The week between Thanksgiving break and finals may be good for Christmas parties and classroom goodbyes, but for many students, it is a burden to come back to campus before going right back home for winter break. 

Professors should consider offering a virtual option for the classes after Thanksgiving break, particularly for out-of-state students. 

Anna Keiderling, a radio-television-film freshman from Iowa, said she decided it would make the most sense to stay home after Thanksgiving break and complete the last week of school online.

“It’s more cost effective for me just to stay home through winter break than to come back for a week and pay for flights all over again,” Keiderling said.

For out-of-state students like Keiderling, coming back to campus for the week of classes and finals is one more round trip there and back, creating a financial burden on their families. 

Besides costing students money, switching environments so frequently within such a short period of time is mentally disrupting. 

“You have that little awkward one week break for you to relax and not think about school,” Keiderling said. “And then having to come back and go full student mode, preparing for finals and stuff, … I think it’s difficult to readjust.”

The University allows each professor to design their course and teach their class as they see fit. If professors want to offer an online option during the final week of classes, they have the power to do so. 

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Frederick Aldama, an English and radio-television-film professor and known as “Professor Latinx,” said that a virtual last week of school is a good option for both professors and students to have.

“A lot of it is a final review of content that we’ve already gone into in a serious way,” Aldama said. “So there’s a little bit of fresh content, but a lot of it, at least in my experience, is a review of stuff we’ve already covered.”

The University has proved in the past that classes have the potential to move online. The University successfully relied on that infrastructure during the COVID-19 pandemic, and professors and students are already accustomed to virtual learning. 

If professors plan their curriculum strategically, then that last week of school should be the easiest to teach online. Professors can offer finals that are designed as projects, essays or proctored exams. This would eliminate the need for students to return to campus for the time before winter break.

While some classes like performing arts and labs sometimes require students to be in person, professors could be intentional about planning those assignments to be completed earlier in the semester, before Thanksgiving break.

Keiderling said that since she had a mix of online and in person classes this semester, she had to work with her professors to be excused for the week and do as much work ahead of time as possible. 

“Out-of-state students have to go the extra mile, no pun intended, but quite literally we have to go the extra mile with planning ahead for break,” Keiderling said.

Professors should consider offering their students the option to complete the last week of the fall semester online, keeping in mind the financial burden of traveling back and forth from school.

“I think it’s gonna really be in the best interest of students,” Aldama said. “It’s up to (professors), … but I think it can be really a significant opening of a possibility.”

Garderet is a Plan II and urban studies sophomore from Dallas, Texas.