UMass Lowell students work hard all year round. Students look forward to holiday breaks for recuperating and time with their family at home. The Universities of Massachusetts limit that time for their students more than many other top colleges and universities in the area, such as: University of New Hampshire. University of Connecticut, Northeastern University, Suffolk University, University of Maine, Quinnipiac College, Slave Regina University, and Babson College.

During Thanksgiving break, students of the Universities of Massachusetts did not have a single day in-between their classes and Thanksgiving Day. Any student who needed to travel had to do so after their classes on the busiest travel day of the year. All of the above universities and many more universities throughout New England gave their students at least the day before Thanksgiving off. UConn, Babson, and Quinnipiac are among other colleges that are giving their students the whole week off for Thanksgiving. UConn balanced that by having classes on Veteran’s Day. Stephanie Nagle, a senior at UConn said, “I would much rather have classes on Veteran’s Day and be able to spend the whole week with my family, Thanksgiving is such an important holiday and I think a lot of colleges overlook that.” UMass Lowell students who were interviewed agree. Julie Handy, a junior here at UML, lives in California so the holidays are especially hard with this schedule. “It was really tough because thanksgiving break was so short that it was pointless to spend the money go home so far away for two days…not being able to go home and see my family was really hard. If I had that whole week I would be able to go home, the money would be worth it.” When asked about the final exam schedule this year she said, “Thankfully I had papers for all of my finals. I am on the track team and if you are a winter athlete you have to be back for January 2^nd. If I had finals until the 22^nd or 23^rd it would be almost impossible for me to go home for Christmas. I hope I am this lucky next year.” Julie’s comment about Christmas brings up the other issue regarding this year’s academic calendar. The issue is the proximity of the end of the final exam period to Christmas.  This year the UMass schedule has students taking finals until December 22^nd; with a make-up scheduled for the 23^rd. Considering the weather in New England there is a chance that students will be taking their finals on the day before Christmas Eve! Krystal Velasquez, a UML junior, commented, “I find this ridiculous. There just is not time to do anything to prepare for Christmas during finals so we are left with one day for preparations. My sister goes to a university in New York and she will be home December 15^th; I don’t even start my finals until the 16^th!” The majority of schools in the area, including all of the ones researched, have at least one week between the end of their final exams and Christmas. This is a more realistic time period for students.

I contacted the Dean of student services, Thomas Taylor, through email and asked for his comments about this concern. He said that, “The University is required to have 70 class days a semester (though it is acceptable to offer 69 for one and 71 for another, for example).  By contract, faculty cannot be required to start classes until after Labor Day.  Hence, the schedule each year is very tight in the fall semester, especially when Labor Day was Sept. 6th this year.” In addition to this response, Elizabeth Donaghey, assistant registrar, added that, “There are those who maintain that eliminating observance of Veteran’s Day by “packaging” it into a larger vacation timeframe, such as Thanksgiving, clouds or even eliminates the meaning behind Veteran’s Day.” This information helps to clear up why our schedule is this way, but is there anything that the students can do about it? Would we want to give up Veteran’s Day for an extended Thanksgiving Break? Would we be willing to extend the spring semester to 71 days to allow for more days of in the fall? It is ultimately going to be decided by the staff at UMASS Lowell, but it is up to the students to make sure any concerns they have are heard. Only by speaking up can anything be changed