Son will be studying in Maastricht for fall semester. He will be traveling from the midwest in the USA. He enjoys traveling, backpacking, and doesn't take many frills to keep him happy. What advise for traveling by himself and safety issues? Best route to get to Maasticht? Plane, train, ?

I'll have a friend who's son did this 2 yrs. ago try to answer you. I hear it's a wonderful experience.

Your son should be doing the research; he's the one who is going to be living on his own.
Your question is far too simple for specific recommendations. Enough to say that Maastricht is a scenic small city on the Netherlands-German border with lots of history, most recently the treaty which is a foundation of the European Union.
Safety? Can he get along by himself in Chicago? That's a bigger assignment than where he's going.
You and he will have money issues. Check the many many comments on this forum about electronic banking.
Once plans are settling into place, look into Skype; any mom still wants to talk face-to-face.
Here are a few places to start your information-gathering:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maastricht
www.kayak.com
www.itasoftware.com
http://www.bahn.com/i/view/index.shtml (train schedules)
http://www.whichbudget
http://www.seat61.com (advice about trains.)

Maastricht has no airport for commercial flights, so getting there means
1. Taking a flight to Amsterdam
2. Taking the intercity train to Heerlen, and change trains in Sittard
3. Take either and intercity or sprinter train from Sittard to Maastricht (depending on the time of the day).

All in all it's about a 3 hour trip, costs 22,80 euro (not including the flight ofcourse ;-))

For any public transport planning, use http://www.9292ov.nl/ and press the union jack for the english site. It plans your journey for you, giving the best options using all forms of public transport to and from addresses, stations etc. It also gives details about pricing and tickets.

My son has studied in Maastricht, and I know the city well. Travelling to Maastricht is a breeze. Accomodation is another story. Apartments are very expensive in Maastricht. Our son rented an apartment in Lanaken, which is in Belgium, but just 6 km from Maastricht University (a short bike ride).

Your son should use Facebook to find accomodation in Maastricht.

Safety is not an issue in Europe.

Thank you for all the information! He has found housing thru some university contacts. His summer job is in a mountainous area and his work hours & location give him limited acess to the internet. Knowing that, he asked if i could research some of this for him & he would check in for follow up info when he could get to a town/area with internet. I appreciate everyone's advise on getting him there. I will pass it all onto him.
What are the issues with electronic banking?