The high cost of getting to college

Still struggling to recover from tuition sticker shock, parents of college freshmen are now confronting a new economic hurdle: the rising costs of moving their children to campus.

With gas, airfare and shipping prices soaring, many families are resorting to creative twists on the age-old tradition of the college send-off.

Some are vacuum-packing clothing and bedding to conserve precious luggage space — and avoid airline fees. Others are imposing strict limits on how much — and what items — their children can pack. Others have redeemed frequent-flier miles or driven long distances to airports served by discount carriers.

And some families are opting to leave either mom or dad home to save money.

"It hurts financially, but I couldn't send him here without me seeing where he's going to be," said Tracey Hunt, who brought her eldest son, Phillip, to freshmen and parent orientation at MIT last week, without her husband. "I got voted to be the one to come because I ask all the right questions."

Hunt and her husband had planned to drive the 19 hours from their Georgia home until they added up the cost of gas for their Jeep Cherokee — more than $450 round trip.

Hunt decided she and Phillip would fly.

She vacuum-packed his clothes, towels, two sets of extra-long sheets, two pillows and a comforter into two suitcases; she had connected the hose of her vacuum cleaner to special plastic bags and sucked the air out. Her clothes for the trip were stuffed into Phillip's backpack.

Hunt also ordered a bicycle and mini-refrigerator online, to be delivered directly to his dormitory.

Their cost-saving efforts were tested at the airport, though. One of the suitcases weighed 51 pounds, one pound over the limit. Hunt had to pay a $29 fee.

Because of financial concerns, Hunt said, she probably will skip parents weekend in October. And Phillip will not be coming home for Thanksgiving.

An MIT father from Long Island instructed his daughter to downsize her possessions so he could drive the family Civic instead of the Honda minivan.

Aleta Pierce, a Tufts freshman from California, pared down her wardrobe and brought just two duffel bags.

Her mother figured she would just buy anything she was missing.

"It's not like you're going to Bangladesh," said Diana Madison, Aleta's mother. "There's lots of shopping here."

Colleges are also adjusting to the new economic reality. This week, Tufts was busing freshmen to Target for an after-hours shopping field trip, according to the orientation schedule.

Monday, the university was to hold its annual swap meet when students can pick up furniture and other donated goods on the cheap.

On the third floor of a brownstone at Boston University, Lisa Roy and her husband helped their daughter, Kerri Nelson, unpack the five cardboard boxes they spent $400 shipping from Colorado.

"She wanted to bring a lot more shoes," Roy said. "We tried to help her be practical."