By Gavin Guffey, Newswire Intern 

Starting in the 2027-28 school year, Xavier will change its academic calendar and class schedule by shortening the fall and spring semesters by one week each, and adding five minutes to each class period. 

“The primary change is a shift from a 16-week semester to a 15-week semester for our major terms of fall and spring,” Assistant Vice President of Strategic Enrollment and Management and University Registrar Andrea Wawrzusin said.

Xavier currently operates on a schedule of 15 school weeks with an added finals week at the end, rounding the semester out to 16 weeks total. The new schedule will decrease the number of normal weeks to 14, bringing the total number of weeks down to 15.

As a result of the shortening of the fall and spring semesters, the time that students spend in class will be increasing. This is due to Xavier’s credit hour policy, which states students must spend a certain amount of time in the classroom in order to receive the corresponding number of credits for each course they take.

“To ensure that Xavier continues to meet or exceed the amount of time in class required by our credit hour policy, class times will be adjusted,” Provost and Chief Academic Officer Dr. Rachel Chrastil said. “Courses that are now 50 minutes will meet for 55 minutes, and those that are currently 75 minutes will be 80 minutes.”

With the fall and spring semesters being shortened, Xavier will use one of the two newly available weeks to extend the summer semester by one week and the other week to extend winter break.

The university’s objective for these changes to the calendar is to give students a chance to experience more opportunities outside of the classroom. This can be done in two main ways.

First, students will have additional time to complete summer courses, giving them the chance to get a more well-rounded experience with the added week. 

“The extended opening during winter break (is) to offer additional experiential learning opportunities and supplemental academic support between the fall and spring terms,” Wawrzusin said.

The second goal in changing the 2027-2028 calendar is to include more opportunities for students to gain more credits toward their degrees. These may include early interventions prior to the start of the fall semester and “sprint” courses in between both semesters, giving students more options to make up credits they may have previously lost.

“SGA was approached in spring about the change, and generally had a good response to the change,” SGA president and senior Philosophy, Politics and the Public major Jake Galvan said. “I think it will be a good opportunity to give students a break.” 

Some students are concerned about how the change could potentially disproportionately affect different majors.

“Since nursing majors need to get a certain number of clinical hours and lab to achieve Xavier’s accredited status, there is a very good chance nursing majors would have to come a week earlier,” SGA senator and junior nursing major Libby Boehmer said. “I think it’s not fair to make the biggest major come back early, or risk losing accreditation status.”

Overall, Xavier’s administration is attempting to provide students with the best experience possible, helping them obtain their credits in multiple ways other than the standard fall and spring semesters.

“The motivation for this change is to create opportunities for student success. Xavier is making more opportunities for students by adding a week between fall and spring semesters and during the summer, and building experiential learning opportunities,” Chrastil said.