For most of the population, Thanksgiving is a pretty restful holiday. No real obligations other than to eat and watch football.
For college students, it's different. You still get to eat and watch football 
, but it isn't always a particularly relaxing weekend, is it?
When I was in college, all I really wanted to do over Thanksgiving was catch up with my old friends and get some rest. But it seemed I always had homework over the holiday weekend — lots of reading and maybe even a paper due. And the stress of upcoming finals was always looming. Inevitably, I'd come back from Thanksgiving break dragging, instead of feeling refreshed and ready to take on the end of the semester.
If you have a lot of work to do over Thanksgiving break, my advice is tackle it a little bit at a time, to minimize stress. You don't have to hide away from your family all weekend either. Just try to grab an hour or two at a time to get things done, so you don't set yourself up for an all-day marathon on Sunday.
Are you ready for a nap after Thanksgiving dinner? Grab a family member — or your iPod — and go for a walk instead. When you get back, your head should be clear enough to read a couple chapters, or sketch a quick outline for a paper.
Instead of sleeping away the morning after Thanksgiving, make fun plans for mid-day — meet up with friends for a movie or something. Then promise yourself you'll study for at least an hour before you go. You're up at 10, and free for the day by noon.
Carve out another couple hours of study time on Saturday (the earlier the better, holiday weekends can get away from you!), and reward yourself afterward.
There! You just accomplished four or more hours of studying — no coffee-fueled cram-sessions required!
Give it a try — when you're packing up the car on Sunday, you'll be thankful!
Editor's note: The Student LoanDown team will be taking the rest of the week off for Turkey Day. (And we probably won't be studying!) We'll be back the week of December 1. Happy Thanksgiving!
I have encouraged my college age kids to not take more $ than they need. Get a part time job for the extras. You really don't want to be paying 6% for your fast food for 10 -20 years.
Unfortunately, I wasn't able to enjoy my Thanksgiving because I have been embroiled in Wells Fargo Customer Service purgatory. The worst part is when I attempt to elevate this beyond this department, I'm met with obstacles.
I wish my 20 year old son would have followed this advice. He spent the entire Thanksgiving break eating and sleeping. I hope he's going back to school rested at least.
@ Generation Millionaire -- Great advice, we couldn't agree more.
@ Anonymous -- I'm sorry to hear you've had a bad experience. If you'd like to email us with more detail about your situation, we'll do our best to help. Just use the "Ask the Expert" function on the right side of our main blog page.