Though Thanksgiving break has come to an end, Ithaca College’s next break creeps right around the corner as students prepare for their last weeks of classes and finals. In addition to studying for finals, many students have to deal with the extra stress of traveling. From finances and logistics to weather conditions, there are various factors they need to consider when getting ready for the holiday break.

Junior Ashan Chandrasena, who is on Ithaca College’s rowing team, bought his ticket to return home to California a week before the semester started.

“When purchasing [my round] ticket, I leave the departure date … kind of flexible,” Chandrasena said. “I have to pay extra for that [and] depending on how professors choose to do finals … [that gets] moved around.”

Sophomore Joslyn Forcione said that as a sociology and legal studies double major, she feels that being in humanities fields allows more flexibility when it comes to tests and final assignment due dates. Ultimately, when a student is able to leave for break comes down to when their last in-person obligation is scheduled.

“The professors are really insightful as to what students are planning on doing for breaks and when they’re planning on leaving,” Forcione said. “I have professors who will push back readings or assignments if they know that people are typically going to travel on a day. … They’re typically pretty flexible.”

Ithaca College finals end Dec. 17 at 10 p.m., according to the academic calendar. Vikki Levine, who oversees office staff and procedures in the Office of the Registrar, said New York state requires Ithaca College to have a 15-week semester.

“It’s a balancing act of when we can start classes, include fall [and] Thanksgiving break, and … ensure that we have the appropriate seat time,” Levine said.

The academic calendar is proposed to the provost and vice president for academic affairs by a committee made up of two Student Government Council members, eight staff members and one faculty member per school.

“I remember the committee this year talking about the cost of tickets,” Levine said. “There’s only so much you’re gonna have control over. [Our priority is to] ensure that students are getting the education and the seat time that they deserve and are here to get.”

Levine said the planning committee is currently working on the 2030–31 academic calendar and any feedback can be communicated through the SGC chairs.

“If every Aug. 23 was a Monday, life would be great, but because the calendar [is] … always evolving and changing, there’s no set pattern,” Levine said.

For students who travel greater distances, an extra weekend can make a big difference. According to Expedia’s Air Travel Hacks Report, the Airlines Reporting Corporation data showed that traveling domestically and internationally on Thursday can save an average of 16%. Traveling domestically on Saturday can save an average of 13%, while Sundays are the most expensive day to travel. Chandrasena said he prefers traveling during the weekend, as it gives him more time in case there are any last-minute changes.

“The week is very hectic and to leave and fly, it just adds more stress,” Chandrasena said.

This year, he will be flying out of Newark Airport. Chandrasena said for previous breaks he has flown out of Buffalo since Ithaca airport is too small and does not offer many affordable connecting flights.

Chris Stephany, marketing and air service development administrator at Ithaca Tompkins International Airport, said the airport only offers two departures to Newark and two to JFK airport per day.

“The weekend before Christmas and the weekend after Christmas are going to be expensive travel days,” Stephany said. “We also have the added situation of Cornell and Ithaca College finishing classes and everybody wants to go home after they’re done with their tests.”

First-year student Melissa Hecker, an international student from Singapore, will be flying out from Ithaca’s airport to San Francisco for her brother’s graduation. She said she plans to take the TCAT bus up to the airport on Dec. 17.

“I’ve heard some friends had to ask seniors with cars to drive them to Ithaca or Syracuse airports, often at the last minute,” Hecker said. “If I had an earlier flight and no bus, I’d be worried. It would be easier if there were resources to help get to the airports.”

Hecker said that some of her friends opt against going home or look for alternative travel destinations closer to Ithaca because of finances and the lengthy flights.

“I’m fortunate that I can meet my family and then go home because I think if we weren’t meeting up in San Francisco, it probably would have been a little bit harder to make that whole journey completely by myself,” Hecker said.

Another major stressor besides coordinating transportation is the weather. Forcione, an SGC member on the Academic Calendar Committee who lives in Syracuse, drove back to Ithaca for a day during Thanksgiving break to help host the Thanksgiving dinner hosted by SGC and the Residential Hall Association but had to extend her stay for a couple of hours due to the weather conditions.

“I looked out of my window and I realized there was snow on the ground and that the roads were probably going to be bad,” Forcione said.

Chandrasena said that for him, flying home during Thanksgiving for a week was not worth the risk primarily because of the bad weather. He said that when studying on the East Coast, unpredictable weather is a given.

“[Weather] was a big concern when I [was] talking to my mother about [booking flights],” Chandrasena said. “She was like, ‘OK, you’re getting close to Christmas time, and that’s when snow starts to come down, I don’t know how comfortable I am with you being [still in Ithaca.]’”

Besides working out the logistics of traveling, these dates also affect families who celebrate religious or cultural traditions during the winter break. Chandrasena said that his sister, who attends school in California, gets out of classes much earlier and he felt this year’s break was surprisingly closer to Christmas.

“[We have talked] about how we usually do things as a family versus how this year’s different,” Chandrasena said. “Since I’m coming back too late, [we’ve] been saying, ‘Let’s just have everything ready by the time you get here,’ instead of waiting for me to join in like usual.”

Chandrasena said that having a good support system in place is beneficial when traveling gets complicated, as it usually does in a city like Ithaca.

“Talk to your friends, talk to your roommates, and … come up with contingencies,” Chandrasena said. “It’s always safer to have a plan in place where if something does go wrong, you have somewhere to go.”