Austin College released their 2024-2025 academic calendar yesterday. Finally! So I plunked down a hefty amount of $$ for a roundtrip ticket home for Thanksgiving. My DH doesn’t seem to understand yet why when you’re flying on Southwest, the early bird catches the worm in terms of cheaper airfare. Our family literally has never flown anywhere around the holidays, so this is new for him. I, on the other hand, had plenty of experience as a kid running through the Dallas, Denver, and Chicago airports around Thanksgiving & Xmas to catch a connecting flight so we could spend the holidays with grandparents.
Still figuring out flights for winter break. Looks like she’ll have an entire week off at Thanksgiving. And then 2 weeks later on 12/13, the semester is over and final exams are all done. So I need to figure out if she should fly home on Sat 12/14 or an evening flight on Fri 12/13.
And Jan Term begins on 1/2. Flights from PHX–>DAL on 1/1 are ugly right now. I asked in the FB parents group if anybody knows if dorms are open on 12/31. And honestly, I have no idea if my kid wants to spend New Year’s Eve of college in the dorm (I probably wouldn’t). We’ll see how this all goes over the next few days!
Word on the street in the FB parent group is that at the end of the school year, lots of students team up to share a small storage unit over the summer. I’m going to mention it to D24 when the time comes. Then she could just fly home on Southwest w/her 2 free checked pieces of luggage + 2 carry-ons and leave the rest in Sherman, TX over the summer. Thus, no need for a 16 hr one-way drive x 2 at the end of the school year.
Buy Both??? Start a spreadsheet to track all the flights, and all the credits from cancelled flights since they never expire and D24 will be flying back and forth for the next 4 years. Other than the work to track carefully, there is no additional cost for keeping both options until she meets her group and finds out if any will be around for new years eve.
Sometimes it worries me how much some of our kids are still growing and changing. S24 is on the young end of his grade. He was pretty disengaged from the college process at the beginning, and really only became truly engaged when he started to send out applications and hear results. We suggested a lot of the colleges he saw, and he did not do much research on his own. He liked most campuses he toured and had few strong opinions.
He is going to a great college that (it seems to me) is an excellent fit for him. But I do wonder if his tastes will change once he experiences the reality of college, and if he will have regrets or second thoughts. For example, he opted out of trying to play his sport in college because it is only offered at few (mostly large) universities and he didn’t want to limit himself. But it has become more clear than ever this year that he is very passionate about his sport - it is the thing he cares about most in his life right now. He may arrive in college and be perfectly content with club sport or other activity options. Or he may have major regrets. I have no idea which way it will go.
@sbinaz this is great advice from @parentkeith! My D22 usually flies home SW because there are a lot of flights, you can cancel/change without fees, and the bags are free! The hardest part for us has been timing around exams and airport shuttle. Freshman year is a learning curve for sure!
If your daughter can put stuff in storage herself and fly home that is amazing! Freshman year I ended up driving out, helping my daughter put stuff in storage and then driving back with her (still too much stuff for us to fly back, even with the big stuff in storage). This year I am flying out and renting a minivan, putting stuff in storage, and driving back with her (too much stuff again). Next Fall she is doing study abroad and I have yet to find a way to drive a minivan to Europe, so she is going to have to figure out the suitcase situation. I remain optimistic that after living abroad out of two suitcases, she can find a way to move back into her dorm next January without me driving her stuff across the country. In large part because that would be snow season for the 14 or so hours that I would be driving across the country on I-90.
I will say, though, that I have really enjoyed having my daughter to myself for 2 days straight at the beginning and end of each year. Just being able to chat without interruption on the road has been so nice.
This! Even worse are some of the students at our BS whose parents hand them a list of colleges that they are “allowed” to apply to. My heart aches for them.
One of the girls here, literally seconds ago, walked in the office and told me she just committed to Syracuse. She’s over the moon with excitement. Just thought it was wild I read your post a minute later.
It’s a great idea, but we’re not made of money and have some other expenses (medical) coming up that I need to use extra funds for. I’m going to see what I can find out from the school and other parents of current students there and then play it by ear!
You might have to wait until she finds out her exact exam schedule, unfortunately. We’ve played the same game with S21 each winter break and end of year to see when he’ll actually be done and able to leave. Good luck!
My two cents is this is just kinda how life works. You make these big decisions about things like education, career, relationships, and so on, not really knowing what is going to come in your future, how you will evolve, and so on. But the benefits when things work out are so high, it is worth giving it your best shot.
And then if things change and something isn’t working anymore, maybe you have to make a new decision. C’est la vie.
So I think for a lot of kids, this is the first really big decision like that. But it won’t be the last.
I think what we probably need to figure out first is what date the dorms close for winter break. The semester officially ends on Fri 12/13 at 5 pm, but if that means that the dorms officially close at 5 pm that day, then it would be Fri evening that she’d need to be on a flight home. Of course, she could be done with finals on Thurs and then could fly home Thurs evening or any time on Fri. Logistics are fun. LOL.
I would add from BS experience with DS flying back and forth get one way tickets because plans are always changing. Yes, a little more expensive but less if your child has a change of plans on the back end.
Completely agree. Sometimes i think what may be most important from this whole process is what kids learn about making decisions for themselves over this year. I always said to my kids, this is just the first big decision you are making, but it is arguably the least important of many other big decisions you will make in life (eg, who you pick as a mate, how you react/pivot when life throughs you a curveball, etc.). And regardless of how our kids have gone about making this decision, hopefully they will just be better prepared to handle the next one they face.
In terms of whether this decision turns out to be the right one for them, that will only be determined by what ultimately happens to them when they get to campus in terms of the people they meet and interact with and the experiences they have - all which involve a bit of serendipity.
I know you bought the tickets already, but there is an app called Hopper that keeps track of the prices and when they go up and down. For winter break and others may be worth it to follow the flights and they will tell you the best time to buy. (and after three years of doing this with S21 and I m so glad S24 will be taking the school organized bus home for breaks)
Probably belongs on another thread, but I feel unlucky every time I have to purchase a flight on something other than southwest. I suspect it’s like any airline, once you fly enough and learn all the hidden perks, it’s better than the others…
I have barely used Southwest but we had a mixed situation for spring break. Leg there was awesome, we purchased early bird and got great seats the front of the plane. Way back not awesome. Flight was delayed like 7 hours and we didn’t get the early bird. Ended up at the very back of the plane with my D in between two strangers and me on an aisle in another row.
I just learned that kayak offers student discounts. Search kayak/c/students and see if lower fares pop up. We saved $400 on our daughter’s ticket for August.
I remain optimistic that after living abroad out of two suitcases, she can find a way to move back into her dorm next January without me driving her stuff across the country. In large part because that would be snow season for the 14 or so hours that I would be driving across the country on I-90.