Although many universities decided to skip Spring Break 2021 due to COVID-19, those that carried on can expect students to travel.
A new survey of 1,000 undergraduates finds that one-quarter (25%) of students with a Spring Break plan to travel, compared to nearly 1 in 6 (17%) who are not sure if they will and 59% who have no travel plans. More than 1 in 10 (13%) students with a break plan to travel within their state, while 9% plan to travel out of state and 3% will go abroad.
However, female students and seniors are more likely than their peers to stay home over the break. While 62% of female students say they definitely don’t plan to travel, 52% of their male classmates say the same. And seniors (65%) are more likely than juniors (55%) and sophomores (49%) to say they’re staying put.
An overwhelming majority (78%) of students with travel plans will drive, but almost one-third plan to fly (29%). Popular Spring Break destinations can expect tourists despite the pandemic, as 1 in 10 students with travel plans will make their way to Florida (12%) or Mexico (10%). Roughly one-third of students are traveling with their significant (36%) other and/or close friends (34%), while one-quarter (25%) are traveling with family.
These students’ Spring Break Instagram posts may not get much love, though. Almost 6 in 10 (58%) students overall say they would judge their peers who travel out of state for Spring Break, compared to 41% who would not. Even more students (69%) would judge their peers for traveling abroad. The gender gap persists, though, and female students are more likely than male students to say they would judge their peers for both out of state (68% vs. 45%) and international travel (78% vs. 56%).
Female Students are More Likely to Judge Classmates for Traveling
How much would you judge your peers who travel ____ for Spring Break?
“Visiting family is fine [in my opinion] as long as you’re careful,” a Massachusetts Institute of Technology student says. “Traveling to party is not.”
There’s some confusion around university travel guidelines for students who will have a Spring Break this year. Half (51%) of students with a break are not sure if their school has any rules or guidelines about traveling while school’s out, and one-quarter (25%) say their school doesn’t have any. Among students who say their school does have rules, two-thirds (67%) report that non-essential travel is discouraged. Fewer students report mandatory quarantines (39%) or that COVID-19 testing is required to return to campus (33%).
The need to leave campus during the summer break has more students planning to travel this summer than over Spring Break (37% vs. 25%). Students are also planning to travel further, with more plans to go out of state (22% vs. 9%) or abroad (7% vs. 3%) over the summer compared to Spring Break.
“I’m probably going to go home because I don’t think I’ll stay on campus for four months,” a Sewanee student says.
The gender gap closes when it comes to summer travel, with almost 4 in 10 male (38%) and female (36%) students making some sort of summer travel plans. And with more out of state travel comes more students planning to fly over the summer compared to Spring Break (46% vs. 29%).
Spring Break vs. Summer Travel
Percentage of students who plan to travel, and what modes of transportation they’ll use.
While optimism about travel is on the rise, students’ plans to study abroad may not recover as quickly. One-quarter (24%) of juniors and one-third (35%) of sophomores who haven’t studied abroad say they considered it a lot before the pandemic, but fewer think it will happen. Among students who say they considered it a lot before the world shut down, just 11% of juniors and 22% of sophomores believe they are very likely to study abroad at this point.
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Methodology: This survey was designed and conducted by College Pulse. Interviews were conducted between February and March among a sample of 1,000 full-time and part-time students attending colleges or universities in the U.S. who are part of College Pulse’s American College Student Panel.
