2022-03-28 Guidelines for creating the academic calendar
- Denise Kidd
2022-03-28
The academic calendar is at the intersection of educational policy, process, and big picture initiatives (DoE, Financial Aid).
Meredith’s Timeline for CLASS SCHEDULE >
Review Process
CEP - committee on educational policy - they approve holidays, start/end dates. CEP approves calendars by email vote; they meet at least 3 times per semester. CEP includes faculty from all schools, students, Goldman rep, etc. Colette provides 2 versions of the calendar to CEP for review.
Financial Aid reviews it.
Provost makes the ultimate decision.
Course meeting count minimums
M/W/T/R/F - 14
MWF - 40
TR - 28
Week count minimums
Must have at least 14 Meeting Weeks
Meeting Weeks = (last day of classes - first day of classes + 1) divided by 7
Must have at least 15 Financial Aid Weeks
SOATERM dates determine the number of Financial Aid Weeks
Summer is not bound by the 15-week rule, but Colette thinks perhaps there is a minimum; she will look into this.
Semester “bleed”
Classes cannot begin during one semester and end in the next semester. The exception to this (example EMBA) are students taking modular courses who aren’t taking courses within the normal semester. We ensure this by not allowing these students to register for classes on their own. (Note: they also won’t have a time ticket).
Other Guidelines
The Department of Education has to declare this state of emergency in order to invoke changes to the “normal” rules regarding length of semester. We should consult with our financial aid colleagues before determining we are in such a state of emergency when planning/making changes to academic calendars. (Note: As of 3/29/22, we are in a state of emergency.)
Don’t count breaks, but count holidays in non-meeting days.
Note, but don’t calculate, last day of class, study days, final exams, degree conferral.
Yom Kippur and Good Friday have been eliminated from holidays. CEP hopes to continue full week of spring break (dependent on Mardi Gras) and to continue Thanksgiving as a full week, so these should be reflected in the calendar.
Dept of Ed during COVID is allowing minimum 30 Financial Aid Weeks per academic year.
Makeup days - not in current spreadsheet, but a good idea to include them so they’re approved by CEP.
Study days can be converted to class days.
A rule of thumb for developing the spring schedule is to take the commencement date and work backward, ensuring to consider Mardi Gras/Spring Break.
Ideally, it’s a best practice to have three years of academic calendars projected. However, the Provost is currently hesitant to do this due to recent events (pandemic, hurricanes).
Action Items
ID numbers should never be released via ticket, phone, or email. Students can access their ID numbers via Gibson. Students needing ID numbers for transcript orders can enter their SSN or 9 0's in the ID number field.