Hello. My son will start his freshman year at OSU next month. I’m looking ahead a bit at how to get him home for Thanksgiving as we live in Syracuse, NY. Flights are over $400. Greyhound bus times aren’t real convenient not to mention at least 10 hours. Also looked at bus to Cleveland and then Amtrak, nothing real convenient. Any other options I’m not considering? I love that UPItt has a bus for all school breaks that goes right from campus and then stops in buffalo, Rochester etc. I don’t see anything like this on OSUs website? Any input on the best way to get him home would be much appreciated. Thank you!
One way car rental.
He would actually have to rent for there and back and not many rental companies open to rental to an 18 year old.
One-way car rentals are extremely expensive, and most rental companies will not rent to males under 25.
Most colleges have some type of ride-sharing board. For a school with as many students as Ohio State, it is likely that someone is driving in that direction.
Which airports and which dates did you select that yielded a +400 airfare? Have you tried some alternate airports (maybe Rochester or Albany? ) or alternate dates (one day earlier or later)?
Because Thanksgiving is the most expensive period in the year to fly, and the break is so short, many long distance college students don’t go home.
Yes I tried Rochester buffalo Albany for airfare and some alternate dates. My hope at this point is for some type of ride sharing.
Did you try Expedia to compare airfares? Southwest fares have to be searched directly from its own website.
southwest
I did not know that about southwest. Thank you.
@pjm1234 On Thanksgiving weekend Ohio State hosts Michigan in one of college football’s greatest and historical rivalries. The atmosphere on campus that week will be incredible. So your son may not want to come home for thanksgiving this year. The next time Ohio State will be hosting Michigan is when your son will be a Junior as they alternate home games each year.
Ugghh! He’s my first off to college, and though I will leave it up to him I really hope he comes home 
pjm1234 - a good compromise is to send him back on Saturday morning before the game instead of Sunday night of Thanksgiving break. That’s still a nice amount of family time and it may be cheaper to fly back on Saturday instead of Sunday. I’m wondering if you have looked into airfare for his Fall Break return- Students do not have class Thursday or Friday October 12 and 13. With Fall Break, Parents Weekend and Thanksgiving, we got to see our freshman plenty last year. Southwest worked best for us and booking your flight months in advance can save a lot.
“Popular” travel days will cost more. “Unpopular” travel days will cost less.
The law of supply and demand…
Thanks new2osu, those are some other good options i will look into.
We are in Mass and have the same situation. I bought airfare for my son as soon as it came out for Orientation, move in day and Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving week he is coming home Wednesday morning (6:30 am flight) because he has class Tuesday afternoon, and then back to school on Friday evening so he can be back on campus for the Michigan game. Southwest has great fares and flies direct from Boston so for us it’s a great option. Hopefully the same on your end.
Ok I’m starting to look at other days to fly. Unfortunately I’m not finding any direct flights to Syracuse, Rochester etc.
Don’t bother looking on other days. Non-stop flights between Columbus and Buffalo/Rochester/Albany don’t exist on any airline.
I have to say that I am surprised how difficult it is to get to central New York from Columbus. I assumed there would be an Amtrak terminal there that would get him home but he needs to take a two plus hour bus ride to get to Cleveland in order to catch the train. The only train leaves at 6 am making the bus connection difficult.
Check flights out of other airports as well? Cleveland (I think) gets Megabus service, which is cheap enough most of the time. But your better bet (in non-winter months) may be some type of ride share.
There has to be one somewhere - maybe check with the University, or have your student search Facebook and Twitter for something? Good luck!
I did just find a ride share board on Facebook for OSU. Thank you this is looking like my best option,
Just wanted to comment on a learning in this thread:
The cost and logistics of traveling to a school should be included early on in the process for selecting the school.