When Haley Bevers decided to attend Texas Tech University in her hometown of Lubbock, her parents bought her a new Ford Explorer. Everyone thought her travel and transportation costs would be minimal. Wrong. Bevers spends about $1,400 a year on gas, parking permits, and maintenance for the SUV. And that's just the beginning. "Being local, there's an automatic assumption that travel would be cheaper for me," says Bevers, a junior majoring in financial planning. This past year Bevers has attended conferences related to her major in Dallas and Philadelphia, gone on a couple of sorority retreats, and spent spring break with her family in Lake Tahoe.

Travel can consume a major portion of a student budget, even if a student lives close to school, walks everywhere, and doesn't even think about spring break. Like Bevers, students may want to get a career edge by attending conferences in their chosen field, interviewing for jobs, or interning in faraway cities.

Because there's no one-stop shop for cheap tickets, students who fly to and from school need to become savvy comparison shoppers. "For the most part, students have to use the same techniques that people of any age use," says Ed Perkins, a syndicated travel writer and author of Business Travel When It's Your Money. The old standby of calling travel agents and visiting the major online sites--Travelocity, Expedia, and Orbitz--to dig for deals still applies. These sites will also alert customers to sales via E-mail. And don't forget the low-cost airlines; most offer low fares (including on one-way tickets) that are free of pesky length-of-stay restrictions. Most of the really good airfares on the major airlines are for travel within a 30-day period--a difficult condition for students who think in terms of semester-long stays. Travel agencies that focus on a student clientele can sometimes help get around the restriction, as they negotiate special ticket arrangements with the airlines. Such agencies are often located near campuses, like STA Travel (www.statravel .com). With their flexible schedules, students can take advantage of Tuesday-through-Thursday and red-eye or midday flights, when fares are usually cheapest.

Getting to know you. And, of course, they can start accumulating frequent-flier miles. If your home or college airport is a hub for one of the big airlines, you'll probably want to join its frequent-flier program. Parents or students can also consider applying for a credit card that awards mileage points.

Even with meticulous planning, families will no doubt pay more than they expect for transportation. During his first two years at school, Victor Garza, a senior at Texas Tech, made the six-hour drive home to Dallas every two weeks. He was usually able to split the $60 round-trip gas bill with a carload of friends headed in the same direction. "We were homesick, and we wanted to see our families," says Garza. -Caroline Hsu