I’m looking at the https://senate.illinois.edu/ep0944.html calendar - I’m about to book plane tickets for my kid. For November break, it says ThanksgivingVacation Begins Saturday, November 18, 1 p.m. There are no classes on Saturdays, right? So 1 pm is the housing checkout? Can I plan on him leaving UIUC earlier in the morning? Same question about the spring break.
I tried calling registrar’s office, so far they didn’t return the call.
I’ve never had a class on a Saturday before/have never heard of anyone having one, and if there is they will likely get cancelled during that day because everyone else is in the exact same situation trying to get home. Housing checkout is usually around 1 pm (I’m a junior and have been in apartments for the past two years, can’t quite remember what time it was in the dorms). He can leave UIUC earlier in the morning for both breaks.
@csuiuc, can I ask another question: are finals usually scheduled in the morning? How late can they be finished? Transportation is going to be complicated…
Finals can run late in the day even on the last day of the exam period. And, you can’t just assume that a test period change can be made-the alternate test period might conflict with another test, etc…individual exams schedules aren’t available until later in the semester. Exam completion times can run all over the place, and even vary by the better part of a week. My son’s midday classes ran on the last days before Thxgiving and Spring breaks, but we were still out of there by noon on Friday. Residence halls closed at 3pm on Saturday for both of those break periods this year.
Thank you @IL2023! So to sum up, no travel should be booked in advance for the finals week until after the very last day marked for finals on the calendar. Leaving on Friday before Thanksgiving/spring break would possibly mean a missed class which would not be too bad, correct? I’ll have to buy the tickets well before the schedule is finalized - I expect the price will go up considerably if I wait.
If you can wait to book travel until after registration, so sometime in June, that might work well. If your kid doesn’t end up with class on Friday afternoons, then there you go. And cutting class is always an option and a personal choice. 
Finals are trickier-my son has travel for a summer course within a day of finishing finals, and the test can’t be moved, so we just have to roll with it and man up! Schedules can vary ALOT for finals from student to student, some finish a few days into the exam period, and others on the last day, last time slot.