> I feel for you, but I'm not terribly sympathetic. I never have understood why so many people who have perfectly good colleges within 50 miles seem to feel obligated to go to an out of state college, instead of going to one close by.

That doesn't make any sense to me at all. What if you want to study something that college stinks at? What if want to move anyway because you don't like where you're currently living (whether the climate, the people, the food, the landscape, or simply the desire to broaden your horizons and see more of the world)?

There are more probably factors in the decision of what college to go to than what house to buy -- and there are far, far fewer colleges than houses to choose from.

One can make the best of any situation, of course, which means that the wrong choice on a tough decision will still suffice. But that's a ridiculous reason to make proximity the primary factor. I can't even think of a reasonable justification for why it should even make most people's top ten.