Whilst my DS really enjoys being at Uni in Aberystwyth there is no getting away from the fact that it is remote, and more so than St.Andrews given that is roughly 50 miles from Edinburgh, a similar distance from Oxford to central London.
However its remoteness I would suggest is part of its charm. It is clearly not a "city" or even a moderately sized town in terms of population (less than 20,000). However compared to many towns of a similar size, very few of which of course have a long established university, I'd suggest it has far more amenities and probably a far better retail and hospitality offer. And possibly uniquely a M&S with a clothing range that I might actually be tempted to buy something from. I'd also give a big shout out to Driftwood Designs, but do prefer the much larger Charlies at Welshpool to the one in Aber. Having been in Aber just a couple of weeks back I think, compared to probably most similar sized towns in the UK, @lifebythemountains is painting an overly bleak picture in terms of boarded up shops. I have always found Aber, in the time that DS has been there, to have a quite eclectic and wide-ranging retail offer. Hinterland is also quite good at presenting a slightly bleaker picture though. Something in the Welsh psyche perhaps?
We are east of the Pennines so it is a fairly lengthy journey, and with single carriageway road only (not counting the couple of miles of Newtown bypass) once past Shrewsbury. Although roads in mid Wales seem to have far fewer potholes than the lunar like driving landscape in England. However we have found Telford to be fairly good journey, and have used the station there, just a few minutes off the M54, to pick up / drop off DS at, allowing him to do the rest of the journey on a direct train.
Apparently in Wales it is a Category 7 settlement. Who knew. www.understandingwelshplaces.wales/en/compare/W38000133/
If your DC likes it and the course is what he wants to do @Plateglass I'd advise him to continue to ignore any naysayers.