clock hours." An academic year must include at least 30 weeks of instructional time for programs offered in credit hours.
The calendar system is “the method by which an institution structures most of its courses for the academic year.”2 Kentucky State University operates according to a standard term calendar system consisting of two semesters and a summer session. An academic semester is a period of time that shall consist of no fewer than fifteen (15) calendar weeks and no more than eighteen (18) calendar weeks of instructional time. The inclusion of breaks or holidays within any particular semester shall be at the discretion of the institution so long as the institution is in compliance with the criteria for awarding semester credit hours.3
Kentucky State University’s fall semester runs from the middle of August until the end of December.4 The spring semester runs from the beginning of January until the middle of May. The summer session runs from the middle of May until early August.5 Each semester is a standard term consisting of at least 15 weeks of academic engagement. These are defined in the Catalog as “academic terms.”6
With the launch of KYSU Online programs and courses in the 2024-25 academic year, the academic calendar will incorporate online subterms into the standard term academic calendar. Each subterm is roughly half the length of a semester; it consists of no more than nine (9) and no less than 7.5 weeks of instructional time. KYSU Online's subterms are eight (8) weeks long.
On the one hand, these online subterms can be considered nonstandard terms. Generally, nonstandard terms are terms that are not semesters, trimesters, or quarters. For example, a 5-week term or a 23-week term would be considered a nonstandard term because no standard term can be fewer than nine (9) weeks or greater than 21 weeks in length. However, “[i]n a program using a standard term academic calendar you may combine two or more consecutive shorter nonstandard terms (often called modules) and treat them as a single standard term such as a semester or quarter.” Therefore, for financial aid purposes, since the nonstandard terms run consecutively within the delimitations of Kentucky State University’s standard term semesters, they will be treated as a single standard term.
2 IPEDS 2023-24 Data Collection System Glossary. “Calendar System.” Accessed 11/27/2023. https://surveys.nces.ed.gov/ipeds/public/glossary
3 Academic Calendar Policy (1.1.1)
4 See the Academic Calendar Policy (1.1.1) for more specific details.
5 https://www.kysu.edu/academics/registrar/academic-calendar/index.php
6 See Chapter 2, “Section 1. Definitions” in the 2022-23 Undergraduate Catalog. https://kysu-public.courseleaf.com/undergraduate/admissions/
7 https://fsapartners.ed.gov/knowledge-center/fsa-handbook/2024-2025/vol3/ch1-academic-years-academic-calendar-payment-periods-and-disbursements