A rolling duffel, even at 30" is NOT a 28" Pullman rolling SUITCASE. A rolling duffel would indeed be an adequate piece of luggage.
I loved ours when we needed some dressy clothes for a civic formalish occasion on our trip and the duffel had a drop bottom where these could stay relatively flat and "ironed" and unscathed by the upper packing and unpacking.

<<I guess where your kids went to school it wasn't ok to tell kids to smarten up.. pack carefully and that the trip was more about sightseeing then shopping?>>

You're absolutely right. The students in my kids' school, along with all the children in California, are so spoiled and materialistic that it even shows in their luggage habits. For that reason we sent our kids on national community service, sports and cultural exchange programs, where they could interact with saner packers from other parts of the country. But the instructions were always to bring a 28-30" duffel. (We did break down and let the older one go on an exchange program to Zaragoza with his school - and curiously, all the brats took their old camp duffels.)

Youth Duffelism seems to be an international issue. We hosted multiple exchange students from Spain and Central America. And they always arrived with...28-30" rolling duffels. And since you're spending your Saturday vetting me, you can check my TRs: Thanks to my husband's strict policies, I am the Carry On Queen of Fodors. We've gone to 6 continents for as long as a month with 21 inchers only. I'm not here to defend large luggage - just saying that's the way kids roll ;)

Dear HEAVENS. Just looked at the prices (good?). Go to Dick's Sporting Goods OR Costco used to have a wonderful one for 1/4 of that or less--and well made.

I went on one of these kind of trips when I was student (I'm from Northern California). I'm pretty sure my friends and I all brought mammoth suitcases. But we were young and fit and strong so it really wasn't that big of a deal.

If the teachers says to bring a huge suitcase, and that's what all the other students on the tour are doing... then I guess that is OK, and I'd be like everyone else. Still no need to spend more than $50 on a bag.

100+ posts and no return of our OP, that part's unfortunate.

I have very much enjoyed this thread. WOW. Can't believe some kid posted it, got all these responses and never even checked back in. But it's a great post, and I just wonder what the heck that kid is doing right now. ha

not so uncommon, tea drinker, for new posters to start a thread and never come back. Perhaps they are expecting to receive an alert when someone posts a reply, like some other forums.

or perhaps they are just forgetful/lazy/impolite.

who knows!