My DC went to Michigan, and flights to Detroit are pretty inexpensive if booked in advance. DC probably flew 3 times during the school year - beginning of year, Thanksgiving and Christmas, and end of year. DC went elsewhere for Spring break every year. Didn't come home for fall break because being on campus was more fun. We flew there for Parent's weekend all 4 years. We also drove several times, including the beginning and end of freshman year. It is a 7-8 hour drive so we stayed overnight. So maybe $1000-1500/year on flights or hotels plus airport transportation/car rentals. Hotels for parents weekend were more expensive since it was always a football weekend so I am not counting that premium.

Anonymous wrote:We live in north east. Kid at SEC school. Flights are very expensive for the breaks. Typically $600-800. He comes home for Fall Break, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Spring and Easter so yes it is a lot!!! Plus ubers to the airport, baggage fees etc.

This sounds about right to me. Travel costs have increased substantially.

Something else to consider is that while we generally buy "basic" fares for our personal flying we generally don't for our college students because the cheapest fares on pretty much any airline don't come with baggage and are not changeable. My kid generally wants more than an overhead bag for winter and spring breaks and it's good to have some last minute flexibility on the dates because exam schedules have a way of changing.

Some other things to keep in mind. As you move them in in Sept, you should be purchasing fall break and Thanksgiving break flights. All you can do is look at the school’s schedule and figure out the flights. Then, some professors will end up cancelling class and your kid wants to come home early. Guess what, either no flights left or very $$ so close to the holiday.

My DS went to W&M and it was about a 7 hour drive for me. Each direction, I also needed a hotel room. Due to my destination (nothing direct), flights required a layover in DC and his trip home still took 6-7 hours. Not easy, but smart if you to consider if the distance is worth it.

^Also, I always prefer to buy one-way tickets. It's more straightforward to make changes to the return if something occurs, like the snowstorm last Thanksgiving that snarled things a bit.

My kids typically come home Thanksgiving, winter break, spring break, and then summer, or at some point in summer for a visit if they're not spending the whole summer at home.

If your kid is going very far, and your finances are tight, Thanksgiving is optional. There will be some people who stay on campus, though not many; depends on the school and location.

As noted, no one else's costs are going to be relevant to yours. Depends on the particular airports.

We put most of our regular expenses on a credit card that gives miles. It also gives double miles (or something like that) for certain travel-related expenses (plane tickets, hotel I think). So, we use miles a fair bit.

Figure out how to shop around for flights. I usually use expedia and then buy on the airline's website. I regularly check prices, which sometimes go down. For miles, we use United because we are located near a major hub for United, and often I find there will be a "sale price" on miles for our level of mileage account in the days leading up to the desired day of travel.

I have two kids coming home for spring break next Friday (direct, hub to hub). I have not yet purchased the tickets. The prices have been stable. I can get a mid afternoon ticket for around $225. That's a fair price. Return may or may not be more than that, depending on the particular time slot - there are absolutely flights around the same price as that, just a little later than my kids want to leave.

The more price sensitive you are, the more you may opt for slightly less-convenient flight times. How much of an impact that makes depends on the airports you're dealing with.

Anonymous wrote:More than you think.

Keep in mind that breaks are at holiday times. Look at the school's schedule. Is spring break different than Easter? Is thanksgiving a long weekend or a week? How long a flight is it - would you be willing to pay for a few days at home or is there somewhere your kid can stay? Do the dorms close for breaks?

yep, flights are more expensive during those periods.

We live in north east. Kid at SEC school. Flights are very expensive for the breaks. Typically $600-800. He comes home for Fall Break, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Spring and Easter so yes it is a lot!!! Plus ubers to the airport, baggage fees etc.

More than you think.

Keep in mind that breaks are at holiday times. Look at the school's schedule. Is spring break different than Easter? Is thanksgiving a long weekend or a week? How long a flight is it - would you be willing to pay for a few days at home or is there somewhere your kid can stay? Do the dorms close for breaks?

Anonymous wrote:My kid is about to come home from CA for Spring break, her third flight home this year. In May it will be the fourth.
We mostly use frequent flyer miles.

I actually think flights from major cities like SF, LA, Denver, Chicago are probably less expensive and less of a hassle than from your smaller cities or regional airports. There's also the distance of the school from the airport to keep in mind. Is it an Uber ride away? or a 1-2 hour drive that requires a shuttle or even private car if need be.

It was the other way around (the drive from the airport to my parent's house), but that was a big factor in me coming home as little as possible as a student. It was either a connecting flight to a small regional airport without many flights and then an hour drive or a 3 hour drive, and so I just stayed for things like Thanksgiving when I could.

My kid is about to come home from CA for Spring break, her third flight home this year. In May it will be the fourth.
We mostly use frequent flyer miles.

I actually think flights from major cities like SF, LA, Denver, Chicago are probably less expensive and less of a hassle than from your smaller cities or regional airports. There's also the distance of the school from the airport to keep in mind. Is it an Uber ride away? or a 1-2 hour drive that requires a shuttle or even private car if need be.

My kid is OOS at a school that's roughly 4 hours away, so not a flight but just to give you some perspective, he comes home 3 times a year. Thanksgiving, winter break, and spring break. Even though it's driving distance, his school doesn't have any other days off during the semester so it's not reasonable to come home for a weekend, given an 8 hour round trip. So, figure out what the average cost of a flight is during holiday times and multiply it by 3

C’mon. You know this is going to vary wildly. A kid going to CA from DC is very different than a kid going to Maine.

Google flight prices. For kids, you’re going to have move in-Tday, Tday-Xmas, back from Xmas-maybe SB, SB-move-out. Move in & out will need parental round trips plus maybe parent weekends. So that’s, approximately, 2 kid trip & 2 parent/family trips. Multiply out costs adding more for holidays & if you need to end a car & hotel stays

Well figure:

-drive kid to college (or fly if very far)
-flight home/back Thanksgiving
-flight home/back Winter break
-flight home/back some random weekend x 1 for some random reason
-flight home or elsewhere for spring break. Probably 3 legs total to include some time at a destination plus time at home.
-drive kid home from college (or fly if very far.

So roughly 4 round-trips at whatever the cost is typically to the city the college is in. 5 round-trips if it's far enough to need to fly to college in the fall and home in the spring.

Curious about how much is spent when a student goes out of state. I’m the first in my family to go to college and went to Mason which was a commuter school back then. If DD goes out of state that’s not a quick drive or easy drive, how much is typically spent?