No traditional family Thanksgiving for them

Samantha Roper sometimes dreams about the mashed potatoes her mother makes on Thanksgiving, from potatoes grown at an uncle's farm 10 minutes from her Southern Idaho home. But today, with airfare costs and distance making a trip home impractical, the Chapman University freshman will go without the creamy spuds on the holiday for the first time. Instead, Roper, 18, is staying at her Fullerton dorm as classes shut down for the long weekend.

"It's depressing," said the public relations and advertising major from Twin Falls, Idaho. "College is expensive. I'm going to need to get books for next semester, and that's going to cost $300."

On college campuses across the nation, a number of students typically stay put for Thanksgiving because of some combination of homework, job responsibilities, travel costs or distance home. But with travel for the holiday predicted to be down 10% across the nation this year, stranded students are likely to have more company than usual this turkey day.

Count Kristen Entringer, a Chapman sophomore from Phoenix, among them. Last year she flew home for the holiday, but the cost of airfare put the trip out of reach this year, with the family figuring the money was better spent on college expenses. Instead Entringer is staying on campus, buoyed by the fact that winter break is a scant two weeks away.

Entringer, 20, says she has work to do over the weekend for her part-time job as an assistant in the graphics lab. Because of her class schedule, she also would have had to leave late Wednesday and return Sunday, spending just three days with her family while getting stressed about falling behind on her work.

"I really need to stay in order to get things done; I need to physically be in the computer lab," she said.

One of her professors has invited Entringer to join his family for Thanksgiving dinner. Still, she'll miss her family's holiday traditions, which include a large meal with her parents, brother and grandparents featuring homemade pies, followed by a movie marathon.

"The meal is an excuse to get to dessert. We all view Thanksgiving as, 'Let's just get dinner out of the way in the early afternoon so we can spend the rest of the evening going back for seconds and thirds of pie,' " she said. "As much as I am really saving myself in the long run a lot of money, time and stress, you still miss out on that whole thing."

Sometimes the decision to celebrate apart can be harder on the parents than on the students.