ASU officials on Tuesday announced several changes to the 2012 academic calendar, including an earlier start date, half-semester class sessions and the addition of a fall break.
These changes were made in order to increase scheduling flexibility for students and to enhance the academic experience, ASU registrar Lou Ann Denny said.
The new fall break will consist of two days in mid October, providing a four-day weekend from Oct. 13 to 16 in 2012. Spring break will remain one week long in March.
The fall and spring semesters will remain 15 weeks long, with some classes offered for the full semester. Classes will also be offered in two sessions, each seven and a half weeks long, in the fall and spring semesters.
The two shorter sessions in each semester will be called sessions A and B respectively, and the full 15-week semester will be called session C.
Individual colleges will decide which classes to offer in each session. Some classes will be offered during both shorter sessions and some only in one.
Most classes in the shorter sessions will be offered online, Denny said. However, individual colleges have the option of offering in-person classes.
“It will allow more flexibility in when students take their classes,” Denny said. “If they want to go to class for just fall B and spring A, they can do that.”
In order to be considered full-time, students will be required to enroll in a total of 12 credit hours throughout the semester, but the credits can be distributed to fit the students’ needs.
Tuition will follow the same format, with students billed by credit hour. For students enrolled only in the second half-semester sessions, financial aid disbursement will be delayed.
Start dates for the spring semester were also moved up, with spring 2012 classes beginning Jan. 5, moving the end of the semester up and lengthening the summer.
This will allow summer classes to be offered in two six-week sessions and one eight-week session.
In addition, winter session will be eliminated because of time constraints. Historically, winter term has been three weeks in length, beginning after Christmas and running until the start of spring semester.
“When you look at the calendar, there just wasn’t really time to fit everything in,” Denny said. “But with the new flexibility and with the two sessions, people might really prefer to take just A or B instead of winter.”
Undergraduate Student Government President Jacob Goulding said he is unsure how the new calendar will work out.
“I certainly think there are advantages and disadvantages to the new calendar,” he said. “None of the student governments were included in the discussions about this, so we’re doing a little investigating of our own to find out why.”
Reach the reporter at keshoult@asu.edu.
