<p>Hello! In September (right after I got home from my camps tour) I enrolled to be part of the class of 2019! I am very excited, and my parents (who were skeptical at first) are too. I can’t wait.</p>
<p>Anyways, my parents were wondering what the best way to move my stuff from home to my dorm in August is–that is like nine months away, but they wanted to start thinking about all of this stuff early. I live in a suburb north of Chicago, and my parents plan on me flying back and forth for Thanksgiving and Christmas, when I won’t have as much stuff to lug with me. But what is a good way to get all the big stuff to Tuscaloosa in the fall? And do people from far away ever use storage lockers to keep their stuff there over the summer?</p>
<p>Our family is also from IL. We used a van (either you own or consider renting one) to move things down into the dorms and then back again the following May. A lot of families do use local storage in/around Tuscaloosa until the following school year, depending on if they are moving back into the dorms or are moving off campus, and whether they will go into a furnished unit or an unfurnished unit. Storage costs can be pricey - so check them out before making a decision, because lugging your stuff home might be a better option than paying to store them for 3-4 months. It is cheaper to store stuff if you go in together with another family. Also, some students tend to take a lot of stuff that they don’t ultimately need/use…so lugging things back home after that 1st year will force you to go through it all and really decide what to take that 2nd year, instead of storing it unnecessarily. ;)</p>
<p>Re flying back and forth: note that for the past 2 or 3 years anyway, Thanksgiving break is only 1-2 full weeks before finals, and it is often not worth it to fly home at that time. A better time to visit home can be Fall Break. There are airport shuttles to/from campus to the B’ham airport at Fall Break, Winter Break, Spring Break, and end of year departure: <a href=“http://housing.ua.edu/on_campus/shuttle.cfm”>About - Housing and Residential Communities. You can use private transport at any time, of course. </p>
<p>We have used Southwest exclusively for flights. The UA academic calendars come out way far in advance, and you can easily get the cheapest flights by booking as soon as the SW calendar opens up for that time block. See here for an example: <a href=“http://registrar.ua.edu/academics/academic-calendars/”>Academic Records Policies – The Office of the University Registrar – The University of Alabama | The University of Alabama. Southwest is great because they do not charge for checked bags, and their ticket exchange and date/flight change policies are super customer-friendly. There are at least 2 non-stop flights between MDW and BHM daily, and usually 3 others (with stops) throughout the day, every day. We seldom pay more than $110 per flight leg. So, a trip home to Chicagoland, and back, can cost as little as $270, including the airport shuttle.</p>
<p>Thank you for the quick response @aeromom ! We use SW for all of our air travel in the states and we have been pleased with the service and such. So for Thanksgiving, do far away kids typically not go home? How long even is the Thanksgiving break? Approximately when is Fall break? Thanks again!</p>
<p>In the link above, click on the specific semester, and you’ll see that both Fall and Thanksgiving breaks are the same amount of time - usually 2 school days + the weekend. Depending on your class schedule, you might be able to leave campus a 1/2 day, to a full day, earlier. But, the timing of the breaks in the semester is what is important: Fall break occurs mid-way through the semester, whereas Thanksgiving is literally 5 school days before finals.</p>
<p>Aeromom, I didn’t realize that UA would already have their 2015-2016 schedule up - thanks for the link. I wanted to look to see when Fall break was scheduled for next year. I was disappointed to see that it is still late October. I loved when they had it in early October in 2012. Also did you take a look at when school begins in January 2016. Its about 6 days later than usual - I wonder why?</p>
<p>OP, there are many students who live OOS at UA. We are from WI. We do what Aeromom said above - we drive our students to UA in August, and from UA in May. In between they fly home, which for them now is Fall Break, Christmas Break and Spring Break.</p>
<p>We’re also from the northern suburbs. My D’s stuff was transported to Tuscaloosa freshman year in a Ford Escape. We waited until we got there to buy some large items like plastic storage drawers, a bookshelf and a printer because of space constraints in the car. She rented a climate controlled storage unit with a few friends the summer after her freshman year; last summer she stored some things (the plastic drawers, bookshelf and printer) in a friend’s apartment, and now that she’s off-campus she’ll just keep everything in her own apartment over the summer. My D is not coming home for Thanksgiving this year because the Iron Bowl is in Tuscaloosa; she came home last year when the Iron Bowl was in Auburn. I expect she’ll have T’giving dinner at the home of a friend who lives closer but be back for the game. She did come home for fall break this year since she won’t be home for T’giving, whereas last year she stayed on campus for fall break. Freshman year she flew home for both and thought it was too much. FWIW, she has never come home during spring semester (her choice). </p>
<p>There are some logistical hurdles that come along with being an OOS Student but nothing unmanageable especially if you plan well in advance as you are doing.
Renting a vehicle to bring stuff down to Tuscaloosa is a great idea if you have a smaller or older car. Rent in advance. Yes, even now, and keep checking for rate changes. Use coupon codes and promos.
We decided that we would store items in T-Town over the summer, booking in advance with a student discount made this very reasonable. Only thing, please make sure that you take a climate controlled storage unit to protect your items from heat and humidity.
We liked to travel down twice a year to move stuff in and out of storage. This gave us a chance to be on campus and connect with the many friends that we had made. Don’t expect to see much of your student at the end of the Spring Semester, as they will be busy with finals and final papers, etc. Depending on their living arrangements you might be able to bunk in with them. Like if they have their own apartment off campus. Otherwise book your hotel early, early, early. Going down twice a year is an additional cost but we looked at it as a “type” of vacation. A " partial working" vacation…which allowed our student to be unemcumbered during the very hectic last days of classes. We could help pack, clean and transport items to storage.
Think about what will work best for your family and go with whichever plan is financially and logistically feasible. It all works out in the end with good planning.</p>