California Spring Break 2012
Photo: Shown is Newport Beach, where college students and familes rent homes on the beach for spring break and vacations. One of the best selections of beach rental homes comes from a company called Burr White (burrwhite.com).
As college students throughout the U.S. begin planning their spring break vacations, often heading for the beaches of Florida, California or even Mexico, the colleges throughout the nation have spring breaks evenly distributed between late February and early April. We did a survey of California’s UC system and it looks like most universities are getting their vacations around the same time…March 20 something to April 1, 2012.
California beaches are beginning to look like spring break as students get a head start on their beach time R&R, even going as far as to leave their books back in the dorm room, apartment or locker, and hitting the sand for surfing, guitar strumming, and relaxing with a boyfriend or girlfriend, perhaps.
Some cities in California sent messages long ago that they didn’t want spring break frenzies, but one city that took advantage of that trend is Palm Springs. They began a campaign several years ago to bring back students who had been chased away. Today you’ll find their message and invitation here: http://www.visitpalmsprings.com/page/student-spring-break-2012/111247. While Palm Springs still offers affordable accommodations for students’ budgets, many of the beach cities in California have priced themselves out of the market for affordability, which is why large numbers of students have traditionally gone to the dessert, mountains, and other states and countries. However, you’ll still see spring breakers at the beaches starting now through early April. It probably won’t impact other visitors’ beach experiences.
Here are some dates we dug up for California’s and the nation’s spring breaks at colleges. Note: We added Fridays when winter quarter ends and Mondays when spring quarter begins, knowing that most students don’t hang around on the last day of a quarter.
Spring Break 2012 at California Universities and Colleges:
- UCLA March 23 – 28, 2012
- USC March 10-19, 2012
- CAL State Long Beach Spring Break Monday, March 26-Sunday, April 1
- CAL State Fullerton March 26-April 1, 2012
- UC Irvine March 23 – April 1
- UC Santa Barbara – March 24 – April 1, 2012
- UC Berkeley March 23 – April 1
- UC Davis March 24 – March 29
- UC Santa Cruz March 22 – April 1
- UC Riverside March 23 – April 1
- UC Merced March 23 – March 30
- UC San Diego March 23 – March 29
National college spring break vacations:
- February 27 – March 2, 2012 Georgia State University, U of Michigan at Ann Arbor
- March 5-9, 2012 Ball State, Central Michigan U, Florida State University, Michigan State U, Penn State, U of Central Florida, U of Florida, U of NC at Chapel Hill, U of Central Florida, Michigan State University, U of Virginia, U of Wyoming
- March 12-16, 2012 U of Arizona, Colorado State U, Harvard, Illinois State, Indiana State at Bloomington, Iowa State U, Montana State U [Bozeman], New York University, Ohio State University, Purdue, Texas A&M, Tulane, U of Alabama, U of Georgia, U of Houston, U of Idaho, U of Iowa, U of Kentucky, U of New Mexico, U of North Dakota, U of Rhode Island, U of South Carolina, U of Texas, Utah State, Washington State, U of Waterloo
- March 19-23, 2012 Arizona State U, Arkansas State, Clemson, Kansas State U, Kent State, Oklahoma State, Princeton, Purdue, Rutgers, U of Arkansas, U of Cincinnati, U of Hawaii, U of Maryland, U of Massachusetts, U of Oklahoma, U of Tennessee, Wellesley, U of Wisconsin Milwaukee, Wichita State
- March 26-30, 2012 CSU Pueblo, University of Colorado – Boulder, Idaho State University, Oregon State University, San Diego State, UC Berkely [California], U of Delaware, U of Missouri-Columbia, U of Oregon, West Virginia University
- April 2-6, 2012 Augusta State, U of Wisconsin, Binghamton
