Hello!
My family and I have been talking about travel plans in and out of Alabama (we live in the west) and when we searched for dates of fall holidays/fall break/winter break/spring break, we could not find a definitive timeline or even a relative reference date. Our logic is to look for plane tickets as early as possible for deals to snatch when we can. Any links to a calendar or actual dates for academic break will be appreciated! Thanks!
Here you go.
http://registrar.ua.edu/academiccalendar/
I also find the shuttle schedule useful when deciding when to book flights.
I appreciate the links @AlbionGirl however the only downside with the calendar is that it does not tell me how many days the fall or thanksgiving break are. Unless I am missing something, it would be beneficial to know when start to finish those breaks go to. I appreciate the help though 
The breaks from this past semester were:
Fall break is shortest. Just the day it starts through the weekend then back on Monday (4 days).
Thanksgiving was the day before thanksgiving through thanksgiving weekend and back on Monday (5 days).
Thanks @2015pop I am quite surprised that the breaks are that short. I would have thought that they combine thanksgiving and fall break for a little boost but I guess I can see where they make due with what they got. At least I know now what I am working with.
Word of caution to not make plane reservations (except on perhaps SWA where there are no change fees), until you have your first day of classes and have the syllabus in hand. Some professors will cancel a class right before a break, and of course your final exam schedule is dictated by the academic schedule, but sometimes the professor has been known to change that exam date, too (if the entire class agrees). Here is the final exam schedule - note that Fall 2016 and Spring 2017 are already up there: http://registrar.ua.edu/academiccalendar/#tab=tab-1
The Thanksgiving schedule is marked in a screwy way:
November 23 Classes Dismissed - Thanksgiving (UA offices open)
November 23 Final Grade Entry Opens
For additional information on non-attendance grading and other grading policies, definitions, and terminology click: Grading Information.
November 24 - November 25 Classes Dismissed - Thanksgiving (UA offices closed)
So, no classes on Wed, Thurs, Fri…and of course, no classes on the weekend.
However…Iron Bowl is that Saturday, so before booking flights, make sure that you know what your child wants to do. Some kids refuse to come home for Tgiving when the Iron Bowl is in Ttown. Some will come home, but will insist on returning on Friday. Some families come to Tuscaloosa to celebrate Tgiving and attend the Iron Bowl.
Fall Break
October 27 - October 28 Classes Dismissed - Mid-Semester Study Break
Thurs and Friday no classes, and obviously, no classes on Sat or Sun. But, many kids do not come home during Fall Break either. Your choice. Some kids just stay on campus, catch up on sleep and study.
If you are in an area served by Southwest Airlines, I would advise looking into a Southwest credit card. They freqently have offers where you’ll get 50,000 Rapid Rewards points for getting a card and achieving some minimum spend number in the first two or three months. If you book a flight with Southwest points and then cancel, the points just go back into your account - there’s no penalty and no date by which they have to be used, even if it’s the cheapest wanna get away fare. Southwest seems to have the most leniant change/cancellation policies, plus they don’t nickel and dime you with baggage fees and the like. It’s worked out for us because they have direct flights between Chicago (we’re in IL) and Birmingham, and I have had to change my daughter’s flights multiple times. Sometimes the change is just to get a fare adjustment, which they also allow.
Thanks everyone for the advice and insight! I will definitely look into airline credit cards for easier credit to buy tickets at time of purchase. What I am getting from here is that I should wait a little bit until I know my academic schedule and whether or not I stay for a holiday. It would be nice if fall break would be a whole week or thanksgiving since it would be easier to travel from Alabama to Colorado on a timely manner. I’ll keep all options open though
Final exams are very soon after Thanksgiving. You do get a long break for Christmas.
Many have suggested one longer break in the fall now that there are so many OOS students on campus. I don’t think that’s going to happen for a few reasons. First, fall break is scheduled during the football bye week. It’s the only time when students who are involved with football (the players, cheerleaders, athletic trainers, MDB, etc.) get a break, because they will need to be around for the Iron Bowl over Thanksgiving weekend. If Thanksgiving break was made longer, those students wouldn’t have much of a break. Second, as Southlander mentioned, exams and winter break are right on the heels of Thanksgiving. Students who needed to travel a long distance might not go home for a longer T’giving break anyway, because they’d be heading home just a couple weeks later for a long break. And lots of kids either stay on campus for Thanksgiving or come back early for the Iron Bowl.
This can be hard to wrap your head around (esp freshman parents sending your first one off), but college kids do not go home all that often, especially after their first semester, and especially if they are OOS. Students become busy, for a start, and they develop friendships and other activities that keep them on campus, as others have noted above. I remember as a freshman parent wanting to make reservations for flights home for fall break, for Thanksgiving, and then for Christmas, (on top of wanting us to visit him for family weekend and his various concerts and plays), and while I thought it was necessary to do all that, it was not. They do fly the coop pretty quickly after high school… ~:> Now, we fly our son home only at Christmas. Summer visits are on his dime.
OP - @aeromom is correct. I have two older children that have finished college, IU and UMN. We had the delusion with the first, DS, at IU that he would come home fairly often. That was wrong. He only came hone for T’giving and Winter Break. DD came home the same and both ended up staying over the summer after Freshman year.
We have no such illusion with the last two, DS2 and DD2!!!
I will probably travel fall break, winter break, spring break, and then summer at least for the first year. After that, we’ll see. I still have friends and family here and I don’t feel ready to detach yet. My gap year has helped me mature in ways and appreciate those around me. I hope my family doesn’t feel bad if I decide to stay put in Alabama more often over time though…time will tell