Rethinking Class Scheduling: Process, Delivery, and Student Impact

The class schedule reflects a wide range of institutional decisions. Faculty availability, delivery modality, classroom space, and institutional policy all influence when and how courses appear on the schedule. At its best, the schedule aligns with student needs and helps them maintain momentum toward completion.

To better understand the creation and impact of the course schedule, AACRAO surveyed 340 institutions to benchmark undergraduate class scheduling practices. The study examines how institutions create the schedule, how delivery decisions are made, and how data and technology support the process. The findings provide insight into current practices and identify areas where institutions can make scheduling more student centered.

How the Class Schedule Takes Shape

Institutions coordinate across multiple offices and priorities when building the class schedule. To oversee the process of creating the class schedule, 43% of institutions use a hybrid governance model that combines centralized oversight with departmental participation. Another 40% rely on centralized scheduling, while 17% operate under decentralized models led by academic units.

Despite the complexity of the task, scheduling teams are often small. 45% of institutions report dedicating between one and four full-time equivalent staff members to manage the class scheduling process.

Several inputs shape how the schedule ultimately takes form. Faculty availability and faculty preference rank among the most common influences, and many institutions also use the previous year’s schedule as a starting point when planning the next academic term. These widely used inputs tend to reflect convenience and faculty considerations rather than direct indicators of student need.

What Determines Class Time, Location, and Delivery

Once institutions determine how the class schedule will be built, they must decide when, where, and how courses will be delivered. Most institutions follow similar scheduling patterns across the academic week. All surveyed institutions schedule classes on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, while 99% offer classes on Mondays and 95% on Fridays.

Weekend scheduling is far less common since only 29% schedule undergraduate classes on Saturdays and 9% on Sundays. As far as timing goes, most classes occur during the middle of the academic day, as 76% report that classes most often begin between 10:11 a.m. and 1:59 p.m. This concentration during mid-day “prime hours” limits flexibility, restricts efficiency space utilization, and may not align with the scheduling needs of all student populations.

Institutions also offer a wide range of delivery modalities. In-person lectures remain universal, offered by 100% of institutions in the AACRAO study, while 96% offer in-person labs and 91% offer practicum or internship experiences. At the same time, online and hybrid formats have become common across undergraduate instruction. 79% offer asynchronous online lectures and 70% offer synchronous online lectures, reflecting how institutions have expanded modality options in recent years. This expanded set of modalities creates opportunities to support different student needs.

Why Class Scheduling Practices Matter for Students

The way institutions build and release the class schedule can have a direct impact on a student's academic experience. However, relatively few institutions describe their practices as student centered. Only 27% of respondents agree or strongly agree that their institution engages in student-centered class scheduling.

Timing and stability of the schedule also affect how students navigate courses. Nearly half of institutions surveyed release the class schedule less than one academic term in advance, which limits students’ ability to plan around work, caregiving, and other commitments.

Even after the schedule becomes public, changes remain common. 27% of institutions estimate that more than a fifth of classes experience changes to the meeting day, time, modality, or location after publication. These changes can leave students scrambling to adjust schedules or find alternative courses that may not even meet their degree requirements so they can maintain a full course-load.

Among institutions that analyze scheduling data, many report insights about how scheduling practices influence student success. Some institutions identify course availability as a factor in student retention, while others find that scheduling conflicts prevent students from enrolling in needed courses. These findings reinforce the importance of aligning scheduling practices with student pathways.

Aligning Class Scheduling Practices With Student Needs

The research highlights opportunities for institutions to refine their approach to class scheduling. Many schedules rely on faculty availability and historical patterns, but these inputs do not fully reflect student demand or course access needs. Institutions that analyze scheduling data often identify conflicts, unmet demand for key courses, and differences in student success across delivery formats. Using these insights to inform scheduling decisions can help institutions better align course availability with student need.