A University of Miami student from New Jersey is back home after deciding to leave Florida ahead of Hurricane Irma.

Renee Dorwart, of Westfield, just started her freshman year. She says that she started to get worried Monday when her dorm’s resident advisor started to talk about evacuating.

“Then I started to panic, like, ‘OK I need to get out of here,’” she says. “Everyone is leaving before me and I’m going to be one of the last people here.”

Dorwart says that she has only moved on to campus on Aug. 15 and was just settling into the college life.

She says that she initially had a hard time finding flights home. Expedia was charging $1,500. American and Delta airlines were charging $1,200 and $1,400.

“I looked at United, and the tickets were not even direct and like $800,” she says.

Dorwart says that she was finally able to book a Spirit Airlines flight Wednesday to Atlantic City for only $330. But then the airline started cancelling flights.

“She ultimately would’ve been bumped and might not have gotten out,” says Dorwart’s mother Sara Miller.

Dorwart was finally able to find one seat on an American flight Wednesday afternoon from Miami to LaGuardia for only $350.

“Honestly, we would’ve paid $1,400 to get her out of there,” Miller says. “A Category 5 [hurricane] is quite serious.”

Miller says that she resents the airlines raising prices during an emergency, even though they are allowed to. Dorwart says that her friends all paid between $500 and $1,500 for one-way tickets out of Florida.

Dorwart says that she hopes to return to Miami a week from Sunday to resume her first year at college.