Unlike most of her classmates at Georgetown University, Kelly He never seriously considered going home over winter break this year.

       “It’s almost impossible to book a flight,” she said, since the options for getting to China are scarce, expensive and susceptible to cancellation. The risk of coronavirus exposure when traveling — which has become more concerning with the rapid spread of the omicron variant — was another deterrent. So was the possibility of border closures or other delays amid the worsening pandemic.

       Wp Get the full experience.Choose your plan ArrowRight

       Besides, the quarantine rules are so restrictive that she would almost certainly have to spend the entire break isolated in a hotel room in Shanghai.

       Story continues below advertisement

       “So, there’s no point,” He said.

       At colleges across the country, the coronavirus pandemic has upended holiday plans for international students. Faced with risk, hassle and expense, some decided they would prefer to stay on campus — even a cold and empty one.

       UCLA among colleges planning to start January with remote instruction as omicron surges

       At some schools, such as the University of Illinois, international students can stay in dorms. Arizona State University let students know they could stay on campus with meals and other services if they needed or wanted to. Barnard College adapted its rules to provide winter-break housing for those international students who applied.

       Advertisement

       At many schools, campus shuts down over break, prompting some students to write petitions and op-eds asking to be allowed to remain in their dorms.

       Story continues below advertisement

       Princeton University officials warned international students earlier this month that the omicron variant had added to the uncertainty around travel, and that there was an increased possibility that foreign students who leave the country might not be able to reenter after break.

       If they weren’t able to return, they would have to take a leave of absence until spring 2023, officials said — a warning that prompted two students to write an op-ed in the campus newspaper, the Daily Princetonian. Homesickness is a weight for international students, they wrote, “the myriad of daily reminders that you exist in the periphery. It’s the under-seasoned food and local slang you don’t truly understand. It’s the cold winter you’ve never felt before, and the 10 hour time-difference that makes it impossible to call home when you need the support of a parent.” They asked administration officials to provide more options.

       Advertisement

       University officials followed up with some reassurance to worried students — and continuous housing at no cost to the students if they choose to remain on campus during the break. The school is also providing those students with “special meals through partner restaurants in town, movie passes and credits with a ride-sharing company,” Michael Hotchkiss, a spokesman for the university, wrote in an email. Officials expect between 250 and 300 international undergraduate students to take advantage of that housing.

       Story continues below advertisement

       School officials will also work with students to determine whether they could take a one-semester leave, if necessary, Hotchkiss explained, but most would probably need to take a year off if they could not return for spring 2022 classes.

       Elif Sensurucu, a student leader at the University of California at Berkeley, said many international students were worried about potential problems returning to campus if they left. It’s a national issue, she said. “The main concerns I was hearing from international students is the fear that they may not be able to come back to the United States,” she wrote in an email.

       After decades of increases, a drop in the number of international students in the United States

       At Georgetown, He’s friends who are international students were all asking one another what they were going to do for the nearly month-long break this year.

       Advertisement

       Story continues below advertisement

       “There was a lot of anxiety and stress,” He said.

       Yichu Huang, a Georgetown student from Beijing, had been longing to go home, sleep, see her family and friends, and eat meals cooked by her mother and father. But with a foreign passport, she worried about getting shut out at the border. Huang said international students were so worried about winter break that they decided to write a petition.

       Meanwhile, Kelly He and two other students tackled the issue in class.

       Jason Brennan, a professor of strategy, economics, ethics and public policy at Georgetown’s McDonough School of Business, has students in one of his classes choose an open-ended project, with the goal of doing good in a practical, effective way. In the past, students have sent truckloads of aid to mudslide victims; launched a wildly profitable cellphone-screen repair business that donated money to a charity; and brought clean water to a community in Haiti.

       Advertisement

       Story continues below advertisement

       Kenan Dogan, a junior from Missouri, knew he could easily get home for winter break — and that his partners in the class, He and Shurui Liu, could not.

       Biden administration extends federal student loan payment pause until May

       The three surveyed 117 of the school’s international students and found that more than three-quarters of them would prefer to stay on campus, including 85 percent of those from Asia. According to their analysis, the average international student faced $2,400 in flight costs. The average student from Asia would have 21 days in quarantine — virtually the entire break — and $1,200 in quarantine costs.

       “The biggest surprise we had as a group was just how much students were willing to pay to remain on campus for a month,” Dogan said.

       Story continues below advertisement

       “A lot of people see living on campus during break as a lonely time,” he said. The group assumed that people wouldn’t want to pay tons of money to stay in a dorm. But when they looked at alternatives, the combination of the potential costs and the headache was simply not worth it to most, he said.

       Advertisement

       Ruth McBain, a spokeswoman for Georgetown, said the school typically uses winter break for deep cleaning and maintenance of housing. But school officials have worked to support international students throughout the pandemic as they face challenges including travel restrictions and public health requirements. Georgetown ended up letting international students apply to stay on campus this winter, with most students paying a prorated fee comparable to typical housing costs during the semester, and dozens did.

       “A lot of my friends were really happy knowing they could stay in D.C. and not have to travel, not have to stay in a hotel in another city,” Huang said. “I’m very happy, glad and thankful that Georgetown has given us the opportunity to stay.”

       Huang ultimately decided to room with a friend during the break, she said, but it was reassuring “to know we have the option to stay, and won’t feel homeless for the break.”

       He, meanwhile, was delighted: As the break began this week, she said, she and her friends just stayed in their dorm.

       “It’s super nice, super good,” she said.