Should we stay near campus or by the highway?

Short answer: Stay near campus for walkable morning tours — parking on most campuses is permit-only and the 9 AM info session comes fast. Highway motels win only when you're passing through and won't see the college until morning.

Downtown hotel zones within a 10-minute walk of campus let you skip the parking scramble entirely on a 9 AM tour day — that's worth $30 more per night almost every time.

Highway interchange motels are right for one-night corridors (Hartford between Boston and DC; Knoxville between Nashville and Asheville) where the campus isn't the reason you stopped.