i have more frequent flyer miles than I know what to do with. So Son #2 flew back and forth on awards tickets except one time we tried Amtrak. That will not be repeated. So, back to American Airlines we go...

Anonymous wrote:Curious about how much is spent when a student goes out of state. I’m the first in my family to go to college and went to Mason which was a commuter school back then. If DD goes out of state that’s not a quick drive or easy drive, how much is typically spent?

It really depends upon where home is and where the college is.

My one kid is 2 flights away from us and 2K+miles. There are no directs. Cheapest you can get one way flights is typically ~$700+. (note: we don't do "saver fares", we like to at least have a seat and be able to have 1 carryon--ie your backpack with computer/etc) And quite often the cheaper ones have a less than 1 hour connection (which is not smart and will lead to many more issues). Most of time it's $900+ for a one way ticket.

My other kid was a direct flight (only 1 per day on Alaska, and 1 per day on Delta each way). That's currently only $400-450 roundtrip for economy (not saver).

If there were direct flights to both, the farther away kid would only be an extra 45-60 min flight. Yet it costs double + to get them to/from school

So plan accordingly. Also, let your kid know before they apply/pick a school how much you can afford to fly/bring them home. Are you willing to pay for the 4 day October weekend (my kids both got one in October). Or is it just thanksgiving, xmas and spring break?

Bear in mind that if you fly out for move in /move out, you’ll also likely need a car to haul stuff. It adds up.

My kid will be CA to Boston or CA to NYC (making decision in the next few weeks) so we’re coast to coast travel wise. Have already discussed us going to kid for Thanksgiving vs them coming home due to how short that break is.

Also, if you're on FB, join the parents FB page of the school your kid ends up and ask for recommendations on more reasonably priced hotels and Airbnbs for busy times like move-in, family weekend, etc. We found a great hotel about 20 min away from campus for move in this way.

Anonymous wrote:We live in north east. Kid at SEC school. Flights are very expensive for the breaks. Typically $600-800. He comes home for Fall Break, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Spring and Easter so yes it is a lot!!! Plus ubers to the airport, baggage fees etc.

Yes, it’s been much more expensive than I expected. Add in hotels for drop off, parents weekend and pick-up and we are at about $10k (who knew an AC Marriott could be $700 a night…).

Anonymous wrote:Well figure:

-drive kid to college (or fly if very far)
-flight home/back Thanksgiving
-flight home/back Winter break
-flight home/back some random weekend x 1 for some random reason
-flight home or elsewhere for spring break. Probably 3 legs total to include some time at a destination plus time at home.
-drive kid home from college (or fly if very far.

So roughly 4 round-trips at whatever the cost is typically to the city the college is in. 5 round-trips if it's far enough to need to fly to college in the fall and home in the spring.

Plus flights for you or you and family for family weekend (at least first year but maybe each year depending on school and schedule) and at least once for graduation.

DC did 2 years abroad in UK as part of a joint degree program $1,600 for flight over and back and for winter break, and additional $300 for flights to Europe for other breaks per year.

After the first year I would book Thanksgiving flights in about February to get more reasonable fares and times. You kind of know how the classes work by then and what a typical schedule is. Saved a ton of money the subsequent years. Also get the credit card for no annual fee for one year with the 60+k miles bonus, then cancel at the one year mark and get it in the spouse's name. My kid went basically free to and from Boston for 2 years with the AA card and this strategy.