For many San Diego State University students who live on campus, going home for the holidays may be inconvenient or costly.

However, students who live in most of the residence halls at SDSU who want to stay on campus during the three specified holiday breaks are out of luck.

The only two residence halls that stay open for students who don’t want to leave during Thanksgiving, winter or spring breaks are the Templo Del Sol Residence Hall and the Villa Alvarado apartment complex.

The Villa Alvarado complex is only for upper division or transfer students and doesn’t include a meal plan. If freshmen want to stay on campus during the breaks, they have to live at Templo Del Sol and must provide their own meals during this time.

“We find that very few students want to stay here during the breaks anyway,” said Pat Kroncke, communications director for the Housing and Residential Life Office at SDSU. “It wouldn’t be cost efficient to keep (all the residence halls) staffed and secured during these times.”

The HRLO used to charge students $13 per day to stay in these two dorms during the break, but now it’s free, Kroncke said.

SDSU students must leave all the other halls by 4 p.m. on the specified check-out date and can’t return until 4 p.m. on the check-in date.

These time constraints have caused problems for at least a few SDSU students.

Christine Samuelson, a freshman who lives in Tenochca residence hall, had to miss a night class on Wednesday in order to make her flight at 4:30 p.m.

The once-a-week class starts at 5 p.m., but Samuelson couldn’t get another flight because of the holiday rush, she said.

“If I didn’t take that flight, I wouldn’t have been able to get another until 11 p.m. Thanksgiving night,” Samuelson said. “They should let us stay later, especially the people who live far from here.

“I shouldn’t have to miss class in order to make a flight.”

Samuelson’s roommate, Jamie Boone, almost got stuck without any of her luggage. Boone drove a friend to the airport at 2:30 p.m. and left all her belongings in her room. However, she didn’t realize how heavy traffic would be on the way back.

“I was so scared all my stuff would be locked in (my room),” Boone said. “I barely made it back before 4 p.m.”

Kroncke said students who know they won’t be able to leave should request at the beginning of the year to stay in one of the two halls that stay open.

“We tell students in their license agreement exactly what the dates and hours are during the breaks,” she said. “We do that so students can arrange their flights in advance around those times.”

The latest check-out time for winter break is 8 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 21. However, students who wish to stay past Friday must make special arrangements through the HRLO. Otherwise, they need to be out by Friday, Dec. 20 at 4 p.m.

“Most of the (residence advisors) are also students and don’t want to stay very late during their breaks,” Kroncke said.

Lauren Tonella, a freshman, has to make other arrangements for one night after finals because her flight leaves a day late.

“I would’ve had to pay at least $40 more for a flight,” Tonella said. “For the amount that we pay to live here, we should be able to stay an extra couple of days.”

Depending on what meal plan students have, the average cost to live in the residence halls is more than $600 per month. The cost to live in Villa Alvarado is slightly less because students provide their own food.

Other California State University campuses have different hours for checking in and out of residence halls.

CSU Bakersfield residents, for example, had to be out by noon last Wednesday and could come back any time after noon on Sunday.

Students who reside in the residence halls at CSU Fullerton have no time limits or restrictions. All the dorms are open during breaks, and students can come and go at their own leisure.

“Our reasons for closing the dorms at these times are strictly economical,” Kroncke said. “We work extremely hard to keep the rates as low as possible by making best use of our resources.”

Kroncke advised students who had problems with schedules and flights to make arrangements early around the designated times in the license agreement.