Time and cost are major obstacles for out-of-state dads coming to Pullman this weekend. Sometimes even in-state dads struggle to clear their schedules for this specific weekend.

However, this doesn’t mean that you can’t have a good time or get together with your family on a different weekend.

One of the biggest barriers for out-of-state parents is travel costs, especially with the unpredictable weather that comes with winter in Pullman. Either you have to pay hundreds of dollars for airfare or make a long drive to hang out with your child for about two days. Flying is the only real option for most out-of-state parents, especially because of work schedules.

However, getting a direct flight to Pullman from anywhere outside of Washington is downright ludicrous, so many parents choose to fly into Spokane and get picked up by their kid or rent a car, which drains more money from the Dad’s Weekend budget.

The last major cost for these parents is housing. Much like during football home games, Dad’s Weekend causes hotel and Airbnb prices to skyrocket.

“He stayed in my apartment,” said Sarah Fahr, college of veterinary medicine candidate class of 2022. “He flew into Spokane, so I had to pick him up over there.”

There are obviously ways to get around spending an enormous amount of money on staying in Pullman, but the real issue is travel cost.

One way to get around these immense costs of flights would be to come on a different weekend. That way everything would be cheaper, and it would also be easier to find places to eat or drink. Another good reason is that students would be better able to plan around their classes than a generic weekend chosen by the school.

“I see him two weeks later for Thanksgiving anyways,” Fahr said. “It seems kinda silly sometimes for Dad’s Weekend to be so close to Thanksgiving for buying plane tickets.”

For those students who do not have parents coming up this weekend, a good option might be to hang out with a friend who does. Getting “adopted” for a dinner is always a fun time.

“My roommate’s dad would come up and I would spend the weekend with them,” Fahr said.

Don’t let a specific weekend drain your parents’ money if you are an out-of-state student, sure it’s a fun time, but other holidays are around the corner for you to have plenty of family bonding.