Click on the photo to visit the interactive Google Map and learn where out-of-state Biola students are from. | Map created by Anna Frost

Thanksgiving break is around the corner, but 55 percent of Biola’s out-of-state undergraduates will not being going home for the five-day holiday, according to a survey conducted the week of Oct. 27. Out of 4,323 undergraduates, a little under a quarter of them are from out-of-state or are international students, according to Institutional Research.

Out of the 150 out-of-state undergraduates surveyed, 65 are going home while 83 are not, and 2 are undecided.

EXPENSIVE AIRFARE 

Sixty percent of students unable to go home say it is because airfare is too expensive. Alison Winiarski, a freshman with an undeclared major from Buffalo, NY was unable to buy a plane ticket because of the cost, she said.

“I miss my family a lot,” Winiarski said.

A round-trip ticket to Buffalo Niagara International Airport would have cost her at least $649 round-trip beginning Nov. 20, the first day of Thanksgiving break this year, according to an Expedia search on Oct. 29.

The proximity of students’ homes appears to be a key factor in whether they are going home for the break, according to the survey. Thirty-one percent of the students who are not going home are from the states east of the Mississippi River.

Seventy-four percent of the people who are going home are from the western and central United States.

ROAD TRIPS HOME 

Jayden Chavez, freshman kinesiology major, and his girlfriend Paige Coleman, freshman communication studies major, are making a 388 mile road trip to Chandler, Ariz. The five and a half hour trip will cost a little over $60 in gas, said Coleman.

“It’s a blessing living close enough to drive home for Thanksgiving and see family,” Chavez said.

There are various reasons why the 83 students surveyed are not going home. Many said the expense is not worth it for the short break.

“Christmas is only a few weeks after Thanksgiving, so it won’t be too much longer before I see my family,” said Cassidy Eisenmann, a freshman English major from Texas.

For other students, like Edlyn Tjhatra, a sophomore business administration major from Indonesia, home is a simply too far away.

INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS

The 36 international students on campus make up approximately three percent of the undergraduate population, according to Institutional Research.

Of the 16 international students surveyed, only one from Canada is going home for the break.

Ten of the students surveyed are visiting other family or friends, and 12 are not going home for other reasons such as work conflicts.

Kelly Stanek, sophomore and biological science major, could afford the flight home to Colorado.

“I need that time back home,” Stanek said, who will spend time with her family and long-distance boyfriend.

Last year her ticket was $450, but this year it was only $250 after she ordered it in the middle of October. However, she will miss a Monday class and return the Tuesday morning after Thanksgiving weekend.

“The days that [Biola gives] us are the number one flying [days]. The prices just soar if you try to buy a ticket on Wednesday and Sunday,” said Stanek. “But I did Tuesday and Tuesday, like the bookends of Thanksgiving,” she said.

“I’ve always had Thanksgiving with my family,” Stanek said.