Student Advantage and a variety of transportation options helpful to students returning home for Spring Break

Throughout your elementary, middle, and high school years, transportation to and from school was most likely simple: all you needed was your backpack and a bagged lunch and you'd be taken to school in a matter of minutes by a big yellow school bus with a driver who never asked for a tip, ticket, roundtrip fare, or passport.

For college students, making the trip to or from school is not so clear-cut. The frequency with which students make this commute as well as the type of transport they use to do depends largely on the distance between Tufts and home -- wherever that may be.

Many students who hail from the Boston area, other parts of Massachusetts, or areas in nearby states cite taking a bus as the most popular and sensible way to travel home. If the trip between home and Boston takes around two to four hours by car, that trip via a Greyhound Lines bus will typically take between three and five.

"If you live anywhere in the Northeast, the bus is a great way to get home," freshman Aaron Banks said. Banks considers the bus to be an optimal way to travel because "it's cheap, runs on time, has more character than a plane or train, and you're sure to run into kids from your high school that are going home from other Boston schools."

Banks, who hails from upstate New York, arrives home in approximately three hours and forty-five minutes using a Greyhound bus. The cost of the trip for him is $30.

A bus trip costs even less when coupled with a Student Advantage card, which costs $20 per year plus $2.50 shipping and handling. With this card and membership, students receive discounts at all kinds of businesses (including Foot Locker, Barnes & Noble, and Tower Records) in addition to discounts on various modes of transportation.

Greyhound offers Student Advantage members a 15 percent discount on walk-up fares to thousands of destinations nationwide. Also available to Student Advantage members is a Spring Break deal: travel round-trip anywhere in the US starting at $98, according to the company's website, www.studentadvantage.com.

Some students who live in New York take advantage of an even cheaper choice: Fung-Wah buses, which offer $20 round-trips from Chinatown, Boston to Chinatown, New York.

Those students for whom the trip home from Tufts takes four or more hours most commonly travel using trains and planes. If freshman Craig Kelly were to drive home to his home in Philadelphia, PA, it would take him around six and half hours. Since traveling by car is not an option to Kelly because freshman cannot have a car on campus, Kelly chooses to take the train rather than a plane.

A six-hour car-travel trip can take anywhere between five and eight hours on the train, depending on how many stops the train makes along the way, says Kelly.

"Although it's a longer ride [than a plane ride would be], it's safer, less of a hassle, and I can plug my laptop in and watch movies," Kelly said.

The train service that Kelly and most other students rely on is Amtrak, which, like Greyhound, participates in a myriad of student deals. The most popular is the Student Advantage Membership, which, according to the Amtrak website, www.amtrak.com, saves members "up to 15 percent on most rail fares anywhere Amtrak travels."

Many students, such as freshman Jeffrey Katzin, prefer flying than taking a train. Katzin, whose home is in Jericho, Long Island, says he takes a plane because it is "faster, more convenient, and with student rates on the US Airways Shuttle, it is realistic in terms of cost."

The student rates Katzin refers to are not specific to US Airways; rather, similar special student rates are offered by many airlines. Shuttle flights, also offered by many airlines including Delta, are ideal for students traveling from Boston to other cities such as New York and Washington, D.C.. [US Airways Shuttle Smart Packs offer a 25 percent discount on round-trip tickets to these destinations.]

The US Airways Shuttle Smart Pack gets you four round-trip tickets for the price of one. It is valid for travel in either direction with no restrictions on day or time. In addition to the Shuttle Smart Pack, US Airways is the official airline partner of the aforementioned Student Advantage. For Student Advantage cardholders, US Airways Shuttle prices range from $115 to $180, depending on which round-trip package is chosen.

Moving further away from Tufts, the choice between modes of transportation narrows down to the point where taking a plane is the sole plausible action. If freshman Lisa Miller drove home to Denver, Colorado, it would take her over thirty-six hours. Because the trip to Denver, or any comparably faraway destination, is costly and time-consuming, airline choice can be tedious and is largely a matter of opinion.

Miller, who has taken flights home and back several times, finds United to be "the easiest airline to use, with tickets usually no less than $300 and the flight taking around four hours."

Whether students travel by bus, train, or plane, student deals are often available to them. But some lucky students aren't in need of such deals. Namely, those whose home is close to the University campus can rely on the traditionally accepted childhood alternative: having their mother come pick them up when it's time to go home.