Photo Credit: Airliners
Let’s face it, college is expensive. How many of us did not take travel expenses into account when deciding which college to attend? For most students, travel expenses are not considered incidental line items in their budgets. While the cost of traveling to and from home several times a year is not the most expensive item students face, it certainly is not cheap. Even at current gas prices, most airline companies charge several hundred dollars or more for a round-trip ticket within the U.S. For many college students, these prices are out of their reach. If airlines offered student discounts, they could help promote world peace! OK, maybe not world peace, but they would help solve at least one of the problems college students face today – raising debt levels, which currently stand at $1.3 trillion.
Unlike other flyers who can take advantage of airline pricing, students do not have flexible timetables. College schedules dictate when a student can fly, and 95% of the time students have to spend extra money on plane tickets because their breaks rarely coincide with off-peak seasons or days. Additionally, as the world becomes smaller due to globalization and businesses look for employees that have a well developed understanding of the world around them and of different cultures, U.S. students are at a distinct disadvantage when their travel needs are restricted due to purely economic considerations.
When it comes to students, airlines should take a long-term view, and consider what their future earnings potential might mean for their companies. While airlines might forgo some short-term profits by offering student discounts, the loyalty students develop for these airlines could more than offset any revenue losses generated by the discounts. Moreover, students with less debt mean they will have that much more discretionary income to spend on travel and vacations in the future.