(Image: Seattle University)
(Image: Seattle University)
Next fall as school begins again on Capitol Hill, there will be a fascinating experiment as the calendar shifts for thousands of students who make the areas around Pike/Pine and Broadway their home, study hall, place of employment, shopping district, and nightlife playground.
Starting in 2027, Seattle University will transition its academic terms from the quarter system to a semester schedule.
Semester systems span about 15 weeks compared to a 10 week quarter, meaning students will start earlier in the fall of 2027 and let out in late spring rather than early summer, impacting leases, local businesses that connect with SU students, and, primarily, its student body.
Kevin Kryca, director of Academic Calendar Conversion at the private Jesuit university, believes the change will keep business as usual for both the school and the neighborhood, albeit on a slightly different timeline.
“I think that SU moving to semesters will have a positive impact in the sense that students will be engaging in the community for longer periods of time,” said Kryca. “They’ll be here earlier in the year, they’ll just see a different rhythm in the community.”
Morgan Frost, part of Seattle University’s Project Delivery and Change Management team, echoed this sentiment.
“We really want to make it not just about being in the classroom but also in the community,” said Frost. “Some partner organizations can’t work with us because the quarter system is too short.”
The concept of switching to a semester system has been proposed internally before, but after Seattle University merged with Cornish College of the Arts in 2025, the switch has become more timely.
Cornish already adheres to the semester system, and as Seattle University tries to align this new South Lake Union campus with its 12th Ave home, getting both schools onto the same academic schedule will allow a more complete integration. Seattle University’s law school also already adheres to the semester system, meaning the largest change will be for current Seattle U undergraduate, master’s and PhD students transitioning in the midst of their program.
Seattle University has a new leader for the transition. The school announced mathematician Maura Mast, a former dean at Fordham College, is taking over as president following the departure of Eduardo Peñalver for Georgetown.
(Image: Seattle University)
A 2024 economic impact report commissioned by Independent Colleges of Washington examined both the direct and induced economic impacts Seattle University had on the region throughout its academic year. Dr. Mark Gius, economic professor at Quinnipiac University, headed the study and confirmed that the dataset examined included Cornish College data ahead of its official merge into the Seattle University academic umbrella.
Gius believes the overall economic impact of Seattle University’s shift from a quarter to a semester impact will be negligible, and discussed the larger impact a lowered birth rate 18 years on from the 2008 financial crisis will have on universities across the country.
“Everyone’s chasing a declining number of students,” remarked Gius. “Some colleges are weathering the storm better than others.”
This demographic cliff is something many universities are already feeling — including Seattle University. Kryca acknowledged that as one of the drivers for this upcoming transition and believes that switching to semesters allows SU to better position itself in both the national and international marketplace.
On Capitol Hill, the rhythm of the school year for college-aged students includes the patterns of Broadway’s Seattle Central and nearby University of Washington.
UW’s 50,000+ Seattle-area students attend class on a quarter system that runs from late September to mid-June.
Broadway’s Seattle Central College also operates on a quarter system dividing the academic year into four terms: fall, winter, spring, and summer. Fall quarter classes begin in late September and the spring quarter finishes in late June. Seattle Central enrolls around 5,400 students across its undergraduate, transfer, and vocational programs.
Alison Scott, senior membership development manager of the GSBA chamber of commerce group, says the largest impact this change will have is on the SU students themselves.
“I think for students, emotionally, mentally there will be a bit of a transition,” said Scott. “Everyone loves students and student business is incredibly important, but it’s probably down the list a bit.”
Seattle University has expanded both its staff and advising team for this transition, increasing its current direct economic impact as well as creating more opportunity for current students to seek guidance on any questions they have on the transition.
Many SU programs have published sample semester plans and example syllabi for students, allowing anyone currently enrolled to examine for themselves what their credit transition will look like before it takes place.
This year, classes are scheduled to begin at Seattle U starting on Wednesday, September 23rd.
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