Triptik Travel Planner Helps Do Homework for College Visits

After the holidays wind down, millions of students will prepare to travel to college campuses all throughout the country. Some will be heading back to class while others will be touring various institutions in search of the perfect place to enroll after high school.

Choosing a college requires doing a good deal of homework. School Web sites and other online college search tools give students a great starting point by providing a wealth of information on everything from academic curriculums to food plans and financing. These resources allow prospective students to narrow their possible choices by filtering out the institutions that don’t meet their desired preferences for academic majors, school size, cost, locale and more.

While the Internet offers all the need-to-know content, the best way to actually gauge an appropriate student/school match-up is to personally visit the campus. And whether the schools of choice are nearby or across state lines, AAA can help students and their families plan and get the most out of their trip.

AAA’s TripTik Travel Planner is a comprehensive online trip-planning tool that does much more than generate driving directions. Handy dropdown menus provide complete school listings by state so you simply click to select colleges or universities to add to the route itinerary. The location type listings save a lot of time and legwork as you don’t need to know the school addresses to create maps and directions.

TripTik Travel Planner allows multiple stopovers within each route itinerary and provides estimated driving time and mileage to each stop. A color pin on the map indicates each stopover, and these icons can be used to determine the most efficient route for visiting multiple campuses.

TripTik Travel Planner also allows you to locate AAA Approved lodgings, restaurants and other places of interest along the route. When traveling to areas you’ve never visited before, TripTik Travel Planner’s travel information provides the peace of mind of knowing where to find accommodations that meet AAA’s stringent criteria for quality, cleanliness and security. The AAA.com trip-planning tool also identifies gas stations along your route complete with up-to-date fuel prices and is an ideal resource for finding things to see and do in proximity of the campus area.

Once your student chooses a school and heads for campus, consider adding a AAA Associate Membership to the list of essential items to take along. Whether your student brings a vehicle to school or rides with a friend, it’s good to know that AAA will be there in the event of a roadside emergency.

The student card-holder can also take advantage of AAA’s top quality travel services for planning spring break trips, visits home or a summer getaway, and use AAA financial services for school loans, auto loans and more. AAA membership also provides your campus-bound teen with thousands of money-saving opportunities at shopping and dining locations throughout North America and through online retailers — a key benefit for a college-student budget. When it’s time to pack, members also get exclusive savings on various items like luggage and duffle bags purchased in the club’s Travel Store.

Preparing for college requires a lot of time, research and planning. AAA, with its wide array of member products, services and exclusive benefits, helps take care of a lot of the homework.

Other things to keep in mind when you’re planning college visits:

• Don’t wait until senior year of high school to visit colleges. There’s a lot to see and many people to talk to, so you can maximize each visit better when you’re not pressed for time.

• If application deadlines are not a factor, apply to schools after you’ve had a chance to visit the campuses. At an average application fee of $50 per school, you’ll save the money you might have spent applying to a place you ended up not liking.

• Schedule your campus visit when school is in session to get a better feel for the overall college experience. If you visit during a break, faculty, administrators and coaches you might want to talk to may be out of town.

• Schedule a guided tour and check the school’s Web site for any planned activities going on during your visit. Popular events may pack the local hotels.

• Check with your high school, as many offer an excused absence policy to allow upper classmen time to make college visits.