I lived driving distance from college and usually took a faraway friend home for Thanksgiving every year. We are hoping our son wants to ski for spring break and will take friends to our ski house.
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Long Thanksgiving break at Colgate was a surprise to us. S19 at Bowdoin just has Thurs-Sun off. We did fly him home freshman year and sophomore year he took a gap, lived in Maine with friends and went to a Boston friendâs house for Thanksgiving. Loved it.
Colgate, though has nine days off. We wouldnât expect her to go somewhere else for that long and it doesnât sound like the dorms are open but that must be wrong! At least internationals should be able to stay. @Creaky I would call the school and find out what the rules are for staying - if anyone can, if there will be any food service. Going that far away means not always coming home and kids need to know that. You just need to make sure the dorms are open.
Bowdoin has a short fall break. I think itâs a Thurs-Sun in early Oct. S19 did not come home for that freshman year. Parent weekend was two weeks later and then Thanksgiving just one month after that. It was quiet there but he was fine. Had homework to do and the cafeterias were open. He wonât come home this fall either. I think Colgate has one too and D will stay.
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I cannot believe that graduation is so close for our 21s! D is very excited, had one pseudo prom and another pseudo=prom party is next weekend. Duke has not said the extent of Normalcy in fall, but âmore normalâ for sure. vaccines required, normal dorm capacity, etc. We went to see campus for the first time since her official tour in fall 2019âwonderful. APs are long over and the year is winding down fast, while D23 is just gearing up for her last 2 APs(most senior classes got the early slot for APs) and then final exams. Underclassmen go through the first week of June.
I really donât want another credit card, but since weâre going to have this travel dilemma for the next four years, I suppose I should look into it. âLe sigh,â as D would say.
@comtnmom You are amazing for doing that, taking in college strays! I hope my son finds some local friends. Maybe Sarah Jessica Parkerâs son. LOL. I know Iâve always enjoyed taking in holiday stray friends from work. Just makes our time together so much fuller.
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@Creaky My daughter went to school in Ohio. Before she chose her school we had the talk that if she went away we could afford for her to come home at Christmas, but she would have to stay at school for all other breaks. Same for son heading to MA.
@Creaky Can you wait or do you need to get one ASAP? The reason why I ask is Southwest sometimes has promotions and if SW is an airline that works for you route, thatâs something to consider. DH signed up for one in Jan and weâve been using the companion pass for campus tour in April, move-in, parent weekend. He has it through Feb 2022. If they have a promo end of Oct, Iâm going to try to sign up so then I can extend the companion pass when DHâs expires. That and the Marriott AMEX card has been lifesavers for us.
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We never flew my older kid back for Thanksgiving. It was a short break and the chances of getting stuck in a connecting city due to bad weather were too great. Ten days is a lot, though! Even if campus is open, that could be very lonely. As @aguadecoco has mentioned, often a classmate will host over a friend over holiday breaks.
For Spring Break, has your child look into programming offered by the college.? My older kid went on low-cost, school-sponsored trips during some of her Spring breaks.
We are not thinking much about college preparations right now, except for locking in travel for move-in. My D is focusing on finishing strong in her classes and enjoying the last bit of senior year. She is likely to go random for a roommate as sheâs allergic to social media!
My big takeaway from my first kid is to pack less! I bought a lot of stuff for my older kid that she ended up never using and she also accumulated a lot of things over for years. Storing it over the summer was a hassle as was getting things back home. If D21 finds that she is missing anything, she can buy locally or order online what she needs. However, itâs going to be difficult to follow my own advice! Iâm sure Iâll end up buying stuff because itâs fun!
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Nope, D is attending the OSU-Michigan game in A2 this year. So, we get to save some money. Boo Hoo! 
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No rush. Iâve booked our move-in flights already. SWâs closest city is about 100 miles away from D21âs college.
My older kids have both told D21 to take less stuff. (D19 wished she had more clothes, but less âstuff.â) D21 has already told me that sheâll need a checked bag just for her shoes.
We rented fridge and microwave. They drop it off before move in and pick it up after the student vacates the premises in the Spring.
Thanks. Seems worth it. Looks like $166 for the combo or $91.50 for just fridge for the year. No hassle with shlepping it and they would share the cost.
Not sure if our son will fly home or if we will pick him up. His last day of in person class is the Friday before Thanksgiving but they are not returning after Thanksgiving. Finals are the week after Thanksgiving and given remotely. I canât believe how early he finishes! Way different schedule than my older two kids.
Iâm going to book him a ticket on SWA just in case but may end up picking him up. We will decide later. Either way Iâm glad he is done before Thanksgiving week so the flight wonât be astronomical, but SWA has not opened up their flights for November yet.
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And you donât have to store it over the summer and thereâs a solid probability that the off-campus apartment sophomore year will have one already, if thatâs the route your S chooses.
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Flights: We still havenât booked flights for move in because I donât have an exact date and donât want to get there too early and have D21 all anxious. Donât have thanksgiving yet either but sheâs only Wednesday to Sunday off and there are at least 10 flights/day from our airport to hers and back. Benefits of going to college in a tourist destination!
Housing: mine will join the Honors LLC. UCF is so big and she will be able to start in a smaller community that way. Also, her housing is guaranteed for all 4 years and sheâd have the option of staying in the same suite the entire time. Still no roommate.
Graduation: still a ways away here (mid June) but school itself is winding down. If she keeps all 80s in her classes she will opt out of finals and be nearly done next Friday.
Nearly done: perils of hybrid AP testing. Until this week, all her APs were in person, so they started at local time (central). AP Lit was online this Tuesday⊠we are CST and it started at noon EST. Oops. So now even if she opts out of finals, school gets extended a day so she can take the makeup 6/1! This happens to be her dorm selection day too. I blocked my schedule so as soon as sheâs finished with the exam I can help her with room selection (since itâs looking like sheâll just be picking a room in a suite with unknown other ppl)
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I would make sure you can have microwaves in the dorm. S21 school you canât in the freshman dorms due to power issues.
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My D23 is supposed to take an online AP test this morning and thought she did whatever tech setup was required but apparently missed something that was supposed to be done by yesterday? Ugh. I told her to call the College Board help desk when it opens at 8a. But if they canât figure it out, just donât worry about it and enjoy a free morning. Normally our school requires the tests for the GPA bonus point but thankfully dropped that this year. A crappy end to a really crappy year for her. Canât wait for summer.
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Can you coordinate with the future roommate? Since you are driving this one, you have more options! For my eldest we got him a little cube fridge and the roommate brought a microwave. He used that fridge in subsequent years as a nightstand in his apartment and it also let him have his own little stash of drinks or whatever. Remember, boys donât have quite as much stuff as girls to fill up the car 
Why are they not returning after Thanksgiving? A lot of schools did that this last year but that was because of Covid.