Finals Week Fall 2026: Exam Dates at 12 Universities, Dec. 3-22

Fall 2026 final exams run from Dec. 3 at the University of Georgia (UGA) to Dec. 22 at Rutgers-New Brunswick, according to each university’s registrar. The next section sorts 12 schools by last exam day and counts the days off before spring classes begin. A printable planner covers five of them.

College finals dates fall 2026 by school

Days off are counted from the day after the last exam to the day before spring classes begin, on calendar days, so weekends and holidays are included. The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) runs on quarters, so its date is the first day of winter quarter. Michigan calls its spring semester the winter term. The University of Florida (UF) and Indiana University Bloomington (IU) show a dash because their spring start was not available: UF’s registrar page read gives no confirmed spring date, and the IU calendar page read does not list one.

School	Last class day	Finals window	Spring classes begin	Days off
University of Georgia	Tue., Dec. 1	Dec. 3-9	Mon., Jan. 11	32
UCLA (quarters)	Fri., Dec. 4	Dec. 7-11 (common finals Dec. 5-6)	Mon., Jan. 4	23
University of Florida	Not listed	Dec. 5-11	Not confirmed	-
Arizona State University	Not listed	Dec. 7-12	Jan. 11	29
UT Austin	Dec. 7	Dec. 10-12 and 14	Jan. 11	27
Ohio State	Wed., Dec. 9	Dec. 11-17	Mon., Jan. 11	24
UW-Madison	Dec. 9	Dec. 11-17	Jan. 19	32
Penn State	Fri., Dec. 11	Dec. 14-18	Mon., Jan. 11	23
University of Michigan	Fri., Dec. 11	Dec. 14-18	Wed., Jan. 13	25
Michigan State	Sun., Dec. 13	Dec. 14-18	Tue., Jan. 19	31
Indiana University Bloomington	Sat., Dec. 12	Dec. 14-18	Not listed	-
Rutgers-New Brunswick	Thu., Dec. 10	Dec. 15-22	Tue., Jan. 19	27

Sources: the 12 registrar pages in the source list, read Nov. 9, 2026. Spring dates are in 2027.

Which schools finish first?

UGA is out first. Classes end Tuesday, Dec. 1, a reading day follows on Dec. 2 and exams run Thursday, Dec. 3 through Wednesday, Dec. 9. The UGA registrar also lists grades due at noon on Monday, Dec. 14.

UCLA and UF both finish on Dec. 11. UCLA lists common final exams on Saturday and Sunday, Dec. 5-6, ahead of its Monday-to-Friday finals. UF’s exam period runs Saturday, Dec. 5 through Friday, Dec. 11. Arizona State University (ASU) lists exams for Dec. 7-12, and UT Austin runs Dec. 10-12 and 14 after study days on Dec. 8-9.

Finals week at Penn State, Michigan, Michigan State and IU

Four campuses share the same window: Monday, Dec. 14 through Friday, Dec. 18. Penn State and Michigan both end classes Friday, Dec. 11 and list Saturday-Sunday study days on Dec. 12-13. Michigan’s registrar also lists commencement on Sunday, Dec. 20.

Michigan State’s last class day is a Sunday, Dec. 13, so students there get no weekend between the end of classes and the first exam. IU Bloomington’s last day of classes is Saturday, Dec. 12.

Why Rutgers runs latest

Rutgers-New Brunswick ends regular classes Thursday, Dec. 10, lists reading days on Friday, Dec. 11 and Monday, Dec. 14, then holds exams from Tuesday, Dec. 15 to Tuesday, Dec. 22. That is four days after the Dec. 18 finish at Penn State, Michigan, Michigan State and IU. Spring starts Tuesday, Jan. 19, 2027, so the break still counts 27 days.

Wisconsin-Madison and Ohio State both hold exams Dec. 11-17, the registrars say. Ohio State’s spring term starts Jan. 11, while UW-Madison’s instruction begins Jan. 19, which is why the two schools’ breaks differ by eight days.

How long is winter break after finals?

Georgia and UW-Madison have the longest break in the table at 32 days. Michigan State follows at 31 and ASU at 29. Penn State and UCLA have the shortest at 23.

Counting the break this way gives a different picture from the exam date alone. UCLA’s exams end a week before Penn State’s, yet both come out at 23 days because UCLA’s winter quarter starts Jan. 4. For K-12 comparisons, see the winter break dates by school district. For first-day dates at 24 universities, see the spring semester 2027 start dates. The December 2026 printable calendar and the January 2027 printable calendar show the weeks in between.

When are fall 2026 grades due?

Four registrars list a grade deadline. The calendar pages read for the other eight schools, Ohio State’s included, list none.

School	Grades due	Days after last exam
University of Georgia	Mon., Dec. 14, noon	5
UW-Madison	Sun., Dec. 20, 11:59 p.m.	3
Michigan State	Tue., Dec. 22, 4 p.m.	4
Indiana University Bloomington	Tue., Dec. 22, 8 p.m.	4

Sources: UGA, UW-Madison, Michigan State and IU registrars, read Nov. 9, 2026. The last column counts calendar days from each school’s last exam day to the deadline.

Printable finals-to-spring planner {#planner}

The landscape sheet lists the last class day, exam window and spring start for Georgia, UCLA, Ohio State, Penn State and Rutgers, with a countdown to Jan. 19, 2027, the Rutgers start, and a Done box on each row. Bring your own exam times: the registrars list windows, not course-by-course slots.