Texas A&M is shortening its spring break to a day
(CNN) — Texas A&M students don’t get to look forward to a week long holiday in March. In fact, all they’re getting is a day.
The school is reducing spring break to one day in order to “minimize the extensive travel” and “allow the semester to conclude earlier,” Provost and Executive Vice President Carol A. Fierke announced in an email.
The university says the move is to help stop the spread of COVID-19.
“We’ve got 70,000 students traveling all over the country, and the world, and reconvening,” vice provost Michael T. Stephenson told CNN. “We’ve noticed a lot of our peers are making similar decisions, other schools have canceled their spring break. We were concerned about student’s mental health, so we left them that Friday, and we added another holiday, earlier in the semester.”
Texas A&M joins dozens of other schools that have canceled spring break next semester, including Texas Christian University, the University of Florida and Iowa State University. Similarly, semesters are extending winter breaks, and pushing the beginning of classes later into the new year. The University of Connecticut even plans to end the semester after it sends students home for spring break.
By shortening spring break, Texas A&M plans to “add” those extra days at the end of the semester, for final exams and commencement ceremonies. The academic calendar will still begin on Tuesday, January 19, but classes will end earlier than before on Thursday, April 29. Finals will take place at the beginning of May.
The university is also planning to have its students meet in person for at least some of their classes.
“Our goal is to provide undergraduate students with at least two face-to-face classes,” the announcement reads.