<p>You may have already booked the flight, but it might pay in the future to see what your student’s schedule is. Last Thanksgiving, I looked at D’s schedule and realized that she only had one class at 7 pm on Tuesday, school was out on Wednesday, and Thanksgiving was on Thursday. The class on Tuesday evening was just an extra conversational language class \she could miss. We were able to fly her out after her classes ended on Monday afternoon so she was home Monday evening through Sunday afternoon - it was wonderful! It also kept her out of some of the “before Thanksgiving” travel crunch.</p>
<p>Perhaps another thread for those who have yet to start the college process should be “Choosing colleges near a Southwest Airlines hub.” We live near a hub and daughter will be in school near an airport where southwest flies. This was not an accident.</p>
<p>D who is about 1600 miles away has never come home for Thanksgiving (way too costly for 4 days, 2 of which would be spent in transit) but has managed to find great places to go. Last Thanksgiving was doing study abroad and all kids from US got together and had a feast. She was in charge of pies. 
S who was also about as far away but had the whole week off came home once (but then did not come home that Christmas) but otherwise did the cooking with friends where he was at school. He loves to cook and from the outcome the kids there seemed to enjoy it more than fighting traffic to go home for the short time.</p>
<p>Last year Southwest opened the holiday tickets at the end of June.</p>
<p>The hardest flight to get is not the one home, but the one back on Sunday, everybody wants to fly that day. The kids were always very excited about that first T’day visit home and there were always lots of get togethers with old HS friends. We take the chance and book tickets for Tuesday as very often their Wednesday classes were either cancelled or the profs were very understanding of those traveling.</p>
<p>We have also done the reverse T’day travel and gone to the college town for the holiday. This was a lot of fun, especially since there was a big football game T’day night.</p>
<p>I would suggest not to book anything until your kids are in school. For both Thanksgivings, my daughter was able to come home the Fri before, so she had a whole week off. They need to look at their schedules, and often professors do cancel classes Wed before Thanksgiving. But if they have a major paper or test that week, then it wouldn’t be possible. My daughter’s roommate is from Seattle. She often comes back the Mon or Tue after Thanksgiving to get a cheaper rate and to avoid the crowd.</p>
<p>Each school and professor is different. Some are very stick in the mud about attendance and some are a lot more understanding. My daughter has been lucky with all of her professors, never any issue about leaving early. She has arranged to have problem sets and papers faxed from Bahamas.:)</p>
<p>Just a quick word of advice - Please don’t book a flight until you’re SURE your S or D is done with classes before the break. I’ve had students come to me telling me they have to miss class just before the Thanksgiving break b/c mom or dad booked them a flight for such and such a day. Some college courses have alot of material to cover, and every class meeting is important. Your S or D may miss important material and/or an exam. For exams - mom or dad booking a flight before class ends in not an excused absence. No make-up exam will be administered. Just be warned . . .</p>
<p>My oldest is over 1500 miles and at 2-3 flights away. He did not come home for Thanksgiving (takes an entire day to get home and an entire day to get back) but each year he and the other kids staying on campus have had a fun tiime with their own Thanksgiving meal. This college keeps the dorms open during Thanksgiving for all the kids that don’t live close enough to get home or don’t go home with a friend. My son had offers, but genuinely had “more fun” with the “stay behind” kids and repeated the entire scenario his second year. Christmas, I do purchase tickets really early but check carefully with the college to see what day/time they “shut the dorms down.” The first year I missed by a day (the dorms shut down at 5:00 after the last scheduled exam). I did not know my son’s exam schedule and I booked him a flight the next morning after the last exam day. He crashed at the apartment of an “older” friend, but I’m more careful about timing at Christmas. I discovered through experience that very few profs “keep” their “last day” exam schedule and generally the kids agree and take those exams earlier in the week so this particular college really has few if any exams on the last official exam day…live and learn.</p>
<p>I think for freshman year, it would be wise to make reservations, especially with miles that you can cancel (for a restocking fee). Your son may not have friends yet who will invite him home and it might be lonely to be there by himself. There will be others – Korean kids are not going home to Korea, for example, and not everyone can afford to fly home. But, if he is used to a warm family time, having that as an option is valuable. If someone invites him home and that is a lot less travel, great. If not, he’s got his loving family. Later on, he’ll have invitations.</p>
<p>My son is 3000 miles away and has never come home for Thanksgiving. It is often very close (within two weeks) of the Christmas holiday. The other factor for us is weather and crowded flights. I would not want him to miss a flight back to school and thereby miss critical classes right before finals. When I do book him for Christmas, I send him back to school a couple of days before classes start. He needs the transition time and it means we are sure that he won’t miss classes. Last year it took him three extra days to get home to CA due to weather on the East Coast.</p>
<p>One last thought…it depends on the school also. For my oldest, there are kids from all 50 states at a fairly small school "where everyone knows everyone "so many do not go home at Thanksgiving. If you are in a school where the majority of kids are from the regional area the campus may clear out at Thanksgiving. My second son is in love with a school where the majority of kids are from the northeast and mid-Atlantic, in his case if he attends, we may well bring him home at Thanksgiving as I suspect a high percentage go home for the long weekend.</p>
<p>Thanks for all the valuable input.</p>
<p>I used miles and have him coming home Tuesday evening, so hopefully there won’t be a problem missing any classes - fortunately, his school is closed on Wednesday. He’ll have four full days at home, but the only flight back available for miles on Sunday entails 3 flights…figured I better grab it while it was there.</p>
<p>Sophomore year must be much easier!</p>