TAMUCC's 2026-27 calendar, read for clinical hours
TAMUCC's graduate nursing courses follow the full 16-week term: Fall 2026 opens August 24 and closes December 10, and Spring 2027 opens January 19 and closes May 11. Your clinical hours have to fit inside one of those terms, and the stretch that actually counts is shorter than the dates suggest. Here is the calendar with that stretch marked out.
Plan next term's placement
Share your course, your term and where you live.
The two long terms of 2026-27
TAMUCC's 2026-2027 academic calendar gives the dates below for the full 16-week terms that graduate nursing courses use. The registrar marks the calendar as subject to change, with holidays pending approval by the Texas A&M University System Board of Regents, so check the live PDF before you lock anything in.
| Date | Fall 2026 | Spring 2027 |
|---|---|---|
| First day of term | Mon, Aug 24 | Tue, Jan 19 |
| Last day to add | Aug 31 | Jan 26 |
| Census day | Sep 9 | Feb 3 |
| Last day to drop | Nov 6 | Apr 9 |
| Last day to withdraw | Dec 1 | Apr 30 |
| Last class day | Wed, Dec 2 | Mon, May 3 |
| Term ends | Thu, Dec 10 (finals Dec 4 to 5 and 7 to 10) | Tue, May 11 |
Spring break falls on March 8 to 12, 2027, and fall grades are due December 15. For a clinical course, the date to circle is the last class day, not the end of the term.
7-week sessions, summer and graduate nursing
Each long semester also carries two 7-week sessions. In fall they run August 24 to October 12 and October 13 to December 2; in spring, January 19 to March 15 and March 16 to May 3. The web calendar marks the online mini-terms for Online MBA and MAcc students only, and no 8-week format appears anywhere on it.
Graduate nursing sits on the full term. DNP syllabi describe courses delivered in 15 weeks, FNP hours are spread through the semester, and the Educator and Leadership practicums close their hours before the semester's final week. No graduate nursing course was found running on a 7-week clock.
Summer 2027 offers a Maymester (May 17 to 28), two 5-week terms (June 1 to July 2 and July 5 to August 6) and two 7-week online terms (May 17 to July 2 and July 5 to August 20). Whether any graduate nursing clinical course runs in summer is not published, so plan clinical courses around fall and spring unless your Degree Planner shows otherwise.
How many weeks you really have
Count from the first day to the last class day and Fall 2026 gives you just over 14 weeks; Spring 2027 gives just under 15, with spring break inside it. Whether your site and clinical faculty treat spring break as a clinical week is a question for your syllabus. Then subtract the weeks before your first countable hour: TAMUCC's FNP guide says hours logged before an active agreement and a completed preceptor packet do not count, and you begin only after your clinical faculty member clears you.
The table turns that into weekly loads. It is arithmetic from the published hour totals, not a TAMUCC schedule, and it assumes steady weekday hours.
| Course hours | Over 14 weeks | Over 12 weeks | Over 10 weeks |
|---|---|---|---|
90 (NURS 5624) | 6.4 | 7.5 | 9 |
135 (NURS 5644, NURS 5645, NURS 5459, NURS 5469) | 9.6 | 11.3 | 13.5 |
270 (NURS 5746) | 19.3 | 22.5 | 27 |
Two lost weeks add nearly two hours a week to a 135-hour course and more than three to NURS 5746. That is why the day your paperwork clears matters as much as the day the term opens. Clinical faculty and clearance covers that sign-off.
Dates inside the term that touch clinicals
- October 1: the yearly flu shot is due in CastleBranch under the FNP guide's compliance list, and an expired item stops clinical attendance until it is updated. See immunizations and the drug screen.
- Drop deadline (Nov 6 in fall, Apr 9 in spring): the graduate catalog gives a W for official drops through the end of week 10 of a long semester, and no drops are allowed after that date.
- Withdrawal (Dec 1 in fall, Apr 30 in spring): leaving the university entirely means filing the Withdrawal Form by the day before the last class day, and a withdrawal can be rescinded within 2 business days.
- Last class day (Dec 2 in fall, May 3 in spring): FNP hours must be finished by this date, while the Educator and Leadership practicums close before the semester's final week.
- Spring break (Mar 8 to 12, 2027): confirm with your clinical faculty whether site hours continue that week.
- DNP Day: DNP students attend it during fall semesters; the handbook does not state the location.
Working backward from the first day
The calendar tells you when a term starts; TAMUCC's FNP process tells you how early to move. Take Spring 2027, which opens January 19, and count back.
- Three months out: settle the siteIf your site has no active TAMUCC agreement, the FNP guide asks you to allow up to 3 months for signatures, and longer at big systems. For a January 19 start, that points to mid-October 2026 at the latest. See affiliation agreements.
- Before the term: refresh complianceCastleBranch items are updated every semester, and anything that lapses mid-term halts clinical attendance until it is fixed.
- Start of term: the preceptor packetEvery preceptor signs a fresh Preceptor Agreement Packet in DocuSign each semester. It reaches the preceptor after 1 to 2 business days, and the signed copy is uploaded to Canvas.
- First week: clearance and scheduleYour clinical faculty member clears you to begin, and your schedule has to fit mostly weekday daytime hours (the FNP guide says generally Monday through Friday, 8 am until 5 pm) as well as their own calendar.
Every week this chain slips comes straight out of the weekly-load table above, so the earlier links deserve the most attention.
When the term runs out before the hours
Hours stay inside the semester. TAMUCC's FNP guide says minimum hours cannot roll over, that extensions beyond the final class day are reserved for extreme cases such as hospitalization, and that a missing preceptor does not qualify. Incompletes follow the graduate catalog's rules; rollover and extensions walks through both.
The calendar then compounds the problem. Because the MSN handbook runs each course once per calendar year, a clinical course that slips can wait a full year for its next run, and re-entry after a skipped term depends on space. The DNP handbook also expects continuous enrollment, with a 3-credit minimum in each long semester.
Why TAMUCC students plan the term with us
Timing is where specialists in TAMUCC's clinical process make the biggest difference. We start from your term's first day and your course's hour total, then work backward so the preceptor, the site's agreement status and the packet details are ready before week one instead of during it.
We look for Texas preceptors near where you live who can offer steady weekday blocks through the last class day, and we prepare what TAMUCC's paperwork needs so your clinical faculty can clear you promptly. If a preceptor drops mid-term, we restart the search at once, while there are still weeks left to use. If your term is already close, need a preceptor fast lays out the quickest route, and the form below reaches us directly.
Questions TAMUCC students ask
When does Spring 2027 start and end at TAMUCC?
The 16-week Spring 2027 term runs January 19 to May 11, with spring break March 8 to 12 and the last class day on May 3. The two 7-week sessions split the term at March 15 and 16. The registrar marks the calendar as subject to change, so recheck it before planning clinical weeks.
Do TAMUCC graduate nursing courses use 7-week sessions?
Not in anything TAMUCC publishes. The 2026-27 calendar has 7-week sessions each semester, and its online mini-terms are marked for Online MBA and MAcc students. Graduate nursing syllabi describe full-semester courses, with DNP courses delivered in 15 weeks and practicum hours spread across the term.
Can I take FNP clinical courses in the summer at TAMUCC?
Summer runs of graduate nursing clinical courses are not published, and the public syllabi found so far come from fall and spring terms. Your Degree Planner holds your sequence. The first clinical course guide covers how the FNP sequence runs from NURS 5624 onward.
Can I finish clinical hours during finals week?
Not under TAMUCC's published rules for its clinical courses. FNP hours must wrap up by the final class day: Dec 2 for Fall 2026, May 3 for Spring 2027. The Educator and Leadership practicums close even earlier, before the semester's final week.
When should I start looking for a preceptor for next term?
Work back from the first day of the term. If the site needs a new TAMUCC affiliation agreement, the FNP guide asks for up to three months, and large systems often run longer. For Spring 2027, that means having the site settled by mid-October 2026, with the preceptor confirmed well before.
Related pages
Last checked 2026-09-26
We check these pages against TAMUCC's catalog, FNP clinical guides, MSN and DNP handbooks and college pages. Your course, your clinical faculty member and the handbook for your cohort have the final word.
TAMUCC makes the preceptor search yours. Let us run it for you in Texas.
Tell us your TAMUCC program, your next clinical course and where in Texas you can drive. We find preceptors who fit the course and gather what the affiliation agreement and the Preceptor Agreement Packet need, early enough for both to clear.
- Preceptors matched to the course: pediatrics for
NURS 5644, women's health forNURS 5645, broad primary care forNURS 5746 - CV, license, board certification and the site's agreement status ready for TAMUCC's paperwork
- In Corpus Christi, the Valley, San Antonio, Houston, Austin, Dallas-Fort Worth and across Texas
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