UMD Students Plan Fun Spring Break Trips Without Breaking the Bank

Spring break is about having a fun time, being with friends and most importantly getting your money's worth. Without the right research and planning spring break can be expensive whether you travel to Miami or Mexico and everywhere in between.

Student travel companies  organize all-inclusive spring break trips to top destinations.

Morgan Singer, a senior at the University of Maryland, booked her spring break trip to Cancun, Mexico six months in advance through STS travel.

 StudentCity is another popular company students can use to plan spring break trips. Students can book trips with large groups of friends to all-inclusive hotels at top destinations and purchase VIP packages to guarantee entrance to clubs and events.

"It's the company my friends went on last year and they had a really good experience so we decided to do it again," Singer said. STS Travel has campus representatives on over 1000 campuses in the United States.

While not quite the same thing as booking through a company, USA Today College reports that Groupon has a spring break section and may offer good alternative deals.

Students consider locations and prices while researching spring break trips. 

"We looked around at other destinations and prices, but Cancun was the best bang for our buck," Singer said.

According to ABC News, the top spring break destinations for college students in 2014 included: Cancun, Mexico, Panama City Beach FL, Las Vegas, NV, Jamaica; Miami, FL, Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, South Padre Island, TX, Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, Puerto Rico, and Nassau, Bahamas.

While there are certainly benefits to using a student travel company to plan a spring break trip, University of Maryland senior Amanda Nessel decided to book a spring break trip to Miami on her own.

Nessel and Singer both wanted a spring break trip where they could relax and have fun in warm weather, but wasn't too expensive. Other important factors Nessel and Singer considered while choosing a location include how safe the destination is and easy it is to get there.

Expedia is having a new Spring Break promotion offering discounted prices for hotels at top spring break destinations.

CNBC reports that not only are flights to top spring break destinations slightly less expensive in 2015 than 2014, but Expedia is having a Spring Break promotion.

Students choose to go on cruises and or alternative breaks the University of Maryland offers.

Rachel Diamond, a senior at the University of Maryland, booked a Carnival cruise to the Bahamas with friends.

"We booked a cruise because not only did we get a good deal, but you can also go to so many different spots and everything is all-inclusive," Diamond said.

Another option for students is to take advantage of the alternative spring break programs including the alternative breaks sponsored by STAMP, which are local, national and international projects and locations as well as Maryland Hillel, which offers spring breaks to national and international locations.

Whether the spring break is to a popular destination, on a cruise or an alternative break UMD students, with enough research and planning, can find good deals on spring break trips. Singer and her friends think the student travel companies provide not only the top experience but also competitive prices to popular destinations like Cancun while Nessel through research and planning was able to also book an affordable trip to another top destination, Miami, on her own.