Every year college students prepare for a special spring break to Miami, but they lack the knowledge of how inexpensive a trip can be.

Specifically, many North Carolina A&T students become overly excited about this time of year. There is no school, no studying and for most, no homework.

That is the way to start a spring break after having a semester full of dreadful homework and papers. It does not matter if spring break costs will leave students totally broke in the end.

However, no college student wants to be broke right?  It actually seems like spring break is the time of the year that no one cares about being broke. Students save so much money just to waste it all on a spring break that is not carefully planned and thought out.

Before planning a trip students should save money. They have to figure out about how much money they are going to need for hotel and transportation costs and also check for deals and low-budget trips.

Next is planning to save the money for spending. Take note, however, most of these places do not have the same prices that they have in North Carolina.

Most college students just want to take that special trip, that once-a-year trip when they get to relax and have a great time.

There are a few students who do not take a spring break or they go to a smaller beach.

The few who do not take a big spring break or take a small spring break are the ones that either have not saved the money or who have chosen to save their money for something better than spring break.

Students should set limits to their spring breaks.

What most lack is money management. If students managed their money they would save more money on spending. The first step is knowing not to buy everything that is seen.

When a limit is set that should be it. Take a bank card with exactly that amount to manage money better.

There are so many steps in obtaining a great and inexpensive spring break vacation. Students should make plans a month or two in advance.

Steps include booking cheap flights, searching for inexpensive hotels and hotel deals, the amount of money a person will bring, the amount of people that will be going, and the actual place they will go.

Some of the popular spring break trips consist of places like Cancun, Mexico, Palm Beach, Fla. and Miami. A poll at A&T indicated most students chose Miami as the “hot spot” for their spring break.

“In March, around 200 students book our hotel for spring break,” said Ingrid Holert, the hotel manager at the South Beach Plaza hotel in Miami. “We give deals to students with large groups. The bigger the group, the better the deal.”

Many of the hotels have deals for groups of more than 20 guests and some have even better deals for groups of more than 50. The hotel prices in Miami either remain the same or are higher around spring break, which is why it is better to go in large groups.

The Nxlevel entertainment group offers affordable deals to Miami on spring break. Nxlevel is an entertainment group that allows any person — college student or not — to participate in their spring break activity after signing a liability form. They offer inexpensive hotel deals as well as inexpensive transportation deals and give you time to pay the balance.

For example, this year they have offered deals on hotels from $280 for four to a room, $380 for three to a room and $550 for two to a room at some of the four-star hotels in Miami.

“We have done this trip three times since 2006. We decided to do this trip for people who need a way to get down to South Beach, Miami, Florida, for a great spring break” said Newton Dennis, a Nxlevel associate.

When asked if they get hotel deals, Dennis said “definitely, we get hotel deals because we have such a huge number of people going with us, so they work with our travel agent.”

Transportation can be a major distraction in taking a spring break trip, depending on how early a person knows what they are going to do. There are plenty of traveling options for getting to Miami for spring break. Here are the top 4 traveling options.

1.) Taking a plane

Taking a plane can cost more than other types of transportation but getting there quicker can make it better for the price. “I purchased a round trip plane ticket for $189 for spring break to Miami because I wanted to get there fast and get back fast. I am flying Delta and I used cheapair.com to find my flight,” said Mercedes Pleasant.

2.) Taking the train

The train takes much longer than a plane but the price is not too bad. Taking a train to Miami will take about 21 hours and cost between $118 and $130.

3.) Carpooling

Many friends decide to carpool and split the price of refilling the gas tank between one another. That serves a cheaper way that would take up to 14 hours.

Say that there are 5 people splitting the gas in a Chevy Impala.

It takes about $40 to fill the tank, which leaves about $8 for each person to pay every time it is filled up.

4.) Charter Bus 

Nxlevel offers round-trip on a charter bus for $125 traveling to Miami. The charter bus comes with ac/heater controls, televisions, DVD players, reclined seating and a bathroom.

They use the services of Evan Tours, which is based out of Charlotte.

It all depends on the price and the time. Out of the choices, car pooling may be the cheapest because the price is split between the people riding together.

Many people take Nxlevel entertainment up on the offer and choose to take their deals because of the price.

This is also a reason that many students at NC A&T go to Miami for spring break. Look for the deals and not just a good time.

• Chelsea Haizlip