<p>You should also get used to the idea that your kid might actually want to skip some trips home. It’s hard, but it will probably happen. I’m guessing that my kid goes to the same school as @mimk6 based on the the mention of “The Game”. I had the same reaction when she told me that, no, I couldn’t come pick her up on Friday evening (that school gets the week off)! And since then she’s spent spring break not coming home, missed a Fall break because of a trip with a class, not come home between weekends working Alumni Reunions, etc. etc., even though we’re only 60 miles away. </p>
<p>" only has Wed - Friday off but I’m thinking most people will be leaving the Friday before…"</p>
<p>Only Wed-Friday??You are kidding right? DS’s college has Thursday and Friday off. I bet a lot of other colleges are the same way. Don’t have her skip any classes. A lot of kids don;t go home for thanksgiving unless they live close by. Your DD may miss something important if she leaves early. </p>
<p>Why stop there? Take her out for a week in October for a cruise. Miss final exams in December for more holiday fun together. Why bother showing up for the first week of class when you can extend your family’s summer vacation?</p>
<p>Seriously, do not book a flight until your D has the class schedule in hand and can inform you about her availability to leave campus. There will be exams, projects, lectures etc - all professional obligations for her now that she is a college student - and missing these may carry serious penalties. (I had one prof who automatically lowered the final grade a full mark, from A to B, for anyone who missed the day of class before a holiday break.)</p>
<p>No most people do not take the whole week off. In my experience both my kids always seemed to have papers or tests on Tuesday and sometimes even Wednesday of Thanksgiving week.</p>
<p>As a professor, I often give quizzes/exams the week of Thanksgiving. It’s the time of the semester that makes sense for a quiz AND, quite honestly, it’s a way to keep the kids in class. I’ve worked at other universities where Thanksgiving break kept getting longer and longer . . . not officially, but per “tradition”. Semesters are already too short to teach the appropriate material; having Thanksgiving stretch into a week (or more!) is extremely problematic. </p>
<p>Your thinking is wrong. Most students will NOT be leaving the Friday before thanksgiving to fly home. They just won’t.</p>
<p>DD’s school had the full week of Thanksgiving off from school…but when they returned, they had four days of classes and exams. We did NOT fly her home for Thanksgiving.</p>
<p>DS had just the weekend. He came home after his classes ended. For grad school, this was on the Wednesday of the holiday weekend flying. </p>
<p>Same for every vacation. Kids did not miss classes. We did book the end of term flights, but it was at after ALL exams ended.</p>
<p>And FYI, my kids would have lost credit if they had missed the classes before holidays. </p>
<p>So…no…IMHO, it’s not “alright” to take the whole week off.</p>
<p>At both my kid’ schools, there were no classes Wed. through Fri., but sometimes professors cancelled Tues. of their own accord–which I thought was outrageous, since that class was never made up. I never heard of anyone leaving the previous weekend. Considering how much is being paid for each class hour, I can’t imagine just bailing on classes that way. (Love the response from @WasatchWriter, btw.)</p>
<p>Book on Southwest if you can and then you can make changes without penalty.</p>
<p>My advice is to get used to not getting the best fare. :-)</p>
<p>My second bit of advice is that if it’s a long-haul flight that can be done as a nonstop and you can afford it, book the nonstop. Travel right before Thanksgiving is crazy time, and each time you have to make a connection you’re increasing the odds that something is going to go wrong and your kid isn’t going to get home in time for the holiday. </p>
<p>Your kiddo coming home for only a day or two at Thanksgiving is part of the price you pay for sending kiddo a plane-ride away to college. My own daughter came home for Thanksgiving as a freshman and sophomore. After that she spent the holiday with friends who lived near the university. It worked out better for her academically, too. She used the long weekend to study. </p>
<p>BTW, my professor-hubby also really disliked his students extending vacations. He felt it showed a lack of seriousness and commitment to their studies. It’s not a message your daughter wants to send to her professors, OP!</p>
<p>** Travel right before Thanksgiving is crazy time, and each time you have to make a connection you’re increasing the odds that something is going to go wrong and your kid isn’t going to get home in time for the holiday.**</p>
<p>From my years observing on CC, this is true. Every year has a " storm of the century" in some part of the country and even if your kid is nowhere near, the ricochet effect can mess up travel.</p>
<p>Funny story - when I was in college I had a Wednesday evening class, it was a large class 75 + students. The professor was very big on having students fill in seats at the front of the classroom first and would always make people move forward if there were empty seats up front (the room could hold 100+). We had classes the Wednesday before Thanksgiving and since this was an evening class several of us asked the professor if he would cancel class that evening. He declined our request but there wasn’t a test scheduled, consequently that class was very poor attended. Only about 12 or 15 students showed up for class and none of us were happy about being there. In protest we all decided to sit in the very back of the very large room, knowing he would make us all move to the front anyway. The professor walked in looked at us walked past us to the front of the room, grabbed the heavy podium and dragged it all the way the back of the room and started class with out missing a beat:-)</p>
<p>Second on booking Southwest with its no change fee policy. Also agree with getting used to not getting the lowest fare around Thanksgiving. There are so few travelling dates and flights are almost always booked so airlines are not inclined to discount fares. But look at the bright side, most Christmas break are 3-4 weeks so you have more leeway to play with travel dates to find cheapest fares.</p>
<p>We only had Thursday and Friday off. I often had Wednesday classes and the evening classes would often be cancelled but not the morning classes. Most of the OOS students stuck around rather than returning home only 2.5 weeks before winter break. </p>
<p>I’ve been lurking on CC for a while and this is the thread that convinced me to join. I’m a college prof and I’m incredibly frustrated right now with students trying to get exams changed because the official exam schedule isn’t convenient for their travel plans. It’s even worse when the conflict was created by a parent. The student is caught between their academic obligations and their loyalty to their parents, and I’m the one who comes out looking like the bad guy. Think about the message that you’re sending to your daughter by buying a plane ticket that you know will cause her to miss class (and maybe even an exam or presentation). Do you really want her to go through life thinking that school and work obligations are optional and that skipping out is a good option if they don’t fit conveniently around your vacation? </p>
<p>Wow-people here can be harsh! To the OP- depending on the distance, many students find it is not feasible to go home for Thanksgiving when they only have part of the week off. We are west coasters and our D only came home for one Thanksgiving during her time at an east coast school. She was not usually able to miss classes that week and it was too risky to come home with only 4 or 5 days off. We always planned extra travel time for weather delays, delayed flights, etc. and it seemed like there was some sort of delay every other trip. Additionally, that was always a really busy week for my kids and they usually spent most of that weekend getting ready for finals. Occidental has a lot of local students who would probably not miss class that week as they are already close to home. I would not make any reservations until your D starts school and she is able to check around. She (not you) can talk to instructors although sho can probably talk to other students to get an idea of whether or not it is OK to leave early. My D went home with a friend her first year and after that got together with friends for their own version of Thanksgiving. The area around Occidental has a lot of options if she is ever not able to go home. </p>
<p>Helpful hint I learned from another mom: Buy the Sunday return ticket ASAP, and buy the coming home ticket for Tues or Wed once she knows her schedule. </p>
<p>I always schedule exams or other high-stakes activities for the last class before Thanksgiving and my syllabus specifically states that no make-ups are permitted save for illness or emergency and that “travel convenience” doesn’t count under either category. The types of students who usually try and weasel around this policy are either obviously not serious about school or they are a bit clueless (Oh, you’re “willing to meet with me to go over the missed material in detail” [a/k/a expect that I give you a private tutoring session] at the most busy time of a semester? How generous…). You don’t want your daughter associated with these types of students.</p>
<p>I think that I’d rather pay the rebooking fee or buy a more expensive flight than have my kid get shorted a class that has already been paid for just to get home in time for Thanksgiving dinner. Call me a mean mom, but I even think I’d use the opportunity to encourage her to stay at school and put the long weekend to good use by studying and resting up for the “last push” before finals. (I’ll make her my (in)famous tofurky for Christmas instead.) </p>
<p>Another person who says do not assume kids will leave campus early. Most likely some, if not all her profs will cancel Wednesday classes, but she still needs to check on the Wednesday - Monday and Tuesday in my experience classes are as normal. Lots of kids at remote colleges with a high percentage of out of state kids do NOT leave to come home for Thanksgiving</p>