Is it typical for most college kids to go to college four or more hours away from home?
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Anonymous
| This board makes it sound like it's the norm for most kids to go far away to places like Chicago, Florida, etc for college. But in my experience, most of the people I know went to school about four hours or less from home. At five hours, I felt like I was one of the exceptions. I've noticed that on DCUM people will list the schools their kids are considering and they will all be in places that are quite far flung from the other, and it's relatively rare that people will comment about the distance it's just treated like it's the norm. Is this really common for most kids in the country or is DCUM not very representative of what's the norm for most kids and families. |
Anonymous
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I think DCUM skews very upper middle class and since DC is a pretty transient place you have a lot of kids willing to places they have other family connections.
I know 2 kids here definitely going to CA schools next year- but both have lots of family there. My DS is a high school senior and wants to try living somewhere else. His closest school option is Pitt. He has some very far away places but I bet he ends up on the east coast. |
EyeCandyOP
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Anonymous
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The majority of US college students enroll within 50 miles of home.
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2016/02/03/when-students-enroll-college-geography-matters-more-policy-makers-think |
Anonymous
| I find it amazing that people on this board don't seemed fazed about their kids going very far away for college. If a kid goes to college far away, it greatly reduces their chances of returning after graduation. That being said many people in the DC area aren't originally from here and may not have plans to stay here indefinitely, so maybe that's it. They never expected to live close to their kids once they reached adulthood anyways. As for me, my entire family lives in VA, and it seems normal to be close to family. The idea of only seeing my adult kids 2x a year is heartbreaking. If my kid really wanted to go far away to school, I would allow, but I will be honest, I'm certainly not encouraging it in any way. |
Anonymous
| People on DCUM are typically wealthy and have the money for the costs associated with colleges that are far away. I don’t have the money to pay OOP for college for my child so I certainly don’t have extra money for costly transportation home a few times each year. |
Anonymous
| But upper income kids are more likely to go further. It is very much related to socioeconomic status. |
Anonymous
+1. And this is DCUM. For kids from the District, it's no less expensive to stay within a couple hours of DC vs. going farther afield. At the same time, most students in Virginia go to college in Virginia. Same for Maryland. |
Anonymous
I want my kids to live where it makes them happy, and where they have the best opportunity. That may or may not be the DMV. I am not putting my desires or needs ahead of theirs. |
Anonymous
I assume upper income people are more likely to live far away from their families as adults as well? |
Anonymous
| The existence of DCTAG and the fact DC does not have a public system like other states do also makes a difference. As does the fact that DC is pretty transient, meaning mom/dad might be a legacy at a faraway school, and the kid might have strong family connections to another area. |
Anonymous
Very true. I am from Europe, and we are considering universities on this continent as well as Europe. Many of my friends are international as well and doing the same thing. It will depend on how expensive vs. desirable (academic, climate, family) our kids' choices are. |
Anonymous
Yeah but sending them hundreds/thousands of miles away almost guarantees that they will be gone for good. And whose to say that if they stayed closer to home they wouldn't have been happy either? |
Anonymous
| Op, concern re: distance from home is very provincial (unsophisticated, narrow-minded). Concern re: cost is important, perhaps most important for many families, but measuring miles is not. |
Anonymous
My kid graduated from a Montgomery County high school last spring, graduating class of around 600 I think. There's no way a majority of that class was even admitted to schools within 50 miles of home. Sure, a good number of those kids are going to MC, UMD, UMBC and the various other publics and privates in and around DC, but there's no way that number is over 300. UMD for example is just not going to accept that many kids from one high school. |