With the closing of the 30-year-old Union Travel Center approaching on June 8, adventurous students will no longer be able to find travel assistance in one central location on campus.
UW-Madison junior Laura Krumenauer said the center was really helpful in planning her trip to Spain.
""None of us really knew how to search for flights on our own,"" she said. ""[An employee] did a lot of research on tickets for us and [found] the best deal for when we could go.""
Krumenauer was surprised to hear the center is closing.
According to Wisconsin Union President Shayna Hetzel, the services the center offers will be spread around campus.
Bus tickets will be available at the Essentials Desk on the first floor of Memorial Union.
Hetzel said this is more convenient for students because it is open from 6 a.m. until 2 a.m., while the Travel Center is only open until 5 p.m.
Advising for students interested in volunteering abroad, Hetzel said, will move to the Morgridge Center.
Eurail train passes and International Student ID Cards will be available for purchase at STA Travel on the Union's first floor, and passport photo services will move to Union South, Hetzel said.
She said UW-Madison academic departments asked Travel Center employees to stop advising students about studying abroad because they are not fully trained and not necessarily giving out ""accurate or appropriate"" information.
Travel Center employee Jesse Allhands said the center's closing is especially ""disheartening"" because a lot of the advisory travel literature will be thrown away. Students will now have to do non-UW study abroad program research on their own.
Hetzel said the major motive for reorganizing the services was to bring Memorial Union back to a student-gathering and study space instead of using it as a retail space.
""The Union is making a terrible mistake that's going to hurt a lot of students not only now but in the future,"" Allhands said.
