University works very differently to lower schools and living away from home is a big change to deal with. Since there’s a lot of academic work associated with university, lots of students are left wondering when they can go home outside of regular holidays. You may even be wondering this yourself!
University students go home 3 times a year during university holidays. However, students are free to go home at any point in the year, as long as you don’t have any in-person university obligations. Being at home is not seen as a valid excuse for missing university classes. This means that university students can go home on any free day during the term, and in the regular university holidays.
Don’t worry if everything isn’t clear yet. In this article, you can read all about how often you can go home during term time, and what to do if you can’t travel home.
We would love to hear how frequently you go home from university. Please take part in our poll below.
How often should you come home from university?
There’s no one way to deal with university life, and that includes going home. Lots of students who live far away from their universities don’t have the opportunity to go home, other than on holidays. You can read more about university holidays in this Think Student article.
The simplest answer to this question is – if you feel like going home, go home! However, you should keep in mind that your university responsibilities come first.
You are allowed to go home on weekends, provided you have no lectures, seminars or tutorials to attend (which you probably won’t). Being at home is not considered a valid excuse for missing classes by universities.
I personally have been home during term time, but it was no more than 4 times a term. Going home is a great way to refresh, but you don’t want to miss too much while you’re gone!
To be quite honest, as much as you love your family, you probably won’t want to go home regularly anyway. The reason for this is that university terms just aren’t long enough to make you feel you need to visit home every week. This Think Student article has more information on the lengths of university semesters.
Outside of term time, students go home 3 times a year, after the winter, spring and summer terms respectively. You can read more about the exact dates in the Think Student article linked above!
Is going home a good way to deal with homesickness?
Obviously when you’re homesick, the first thing you want to do is go home. However, as harsh as it may sound, this probably isn’t the best thing to do. It might make it harder to be at university afterwards.
Struggling with homesickness is very normal, so don’t worry about being alone in your feelings. The University of Plymouth’s student magazine has a section on how to deal with homesickness, linked here.
Like I mentioned earlier, going home if you’re homesick probably won’t solve your homesickness in the long-term, but actually make it worse. You will eventually adjust to living away, I promise! In the meantime, this Think Student article has advice on how to manage stress at university.
What do you do if you can’t go home from university?
Naturally, not everyone can travel back home for a weekend while at university. It can be a hard emotional burden to bear, but there are ways around it!
From my personal experience, if you can’t go home, it’s a good idea to arrange weekly phone calls home. For example, the University of Edinburgh suggests that parents establish a contact routine with their children before leaving for university.
If finance is keeping you from travelling, investing in a student railcard is a good idea. Trainline offers a railcard for 16–25-year-old students, for 33% off train tickets.
Alternatively, your family might be able to travel to your university city for a weekend! Unfortunately, universities don’t have half term, which you can read more about in this Think Student article.
If your family is able to travel to see you, it’s definitely a great idea arranging to meet up! Plenty of my friends who can’t travel home while at university have seen their family. Although this doesn’t fulfil the comforts of a home setting, it’s great to see the people you love.