Now that we have safely made it to October, fall break is on my mind. My family lives in Pennsylvania, and this will be my first trip home to see them since May. Fall break comes at the perfect point in the semester, and the chance to spend time with family is always a more-than-welcome reprieve from the craziness of class. Unfortunately, in 2017 fall break will not be a reality, which will have a significant impact on the University of Alabama’s growing out-of-state student community.
Next fall, we will start classes one week later in August; this extra week off will replace fall break. Thanksgiving break will remain the same. I predict that logically, this change in schedule will affect many students’ abilities to go home at some point in the fall. As the University continues to expand, we have attracted an increasing number of out-of-state students. Starting in 2014, out-of-state students have outnumbered in-state students at the University.
These students come from all over the United States, so for many, Tuscaloosa is hundreds of miles away from home. This can be an extremely difficult transition for freshmen and transfer students to make, and for some, the thought of returning home for even a few days mid-semester is enough to get them through the homesickness; at least, that was the case for me two years ago.
Fall break takes place at a somewhat obscure time, so flight prices are always rather reasonable. Students who live too far away to drive home for just a few days do not have to worry about paying for outrageous flights like they would during a holiday or peak travel period.
This is not true for Thanksgiving break, however. Proponents of the elimination of fall break may argue that students can travel home for Thanksgiving, which lies just a couple of weeks after fall break otherwise would. Yet flight prices are unaffordable for a majority of students over Thanksgiving.
Moreover, unlike many other schools, we only are given several days off for Thanksgiving rather than a full week. I may be more likely to pay for an expensive plane ticket if I knew I would get to spend a week at home. But a simple cost-benefit analysis tells me that paying nearly $1000 for only three days at home is just not feasible. If eliminating fall break is necessary, then I would prefer a few extra days off for Thanksgiving instead of an extra week off in August. This would still allow me a mid-semester chance to visit with family.
With a significant number of UA students (as high as one in four) struggling with a mental illness, we must consider the fact that adjustment issues, particularly in the fall semester, can have a huge impact on the student population’s health and well-being. Essentially forcing out-of-state freshmen to go nearly four months without seeing home or family, while adjusting to an entirely new environment, is not in our best interests if we truly value the health of our students. I propose that going forward, The University considers redistributing the available days off in the fall semester, whether by reinstating fall break or by lengthening Thanksgiving break, so as to give all students, especially freshmen, a realistic opportunity to return home in the midst of a challenging transition period.
Lauren Deutsch is a junior majoring in operations management. Her column runs biweekly.
