far away is your kid's college or university

My kid is far from college age, but when I picked a college, distance was definitely a deciding factor. As in, I did not want to stay on the west coast. I love love love it here and I knew I would probably end up in the northwest permanently. I wanted to live somewhere else for at least a few years.

I didn't look anywhere that was driving distance. I was leaning toward east coast schools, but I didn't really like it there when I went on a big college tour (visiting is great - living there, not for me). I ended up at a school in Minnesota, which is somewhere I was at all interested in, but when I stepped on campus for my tour, it felt right. And it was.

2 hours but that was not a factor. She applied to a college in Chicago. The biggest factor was cost. She went where she got the most scholarship

We just got back last night from dropping DD off at 2 year school in a small, ski resort town here in CA. It has student housing (like an apartment) and she'll share that with one roommate. It is 6-8 hours away and has limited flight service. Distance wasn't really a factor. She just wanted to go to a school with snow and wasn't ready for the 4 year route (nor were we financially).

Mine is s whopping 15 minute drive up the interstate. Probably closer to 20 when you consider finding parking. It wasn't about distance, but finding a great engineering program that he wanted. There is also another great engineering college about two hours away, but the one he chose was considerably less expensive. He is very practical even though we are paying for it. He's already been home once to head to Walmart to get the toilet paper and paper towels. He was home for 3.5 hours and talked nonstop. He loves it so far.

DS wants to go to a college that is about 6.5 hours away but in the same state. It really isn't an issue to us. Unless he gets huge scholarships, we need for him to stay in state, and we frequently travel to Orlando any way. When I went to college, driving to Atlanta took about 7 hours, too. My parents could get to me easily in a day but wouldn't just jump in a car to come visit--which was a huge plus to me. I think it will be to DS as well. We also have really good friends in Orlanda and Tampa that could get to him faster than we could in an emergency.

Mine was going to to college 5-6 hours away. Things didn't quite mesh with the school for her so she changed and decided to go to another. Only 45 minutes away! That, I think, has made my outlook so different. We are in rural area with shopping for groceries and the usuals are within 15-20 minutes. You have to drive 45 minutes for a lot of non-everyday things so that does not feel far at all for me. 5-6 hours I felt like I'd rarely see her. Now, while I will still miss her like crazy, she is within easy drive on any given day. It has definately softened the blow of first time college mom here.

1st dd went to a college 3 hrs away, west of us. 2nd dd goes to a college 4 hrs away in the OPPOSITE direction. Both in state. Distance wasn't a factor to them, neither wanted to go out of state though. One wanted more city type college, one wanted smaller college, in moderate city. Both love their colleges.

This Wednesday we're taking DD#2 to college 12 hours away. She wanted to go out of state to school and we told her as long as she could get scholarships to make up the difference between going to a public school in-state that we would support her. She's going to her first choice school and got a good scholarship. We're excited for her but it'll be hard having her so far away. DD#1 went to college an hour away and that was hard enough!

My dd definitely wanted a school that was within about four from home. She actually felt rather strongly about that. Personally, I was more concerned about tuition rather than distance. She chose a state school about two hours from here, and I have to admit it's perfect. It makes a trip to pick her up really do-able in one day. Yesterday we met her at a halfway point because she needed some documents for her on-campus job. It was very easy to meet up for lunch and then head home to get on with the day.

I don't know how many miles away it is, but since we live in Missouri and she is in school in NYC, it's a 2 hour drive to the airport and a 3 hour flight.

Her major is fashion merchandising and we felt it was really important for her to go to school where she could immerse herself in the industry and the culture of that community. Someone once told me that they wouldn't go to a community college in the midwest if they wanted to be an oceanographer, so we kind of went with that philosophy. It has paid off tenfold. She not only knew from the start that this degree program is the right one for her, but she has made a long list of connections that will help her when she graduates. She has worked in fashion-related internships since the first week of school, one each semester, all in different aspects of the industry, so now she has so much more of an understanding of all the opportunities available in this career. She wouldn't have had those same opportunities in our community, even though we live near several wonderful colleges and universities.

Cost was also a factor, but fortunately she received offers from a couple of schools, and we were able to negotiate some scholarships. She also only comes home 2 or 3 times a year, which is really hard.

When we looked at schools distance wasn't a factor at all.

My son ended up in DC, and travel is about 2 1/2 hours total from our house to his campus via hourly shuttle flights from Logan to DCA.

It wasn't planned that way, but couldn't be more perfect. We've never made the drive. Shipped all his stuff last August, and it was in his dorm room waiting when he arrived. Stored it all down there this summer and it will be delivered to his dorm this week. 

My youngest ds is 3 1/2 hours away also in another state! My oldest ds went to the same university, so we knew the drive and honestly in the 7 years (1 more to go) that my boys would have been there, we have maybe driven there 16 times. We would drop off and pick up freshman and sophomore year, then they had cars. We would go to tailgate in fall and maybe a spring visit.

DD was 1 1/2 hours away and I would drive just to have lunch with her. So different with the distance.

My DD is 4 hours away/ out of state. Definitely drive-able, there and back, in one day.

My son is 9 hours away by car. He got a full tuition scholarship and its NYC so it is opening lots of opportunities for him.

Next son is a senior and we are encouraging him to look in state. The cost of flights is sky- high around thanksgiving and Christmas. But if he could get the same offer from an equivalent school we wouldn't hold him back. Finances is #1 consideration.