Before entering freshman year, new students often arrange their travel plans for Thanksgiving break in advance, opting to return home on the last Wednesday of classes before the holiday. This makes sense, given the university’s academic calendar and the scheduled recess, which starts after classes on Wednesday, Nov. 25.

In practice, however, new students and the occasional bemused upperclassman find themselves shortchanged; due to lacking upperclassman attendance, classes for that Wednesday are often canceled. This often spontaneous canceling of classes is unfair to students and should be dealt with accordingly.

Toward the middle of November, many professors ask some version of the same question: “How many of you are actually going to be here for the class before Thanksgiving break?” Usually, the majority of the hands that are raised belong to freshmen or transfer students who hadn’t experienced this Georgetown tradition the year before. Depending on the number of students who plan to attend class and, of course, on the professor, the class in question might be canceled (a welcome change, of course), but often with only a few weeks’ notice or less.

For students who don’t live within driving distance of campus, this can restrict their ability to make the most of the break. A misunderstanding of how long a student’s break will be makes concrete travel plans inefficient at best.

The larger burden lies on those students who wait until their professor delivers the verdict on the class schedule to book their holiday travel plans. No student should be forced to spend money on delayed bookings for this reason.

ost academic departments don’t have a set policy for class scheduling leading up to Thanksgiving break. In many cases it falls on the professor of an individual class to decide whether or not there will be enough students to teach the course that day. All professors should therefore confirm with their students what the final day of classes will be before Thanksgiving break as early as possible – preferably at the beginning of the year, if not by the end of September.

Thanksgiving is one of the most expensive – not to mention stressful – times to travel, and students are already starting to buy airline or train tickets. By setting the scheduling expectations for students now, professors can ensure that all students, not just those who are taking the calculated risk that class will be canceled, can make the most of their break.

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