I’ll ask this on the parent listserv whenever it kicks in for me, but I’ve just finished entering the dates for the Grinnell calendar in mine and am wondering what current Grinnell families from either coast or equally far away tend to do about flying kids back and forth (or not) for the various breaks.
Obviously, we’ll be flying our kid out when the residence halls close for five weeks during the winter break, but do kids from far away typically fly out or stick around for the 10-day fall break in October and the 4-day Thanksgiving break in November?
From what I can tell, from light Googling, there’s plenty going on during the Thanksgiving break and at least several hundred kids sticking around, with numerous options for gatherings. I couldn’t quite get a read on the fall break though. Spring break is two weeks, so I’m thinking we’d fly him out then as well (unless he’s made other plans).
Thoughts on what’s typical and what life is like for kids who stick around?
My daughter will be a freshman next year. We are going out in August to drop her off, September for family weekend and have her booked to come home in October, but won’t come home Thanksgiving. Winter break certainly will come home and assuming April as well, but haven’t booked those yet.
One positive is that it seems Southwest air is frequently the best option, so if she decides she wants to do something else one October, December or April and i already have booked travel on sw, we can rebook for future travel with no change fee.
Curious to hear people with experiences already. Also wondering if most people come back on Saturday or Sunday after the breaks or that depends on how long the break is too? I assume most people world try for Saturday am flights out at start of breaks.
That’s what we were thinking. I was actually surprised that there was such a long fall break – I’d assumed we wouldn’t see him until winter break.
I can tell you what my son has done. He is finishing his junior year. He came home for fall break freshman year but has done other things for the other 2 years for fall. One year he had an adventure with friends. Another he went home with a friend. He has not come home for Thanksgiving. This is sensible and he has been had plenty of people to be with for the holiday. I believe he ate turkey dinner at the school for 2 years and 1 year went to a family with a friend. Winter break is quite long and obviously the real break time to come home. Spring break is also quite long- 2 weeks. 2 of the years he came home, and one year he came home for part of the time and did research for part of the time.
In terms of Saturday or Sunday, we have simply done what makes the most sense- what is most convenient in terms of connections and cost and the shuttle etc.
Thanks, @madamecrabster, that all makes sense to me!
We have a second year student and we live on the East Coast. We fly our son home for Fall Break. Given that this is at the end of mid-term exams, he is tired and ready for some R&R. He stays on campus for Thanksgiving which is only Thur- Sun. He has no problem with staying on campus. There is a student group that prepares and hosts a Thanksgiving meal on Thursday evening. The dining hall is also open for lunch that day and serves the traditional Thanksgiving spread.
We fly him home again for Winter Break. I believe that the dorms are closed during this break.
He is in the Grinnell Singers group so the first week of Spring Break is the singers tour. This year the tour went through KS, CO, and NM. We flew him home from Denver for the second week of break.
When we fly our son back to school at the end of breaks, he prefers to arrive back in Grinnell on Saturday (not Sunday) – just a personal preference. We always use the shuttle because there is a guarantee that you will get a ride if you have a shuttle reservation, even if your flight is delayed or cancelled/rescheduled. When you make the shuttle reservation, you provide your child’s flight number. The Grinnell staff monitor the flights at DSM and make arrangements if your flight has been altered.
As a word of caution, know that some of the shuttles will be fully booked and you may not get your first choice of shuttle if you wait too long to make the reservation.
You may want to consider whether or not you will get cafeteria service if your student stays during some of the longer breaks. I do not know if the food service is open at these times.
Hope this helps!
Super helpful - thank you! And yes, dorms are closed during winter (and summer) breaks, but not during the other breaks. No info on cafeteria service, though it appears that at least limited service has been offered over Thanksgiving breaks in the past.
Just to add my two cents about the shuttle: our son is a freshman from the East Coast. He also came home for fall, winter and spring breaks, but happily stayed at Grinnell for Thanksgiving and enjoyed it. Although he used the shuttle for his first visit home, he has found that getting rides to and from the airport from other students is much more flexible and cheaper than the shuttle. There is a Facebook Ride Board that is very active and he has always been able to get dependable and inexpensive rides–even sometimes without much advance notice. When he had to go back to Grinnell a day early due to the big East Coast storm in January, he got offers of multiple rides (some free) from both students and Grinnell staff who were on the parent and family forum listserves. So between the shuttle and the great Grinnell community, there are plenty of ways to get back and forth from breaks.
Regarding fall break, as I was poking around the Grinnell web site I found a “What to Bring” page (https://www.grinnell.edu/about/offices-services/student-affairs/nso/what-to-bring) and it had a reminder that if kids go home over fall break, they don’t need to worry about bringing all of their winter clothes with them when they first move in this August.
My son didn’t even bring much winter stuff there until he went back after winter break. Although they did get snow around Thanksgiving, it didn’t get truly cold (for him, anyway–he has fairly high tolerance for cold) until mid-December. He says he has hardly worn his warmest winter coat at all.
My D is finishing her first year and we live in CA. She came home for fall, winter and spring breaks. She liked going back to Grinnell on a Saturday. She didn’t come home for Thanksgiving and was totally fine with that. Had dinner with friends, relaxed and caught up on sleep. She may not come home this fall either (trip with friends), but if that’s the case I’ll likely go visit once during the fall.