I am out of the office today and tomorrow, so this is a pre-post.
Around this time of year, families typically start asking about the Thanksgiving and Winter breaks and how to schedule travel home for their students. Here’s a few things to consider as you make your student’s travel plans:
Check the Academic Services Calendar before making your travel plans. The Academic Services Calendar is the official schedule for the University. Make sure you are aware of the exact date for breaks.
For winter break, make sure you are aware of the closing date for the residence halls and University-sponsored housing: December 12 at 2 pm. This includes residence halls on campus, our roadhouses, Deacon Place, Crowne Apartments, and Deacon Station.
Ask your student to check their syllabus for each class (or talk to their professors) before finalizing travel plans. Occasionally a faculty member will decide to make a class optional or will allow students to take a final exam on an different date, etc. It’s always helpful to make sure if the faculty members teaching on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving are really planning to hold class that day, or if they are allowing students to leave early.
Think about airports and transportation to them (not just where the airline ticket is cheapest). The closest airport to campus is the Piedmont Triad International Airport in Greensboro, which is about 25 miles from campus. Farther away – typically 1.5 hours drive from campus – are Raleigh-Durham and Charlotte airports. While a flight into Raleigh or Charlotte might be cheaper than Greensboro, consider the cost of shuttle service (options here and here) to those airports vs. a shuttle to Greensboro. Round trip shuttle service to PTI in Greensboro is significantly less expensive than it is to Charlotte. If your student has friends on campus willing to drive them to/from the farther airports, (or a group of students want to share an Uber or Lyft) that’s great – but if not, the cost of shuttle service may be more expensive than the cost of flying into Greensboro.
Consider whether you will need COVID testing for travel. The Student Health Service cannot provide asymptomatic testing for travel. See resources locallyfor such tests.
I always encourage people to build flexibility into their plans (changeable tickets, etc.) when possible, just in case plans change.
