Dec. 22—The University of Colorado at Boulder is making changes to its academic calendar to respond to requests from students for breaks before finals and to make it easier to align spring break with area school districts.

The changes will go into effect in the fall of 2025.

“The biggest driver is student success and academic preparedness and having more time to study for final exams,” said Katherine Eggert, CU Boulder’s senior vice provost for academic planning and assessment.

She added that it has been at least 15 years since the university made significant revisions to its academic calendar.

The new calendar adds a mid-semester reading day for each semester, giving students a break and opportunity to catch up on work. Another reading day was added before final exams at the end of each semester.

The last day of classes each semester will fall on a Friday. Final exam reading days will be on Saturday and Sunday, while final exams will be held Monday through Friday, ending at 4 p.m. Friday.

“We wanted to accommodate academic needs and health and wellness needs by giving students additional space to regroup,” said D’Andra Mull, CU Boulder’s vice chancellor for student affairs. “There’s room to breathe and look ahead. I’m very excited we’re heading in this direction.”

The first day of the semester will be a few days earlier, on a Thursday instead of the following Monday. The new calendar also adjusts the Monday-Wednesday-Friday and Tuesday-Thursday class meeting patterns so both have an equal number of instructional days.

Another change moves spring break one week earlier.

CU Boulder officials said they’re hoping an earlier spring break will make it easier to align with Boulder Valley and St. Vrain Valley school districts’ spring breaks. That’s needed, they said, because so many employees and graduate students have children attending schools in those two districts.

Maintaining that alignment was important enough that Boulder Valley changed its 2023 spring break dates, moving its break a week later to align with CU Boulder’s calendar — even though Boulder Valley’s calendar had been set months earlier.

Boulder Valley sets calendars every two years, and information about the university’s dates wasn’t available when the calendar was approved, district officials said.

At the time, district officials promised increased collaboration with the university and the St. Vrain Valley School District. St. Vrain didn’t adjust its spring break after learning of the discrepancy with CU Boulder’s spring break dates, saying that many families likely had already made travel plans.

While Boulder Valley’s spring break will align with CU Boulder’s spring break in 2025, St. Vrain will again have a break that’s a week earlier.

“We’re hoping we can work with both Boulder Valley and St. Vrain to get all us together in alignment,” Eggert said.