Starting in 2015, BYU–Hawaii will be implementing a new academic calendar. In an academic year, there will now be three equal 14-week semesters: Fall, Winter, and Spring. Fall semester will begin in August and go through October. Winter will start in November and finish in February with a two-week break for Christmas. Spring semester will begin in March and continue through the first week of June. There will then be a seven-week summer break between Spring and Fall semesters. Each semester will be formatted the same, having the same number of weeks and more consistent course offerings as well as a graduation ceremony following each semester. This means that graduates will be able to walk once they complete their coursework instead of walking first and then attending another session or semester.
See an infographic on the Academic Calendar
See a summary about Summer 2015
The university has been challenged to create an academic calendar that will serve more students, use sacred operating funds effectively, and use campus facilities more fully year round. This new academic calendar will allow BYU–Hawaii to meet all of these objectives plus offer many other benefits as well.
• The longer summer break allows more time for travel, internships, work, or recharging. This also gives students more time for internships during peak internship times, allowing for more options. With the new calendar, internships can be up to 21 weeks long, using the time during the seven-week summer break and one of the semesters on either side of the break. This longer time span can also help international students find internships in their home countries and gives them a competitive edge in availability when applying for internships.
• The shifted starting points of the calendar also benefit many new students. Starting Fall semester in August is attractive for many recent U.S. high school graduates, whereas starting Spring semester in March fits well for many from the Pacific and Asia areas.
• The two-week Christmas break in the middle of Winter semester provides a benefit for students because it gives time to travel during the holidays but is not as disruptive as the five-week break had been in Summer. It also gives students a chance to recharge in the middle of the school year.
• Scholarships will no longer be tied to the previous semester, allowing students to take an annual leave semester or have an online-only semester without losing a semester of scholarship financial aid.
Students who plan to graduate in 2015 should meet soon with their academic advisor to make any adjustments needed to their MAP. Students graduating in 2016 and later should make an appointment with their academic advisor starting in October to make any needed adjustments to their MAP based on the changes to when courses will be offered in coming years.
To learn more about the calendar change, visit https://academics.byuh.edu/calendar.
The new calendar is available to view at https://academics.byuh.edu/academicdates.
Related: Click here to watch a video about the process and reasoning behind the new academic calendar.
