Postby Harriet » Sun Jul 27, 2014 9:47 am
blessed, I wish I knew what advice to give you.
Because we happen to have choices of colleges near enough, my older dd's first 2 years were spent with our house still home. It was a lot of driving, which was a trade-off in terms of our worry, of course, and she lunched at the university and sometimes went out with friends in late afternoon and early evening, but everyone liked that by late evening, she was in her own environment, her own bedroom, refrigerator, washing machine. By the end of those 2 years she was oh-so-ready to take an apt with 2 girlfriends near campus and by then she knew exactly which one she wanted to choose, how to walk safely to class, etc.
Cons included ds not being able to move into the larger bedroom as he approached 6-foot teenager needs. All the driving cut into dd's study time, really put miles on her car, and probably wore it down faster. She may have felt less a part of university life, too, especially since she wanted to be in the choral group.
Thinking in terms of 2014 - could you plan to skype a lot? I don't know whether she will travel to school by car or not, or how far it is, but is there a pleasant town in the middle where you could meet, so you could see each other more often?