My son is at a Div1, instate,5-1/2 hrs away. He had other out of state offers but really loved the school he picked and it helped that they play in a competitive conference. We hope to make it to as many games as possible---time goes by too fast!
Our son went out of state. In fact, he's about as far away from San Diego as you can get (Massachusetts). Decided when he was a junior in HS that he wanted to use his baseball abilities to help get him into a highly selective college. That's how he ended up where he is today. He would have stayed in state if Stanford had offered.That is where he really wanted to go.In the end it was not meant to be so he headed east. It's all good 
He likes where he is and has bonded well with his teammates. In fact, the entire team is at the MLB Network as I write this. The president of the network is an alum and he arranged a private tour of the studios for baseball team. Son just texted that he met John Smoltz and Harold Reynolds ! Very cool. This evening the team will be in Manhattan for a meet and greet with NYC alumni. A who's who of Wall St. and other industries will be there.
My son's school is need blind and VERY generous with its packages. It's costing us much less than his HS tuition did. As a bonus our son will graduate with no student debt since there is a no loan policy at this school. I encourage everyone to look at need blind schools.
We do have to fly him back and forth for Thanksgiving, Christmas and the school year.We use FF miles that we saved over the years to fund his travels,and we have enough to get him through his collegiate career.This saves us a ton of dough
The team starts its season in a Florida tournament every year due to the weather.They play 12 games in eight days.Last year it was in Winter Haven and this year it's in Ft. Meyers.We went last year and will go again this year. For us, it's the best bang for our buck.We cannot fly back and forth to the east coast for home games or any of the parent weekends etc. At least we get to see 12 games live. The rest of the games are live streamed and we watch online. Saw his first collegiate hit in Florida and his first homerun online.
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Son decided to stay in state and 20 mins from home for two reasons: cheap and wants to stay at home. He is the home body type although we wanted to him to venture out. I hope he doesn't want to raise a family of his own from the confines of our basement, I will definitely be putting my foot down on that one! As long as he is happy, we are good with it, for now. My youngest on the other hand has grand plans to escape as far away as possible.
Out of state. TX, we were in CA and became one of Southwest Airlines top customers. 
Get a credit card for whatever airline you travel on and if you use Southwest (highly recommended) you can earn a free companion pass. Budget for a lot of travel. We saw all kinds of places we never would probably visit had it not been for baseball. Met people from all of the country. (and out of it) If you get over 1/2 way across the country then travel gets really complex, but it is very manageable if you keep it under a 3 hour flight.
bobbyaguho posted:Our son went out of state. In fact, he's about as far away from San Diego as you can get (Massachusetts). Decided when he was a junior in HS that he wanted to use his baseball abilities to help get him into a highly selective college. That's how he ended up where he is today. He would have stayed in state if Stanford had offered.That is where he really wanted to go.In the end it was not meant to be so he headed east. It's all good
He likes where he is and has bonded well with his teammates. In fact, the entire team is at the MLB Network as I write this. The president of the network is an alum and he arranged a private tour of the studios for baseball team. Son just texted that he met John Smoltz and Harold Reynolds ! Very cool. This evening the team will be in Manhattan for a meet and greet with NYC alumni. A who's who of Wall St. and other industries will be there.
My son's school is need blind and VERY generous with its packages. It's costing us much less than his HS tuition did. As a bonus our son will graduate with no student debt since there is a no loan policy at this school. I encourage everyone to look at need blind schools.
We do have to fly him back and forth for Thanksgiving, Christmas and the school year.We use FF miles that we saved over the years to fund his travels,and we have enough to get him through his collegiate career.This saves us a ton of dough
The team starts its season in a Florida tournament every year due to the weather.They play 12 games in eight days.Last year it was in Winter Haven and this year it's in Ft. Meyers.We went last year and will go again this year. For us, it's the best bang for our buck.We cannot fly back and forth to the east coast for home games or any of the parent weekends etc. At least we get to see 12 games live. The rest of the games are live streamed and we watch online. Saw his first collegiate hit in Florida and his first homerun online.
Great story, I PM'd you, have a few questions...
jp24 posted:JP said he wanted to play baseball "in any state except Texas or a state that touches Texas."
He's Oregon-bound.
Haha, come to the northwest, enjoy half a year of rain, and he may say "I want to go back to Texas."
I think that this is all great and its obvious that everyone's situation is different.
The most important thing is to remember to keep the experience affordable for you and your son and definitely use baseball to help defray the costs. That could be staying close to home (state school) or as bobbyaguho posted, far away. Insist while in HS that your player maintain a respectable GPA. Encourage honors classes, and AP classes as well. Dont let them take the easy way out. Spend what you can afford during HS on travel, showcases and keep in mind that college is very expensive and even so after they move out of the dorm.
Sounds like many of you have done lots of preplanning and that's awesome! Most importantly, make sure that you keep the focus on what is the best fit for your son, as far as academics and baseball.
Out of State but only 3 hours away......he had an offer that would have allowed him to play only 20 minutes away but he wanted to go further away.