The UCCS academic calendar, read for clinical hours
UCCS runs a 16-week fall, a 16-week spring and an 8-week summer, each split into an A and a B session. In 2026-27 that means Fall 2026 from August 24 to December 19, Spring 2027 from January 19 to May 15 and Summer 2027 from June 14 to August 7, and graduate NP hours count only inside a semester in which you are registered for the course.
Get your placement plan
Tell us your UCCS program and where you live. A placement advisor replies with the preceptor and site options that fit your UCCS course.
Three semesters, each cut in half
The 2026-27 catalog describes the year plainly: "UCCS operates a year-round instructional program consisting of a 16-week fall semester, a 16-week spring semester, and an 8-week summer session." The registrar then divides each semester into a first half (Session A) and a second half (Session B), and adds a pre-term block of short courses before each one.
For clinical planning, the full semester is the unit that matters for most graduate courses, while the sessions matter for anything taught in 8-week blocks, such as the online RN to BSN. In summer the whole semester is only 8 weeks, so its two sessions are 4 weeks each.
One caution on sources: a seven-year calendar PDF on the college site carries a March 2023 update date, and the RN to MSN page still links to an older catalog. The registrar's course-deadline pages for each term carry the current dates, and the table below uses them.
2026-27 dates at a glance
Between the main semesters sit two stretches: December 20 to January 18, and May 16 to June 13. For graduate NP students those weeks are off limits for clinical hours, however willing a preceptor may be.
| Term | Full semester | Session A | Session B | Break | Pre-term |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fall 2026 | Aug 24 to Dec 19 (16 weeks) | Aug 24 to Oct 20 | Oct 21 to Dec 19 | Fall break Nov 23-29 | 2 weeks from Aug 10 |
| Spring 2027 | Jan 19 to May 15 (16 weeks) | Jan 19 to Mar 15 | Mar 16 to May 15 | Spring break Mar 22-28 | Dec 21 to Jan 17 |
| Summer 2027 | Jun 14 to Aug 7 (8 weeks) | Jun 14 to Jul 11 | Jul 12 to Aug 7 | None listed | May 17 to Jun 13 (4 weeks) |
The rule that ties hours to the calendar
Both 08/2026 practicum handbooks tie clinical hours to active registration: you log them only while enrolled in the course during a fall, spring or summer semester. The same handbooks rule out the days before a semester opens and the gaps between terms, on liability and Workers' Compensation grounds.
Three calendar details are worth checking before you book shifts. The pre-term weeks the registrar lists come before the semester itself, so confirm with the Graduate Clinical Practicum Coordinator before counting on them. The handbooks say nothing specific about the fall and spring break weeks, so ask before scheduling hours there too. And a rotation that runs short at the end of a term moves into the incomplete process rather than into the break; the semester rules page covers how that works.
A preceptor's open week in late December or early June looks like a gift, but hours done between UCCS semesters will not count.
What a week looks like in 16 weeks versus 8
UCCS publishes no weekly hour targets and lists no summer schedule for graduate clinical courses. Simple division still shows how much the semester length changes a preceptor's commitment. The figures below are arithmetic from UCCS's course hours, not a UCCS schedule, and they ignore breaks and holidays.
| Course hours | Example | Across 16 weeks | Across 8 weeks |
|---|---|---|---|
| 45 | NURS 6730 Health Assessment | About 3 | About 6 |
| 110 | A primary care rotation, Fall 2026 starts and later | About 7 | About 14 |
| 165 | A PMHNP population rotation, Fall 2026 starts and later | About 10 | About 21 |
| 440 | NURS 6980 Synthesis, Fall 2026 starts and later | About 27.5 | About 55 |
A preceptor who can offer one clinic day a week may carry a 110-hour course in a full semester but not in the summer. Build that into the conversation before the site sheet goes in. Full hour tables by program are on the clinical hours page.
Paperwork runs on the calendar too
The semester dates set the finish line; the paperwork sets how early you have to start. The practicum handbooks ask students to begin the preceptor search a good 3 to 6 months ahead of the practicum course, and to get the Clinical Site Sheet in before the semester that precedes it when they can. Legal review of a new Affiliation Agreement runs 6 to 8 weeks, longer when problems surface, and hours wait for UCCS's "good to go" email.
Counted back from a Spring 2027 start on January 19, that 3-to-6-month window runs from mid-July to mid-October 2026. Compliance items go into Medatrax by the due date UCCS publishes each semester. The lead time page turns all of this into a working timeline, and the Clinical Site Sheet page explains the form itself.
Other programs on the same calendar
- RN to BSN: nursing courses run in 8-week blocks.
NURS 4450has its own checklist dates (Oct 1 for spring entry, Mar 1 for summer entry, May 1 for fall entry); see the NURS 4450 page. - Graduate admission: the MSN, certificate and post-master's DNP pages ask for complete applications by January 5 (spring), May 5 (summer) or August 5 (fall).
- DNP project: the proposal is defended in week 14 of a spring semester, on its Friday, and the finished project in week 13 of a later spring, also a Friday, as the DNP experience hours page explains.
- Accelerated BSN: summer start only, with pre-term courses from May, then Fall, Spring and a second Summer.
- Traditional BSN: clinical cohorts begin in fall or spring. The Fall 2026 pre-term hosted two clinical electives,
NURS 3990andNURS 2990, as two-week intensives (August 10-21).
How we plan your search around the calendar
We start from the semester your course runs in and work backward. Your placement advisor maps the preceptor's clinic days against UCCS's exact semester dates, checks that the total fits inside the term with room for a missed week, and flags any break or pre-term shift that needs a question to UCCS first.
Then we time the paperwork. The preceptor's details, the site's details and the exact hours reach you ready for the Clinical Site Sheet well before the semester ahead, which gives the Affiliation Agreement its full lead time. If a preceptor leaves mid-semester, we start on a replacement at once, aiming to finish inside the same term. If your start date is already close, the fast placement page explains how we handle a short runway; otherwise, tell us your course and semester with the form below.
Questions UCCS students ask
When does the Fall 2026 semester end at UCCS?
The full semester ends on December 19, 2026, which is also the last day of Session B. Spring 2027 does not begin until January 19, and graduate clinical hours cannot be done in the weeks between. If your fall rotation will not reach its total by December 19, raise it early with lead faculty and the Graduate Clinical Practicum Coordinator, since an incomplete comes with conditions.
Can UCCS nursing students do clinical hours over winter break?
Graduate NP students cannot. Both practicum handbooks bar hours in the gaps between terms and before a term opens, and every counted hour needs a live registration in the course. In 2026-27 the gap runs from December 20 to January 18. A preceptor's quiet holiday weeks are better spent confirming the spring schedule than logging hours.
What are Session A and Session B at UCCS?
They are the first and second halves of each semester. In fall and spring each session is 8 weeks, so an 8-week course, such as those in the RN to BSN, runs in one of them. In the 8-week summer, the two sessions are 4 weeks each. Your course schedule shows which dates apply to each course you take.
Do UCCS graduate NP clinical courses run in summer?
Graduate students can start in spring, summer or fall, and the handbooks allow clinical hours in any of the three semesters while you are registered. Since UCCS lists no summer schedule for its clinical courses, check your own degree plan. If a rotation does land in summer, the 8-week term roughly doubles the weekly hours a preceptor must host.
When are UCCS graduate nursing application deadlines?
The MSN, Post-Graduate NP Certificate and post-master's DNP pages set complete-application dates of January 5, May 5 and August 5 for the spring, summer and fall intakes, and admission is rolling. The RN to MSN bridge follows its own schedule. NURS 6730, the first course with clinical hours, needs only graduate nursing status, so the first preceptor search can begin soon after admission.
Related pages
Last checked 2026-09-25
We check these pages against UCCS's catalog, practicum handbooks and college pages. Your degree plan, the handbook for your cohort and the Graduate Clinical Practicum Coordinator have the final word.
UCCS asks you to find your clinical hours where you live. Let us run that search.
Tell us your UCCS track, your next clinical course and where you live. We find preceptors who fit the course and prepare the details your Clinical Site Sheet needs, early enough for the agreement to be signed before the semester.
- Preceptors matched to the course: pediatrics for
NURS 6900, acute and chronic care forNURS 6915andNURS 6925, psychiatric prescribers forNURS 6801toNURS 6803 - Credentials, license, certification and the site's signer ready for the Clinical Site Sheet
- In Colorado Springs, along the Front Range, or in any of UCCS's approved states
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