Ah! Well then its no problem that way at all. I somehow thought that it was much further. Those distances/taxi fares seem pretty normal to me.
Since you would presumably be flying via Ottawa, your best bet is probably to fly to LaGuardia. There appear to be some limo services that will take you to Yonkers if you don't want to pay for a taxi from the airport. Public transporation is straightforward but slow. From the airport, you pick up the M60 city bus (metrocard required which you buy at any Hudson News newsstand at the airport) and take it to the 125th st commuter train station in Manhattan. From there you take the train to Hastings-on-Hudson where you can get a taxi for the short trip to CU. But unless you have a lot of stuff you want to read on the bus and train, I'd take a taxi or limo directly from the airport. Regards, John Levine, johnl@iecc.com, Primary Perpetrator of "The Internet for Dummies", Information Superhighwayman wanna-be, http://www.johnlevine.com, ex-Mayor "More Wiener schnitzel, please", said Tom, revealingly.