We booked our kid home the day the dorms closed. Yes, this meant she sometimes had to hang around for. Few days after HER exams ended. But it wasn’t really a problem. The term schedules actually come out before the fonanl exam schedules.
Don’t assume you’ll want to book the flights home at the end of the semester ahead of time. Your kid may get a great job offer from a professor and decide at the last minute to stay on campus for the summer (one of mine did). Lived almost rent free in a friend’s empty (but disgusting apartment) so was able to make more money on campus than could have coming home (plus a valuable recommendation, plus experience). One kid discovered a last minute fellowship opportunity, applied, got accepted, and was on a plane overseas the day classes ended. (fellowship paid for travel and living expenses).
It’s a false economy to be wracking up unused plane tickets-- and you don’t want to be the parent who is encouraging your kid to come home to be a camp counselor or to fold sweaters at the GAP when they’ve got actual professional opportunities elsewhere which are more lucrative and a much better bet long term for their lives…
@blossom For that exact reason, I paid an extra $25 to be able change her $114 spring return flight as many times as I needed to when I bought it last fall. Even $139 is a cheap flight from ORD-LAX.
Totally agree with @Blossom. My kid had a summer job for two summers at her college…full time. But we still flew her home for two weeks at the end of the summer…between terms.
That trip…and Christmas…those were her two trips across the country per year.
With Southwest, you can bank unused trips for the next time…as long as you use them within a year, another perk of SW. And another reason we used them!
Also, gas prices are low right now. At some point in the future, they will rise. I’m sure it won’t be dollar for dollar, but plane tickets will become more expensive. And airlines seem to have monopoly on some markets.
We are on hold to book the return flight for DD now. She knows her final schedule, when her friends are graduating, how long it will take to drive from school to NJ (where her boyfriend lives and they are going to fly to my house for a vacation before starting jobs). So what’s the delay? Her team might make the playoffs, which are after school gets out.
@1518mom - that’s a good plan, for most. My kid’s last possible final last semester was 5pm Dec 22nd. She’s usually done before that, and in that case the extra few days matter to me. If I can get her home for the holidays sooner I like to. However, she knew her finals schedule at least a month or two ahead of time so it wasn’t bad.
It’s just something to consider.
@OHMomof2 Yeah, I get that. For some reason, the college’s calendar changed for next year. I was expecting her to be done by 12/13 when flights are cheap but they pushed it to 12/20 when they are not. 
Our kid’s college had a schedule change that impacted costs. The first year, the December vacation began about December 15…and classes started sometime around the 8th or so of January. No problem! Lots of availabilty…lots of options and price points.
Second year vacation started about the same time…mid December BUT classes resumed the Monday after New Years…and that is crowded and expensive time to fly. I mean really…why couldn’t it have been Wednesday of that week??? So prices increased because of the return timing.
It would be helpful to know what airports the OP is planning to use. If he or she is flying to major urban airports, there is going to be a different price point than if flying to a small regional airport.
our daughter from MA goes to school in Tallahassee Fl. Things we have discovered: the date of the last class before thanksgiving break is not the right date for us to book for her flight home. Many classes are cancelled that week, and, freshman year, she swore she was the last person left on campus. Finals sometimes turn into papers, so she hasn’t actually had to stay until the date of her last final. So scheduling far in advance hasn’t always worked well for us. The option of changing flights on Southwest has been super helpful. The nearest SW airport is 2.5 hours away, though, so that can be tricky. THe local airport is convenient, yet pricey. No easy answer, we factor in the transportation as the part of the cost of attendance. she has a sweet financial deal there, so it works, but it would be a problem if this was a financial reach school.
The later in December finals happened to my daughter last year too, because school started a little later in Aug. First year I think she started Aug 18, and then Aug 17, but the with a leap year it would have been Aug 15 so they flipped to the 22? 23? She was furious because her birthday is 12/14 and she wanted to go on a cruise but had a final on the 15th of Dec. She even screwed that up and booked her ticket for the 15th and had to change it (no refund, but cheap).
^ My kid’s school starts in early September and always goes to just a couple of days before Christmas.
…and flying home for Thanksgiving is usually pretty $$, so we don’t usually do it. We have family somewhat in between so we often meet there.
We’re fortunate to have driving (12 hours tho) and train (3 hours TO train then most of the day on it) options for when the airfare has suddenly tripled. That is, in fact, one of the main reasons I limited D to the eastern half of the country (Chicago being the furthest west). She liked a ton of schools in that area already,and even though we have family in CA, I felt odd about not being able to get there - or her here - in an emergency. Families with more resources, or fewer “local” (w/in a day drive) options certainly make different choices.
I still remember having to change one of S’s flights at HUGE change fee and increased cost because he was going to be taking an exam when he was supposed to be flying home to HI! Grrrr!
I haven’t finished every post of this thread…but I second those who said looked into air miles reward and southwest if you are near the southwest route…