That's definitely something to think about. My flights to Providence (from my small hometown airport) usually ran about $300-$400, and I had layovers in Memphis AND Detroit. I was always exhausted upon arrival at my final destination. After my freshman year, I started flying into Logan at Thanksgiving and it turned out to be about $175-200 (I also stretched it so I left on Tuesday and came back Saturday). Logan is only worth it if you're saving more than $75-100, since you'd have to pay for the airport shuttle or train to Providence. I still managed to make it home every Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Spring Break except for Thanksgiving and Spring Break of my senior year (I went on vacations with my boyfriend instead). If you jiggle the days around, you can find affordable airfare.

I was on campus this weekend for meetings and went to some presentations about the campus expansion. Some very exciting things are in the pipeline! More than anything, I'd love for my niece to go there but I won't pressure her. :)

Munchkin: Our flight to Providence from Detroit was $440 each! It may be worth it to try Logan instead if she goes there.

Plus ther are a lot of bus routes around there. Plymouth and Brockton busses are the reason I marched this past winter.

Dee, I was able to fly from Providence to Detroit for about $200 per ticket (including tax). If you can buy the tickets far enough in advance and time it right, you can get some pretty good deals.

$440 is a lot...but weren't you flying over Labor Day weekend? That's going to push the prices up a lot. Right now DTW-PVD looks like somewhere in the $220-270 range.

Regardless of where she might end up, sticking with one airline and doing FF miles might be the best way to go. I think I got a free flight sometime in the beginning of sophomore year, and had a few more by the time I graduated. :)

I've got her on a FF program and with all the traveling I'm doing for work and all the programs I signed up for, I should be getting some free flights. I have my car rentals, hotels and delta sky miles all going to delta sky miles.

You mentioned concerns with Stanford and the cost of flights but the average price I find round trip from Detroit to San Francisco is at or under $300.

I don't know of many schools that have a full week of break at Thanksgiving like Idaho does, so travel possibility and cost may be a factor a lot of places if she has a class that meets Wednesday and/or Monday as well as projects due right after break. Thanksgiving is an important holiday for a lot of people but she's going to make friends and likely know someone who lives closer she can go home with and stay over the few days instead of a whirlwind trip.

Time is another element in traveling for a short period of time like Thanksgiving too though. It takes an entire day to get here from California, because you lose three hours! Renting a U-Haul to get her out there with a three day drive is a little overwhelming to me too, admittedly. Chicago is a one hour flight or a 5 hour train ride or drive in comparison. NYC is a longer drive, for sure, but still doable in one day. She doesn't seem that interested in going quite that far away either, which is ok with me.

You may not need that UHaul. Bed, Bath and Beyond will allow you to buy items at any store and have it waiting at the store closest to the college. They also have lists online of the college housing restrictions in terms of allowed and forbidden small appliances, whether the dorms all have XL or regular length twin beds....

You also may want to check if the college provides summer storage or are there facilities nearby?

I went to school 12 hours away from my home. My parents drove me out during freshman year and picked me up at graduation. I flew home for all other travel but again both my home and the school were in major cities. My school did provide storage in a dorm during the summer which made it very easy. I have no idea if they still do that

My D's school was only 4 hours away but it was located in a rural area. Despite the fact that it was at least an hour to a small airport and about 3 hours to a major one, they had a full complement of kids from across the country. No summer storage was provided so she did have to bring everything back and forth each summer.

We definitely did not do the U-Haul. Dorms, at least at the schools your daughter is interested in, have basic furniture like a bed, shelves, a desk, and occasionally a wardrobe. At the time I started college, however, you could still check 3 large bags at no additional cost...so, my father and I ended up packing a lot of stuff and flying it up. Still, most of that stuff was bedding, clothing, and smallish items like books. The lamps, computer, etc., we just picked up at Best Buy or BB&B once we arrived.

There was an option to rent fridges/microwaves from the school...they dropped them off in September and picked them up during the last few days of the Spring semester. Extremely convenient.

I had summer storage through the sorority but I think other students were able to get it as well.

Both my undergrad and the undergrad of the university that I attended for graduate school have large numbers of international students and kids from all over the US--so they made things like delivery of items and rental of small appliances extremely easy.

If she's living in a dorm room there is no need to bring a U-Haul, and if she wants things from home sometimes it is not cost prohibitive to ship it as extra luggage, cargo on the flight, or ship it another way, I think PhoenixAzul as well as others used Greyhound shipping with positive results.

My parents didn't take me to school, so I took everything as luggage one time or in my car the other time and bought things when I got there. There was no storage in the dorms when I did my stint there and everything was kept in our room under the bed or on top of the wardrobe. In the summer people get storage units and usually share with friends to get a bigger one at lower cost. I know people who put theirs cars in storage units over the summer instead of leaving them parked in town or on campus.

Her second set of SAT scores are in. Her English went down slightly, math went up a little, writing went up a lot. All of her schools superscore so with the top scores in each, she's looking at 1920 which puts her in the "middle 50's" for every school. Meaning, 50% of admitted students have a score in the range which includes her score. She's happy :) Scores have been sent. She went to an admissions essay writing workshop at the University of Michigan on Tuesday evening.

Early acceptance apps are due Nov 1/15 (depending on the school). She has definitely decided not to do early decision anywhere.

Things were so much easier when I applied to college..lol.

First thing, love your story! I am doing the same thing with grad school.

Okay, so first I want tell you about what got me to attend my undergrad #1. I went to the collge of saint benedict/s ain't johns univeristy in mn. I am from ohio, so its a bit far. But I loved everything I read and applied. They offer a program for out of state students to come visit for the weekend. All I had to pay was half of my plane ticket. Stayed on campus and learned about the school. They got us between the airport and school, food, everything! It is really well known and big on study abroad, two things that drew me in.

While CSB has alot of similar things, I recommend seeing if Stanfordd has a program like that. Or any out of state school she wants to see. Link for csb program below:
-Kat

http://www.csbsju.edu/Admission/visit/flyin.htm

AGDee, I'm enjoying this more than a recruitment thread! Best wishes for your daughter in her search.

Yes, I do think it was a lot easier when we selected a college (although I didn't have your daughter's high SAT score!). I do think it's a big decision -- just think of how many things are impacted by where you went to college -- your friends, your GLO, maybe your spouse, maybe where you live, etc.

Of the schools she's visited, I'm kinda pulling for Northwestern. Looking forward to seeing how it all ends up!