The promise of turkey, cranberries and pumpkin pie will lure many students home for the holidays, despite travel costs that can put a dent in their wallets.
While flying home can sometimes mean breaking the bank, students said they will go home regardless.
However, students can do a few things to make the journey a little more affordable.
StudentUniverse.com is a website students can use to find discounts just for college students and faculty for flights, hotels, rail passes and activities.
The site has been around for 10 years and has contracts with all major airlines, said Danielle Carlson, marketing manager for the site.
The company verifies for the airline that the traveler is a college student, and the airline passes on the discount to them. Carlson said millions of students visit StudentUniverse each year.
Gainesville Regional Airport has three airlines that fly in and out. All three have parent companies that are partnered with StudentUniverse. Delta Connection, US Airways Express and American Eagle, a part of American Airlines, all have flights that fly to designated areas of the country.
Other websites, such as priceline.com, expedia.com and cheapflights.com also promise to get discounted rates for passengers.
UF business freshman Billy Harris, 18, said he used his Delta credit card to use miles already saved up from Delta Air Lines to book his flight home to Maryland. He is flying out of the Gainesville airport to go home.
"It's just something I have to do," Harris said.
Laura Aguiar, spokeswoman for Gainesville Regional Airport, said the economy has an effect on all travelers, and when the economy is tough, everybody cuts back.
Students are no exception.
"I think students are going to go home for the holidays no matter what," she said, "but they will weigh the alternatives, even if it means finding cheaper flights or packing into a car."
