<p>I was surprised when a group of us in class were talking about our spring break plans for next week. Some people mentioned that their parents funded their whole trip. They said they have been doing this throughout all their years of schooling.</p>
<p>Is this the norm? If it is, I would be really surprised. My parents stopped paying for anything for me (besides food and clothes) when I started working in high school.</p>
<p>Not here. No way. Not even close.</p>
<p>The only thing we would “fund” for spring break is transportation HOME. If you’re talking about a trip somewhere…that is on the kids’ dimes, not ours. Sorry, but until <em>I</em> can afford a vacation, I’m not paying for one for my kids!!</p>
<p>What Thumper said…and toneranger, too.</p>
<p>Same as Thumper.</p>
<p>That’s what student part time jobs are for. :)</p>
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<p>My first thought was “Schools don’t charge for time off.” Oh, you mean who pays for fancy trips over the time off? In our family, whoever is the most senior of the family members taking the trip. For example, if we’re all going skiing, we pay for college students to come along. If one of our kids wants to go skiing over Spring Break without us, he or she is paying.</p>
<p>Nope, no ‘extra’ money given for spring break for our kids unless they want to come home.</p>
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<p>That’s very generous. So you pay if they go on your trip, but they have to pay if they want to go on a trip on their own.</p>
<p>Since my parents are in Florida this year, I told D1 that I would either pay for a plane ticket home to the Midwest or one to visit the grandparents for the week. She picked Florida (duh!). The ticket was cheaper than a ticket home, and she is covering any other expenses of her own. She is going with a friend, and together they found a volunteer opportunity through Disney to get a free park pass for a day. If she were just going with friends for the week and not visiting my parents, though, I would not have paid.</p>
<p>This is so interesting. We aren’t there yet…our children are still in highschool. But I always assumed we would keep paying for their experiences/travel through college and thought others did the same. Though our kids tuition at college will end up less than it is now in highschool (e.g we expect college tuition to be about $6/yr vs. tuition in the US). That makes a heap of difference.</p>
<p>Our D too is visiting Grandparents from Sunday to Saturday. </p>
<p>We are paying for her flight and she is paying for the rest. </p>
<p>She originally wanted to visit Cancun, but we were not willing to put any funds toward that excursion!</p>
<p>S is just starting college and we’ve already had this discussion. He’s excited about being close to a ski area and getting a season pass. I’ve told him that won’t happen unless he works this summer and saves for it.</p>
<p>D will return tomorrow from Trinidad where she’s spent the week working at a school and an orphanage as part of alternative spring break. We paid, a bit over $1000 for a week, including everything. When her brother clamored to go on a spur of the moment trip to Montreal and when that request was denied the Bahamas, we said no. Different kids, different priorities. </p>
<p>Every family will handle things differently, I’m sure.</p>
<p>I’m paying for Spring Break – a $100 bus ticket home.</p>
<p>S1 worked all through college and paid for all his Spring Break trips.</p>
<p>S2 doesn’t currently have a job. He is returning from his Spring Break trip tomorrow.
His exotic destination? The mountains of western NY where his roommate’s family owns a rustic hunting cabin. Four guys went on this manly adventure. S1 only had to pay for a fourth of the gas and his food. He knew this trip was coming up so saved all the money he received for Christmas and his birthday (the week after Christmas) to pay his way.</p>
<p>Packmom, I’m sure he had a blast! It just shows, much fun can be had without spending tons of money.</p>
<p>Maybe because we live in California, but we do not have a spring break habit. I have flown D home, or she has driven with friends. She generally goes to the beach or local camping with friends. Money does not change hands.</p>
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<p>We always offered to pay for a round trip Southwest Airlines ticket home if that’s what was planned.</p>
<p>Otherwise? No way.</p>
<p>I think we are fairly generous with D1, but I feel she is on her own when it comes to her travel. She has paid for her trip to London to visit a friend. She is in the process of saving up for a trip to Australia to see some friends next year. We will pay for family vacation for her and visits home.</p>