Academics · January 9, 2026
Record Number of Students Enroll in the Three-Week Winter Term
Nearly 1,400 students took a January course, most of them online, many to stay on track for an on-time graduation.
Winter Term enrollment reached a record of about 1,400 students this January, roughly a fifth of the undergraduate body. The three-week session between fall and spring offers a single intensive course, mostly online, plus a small number of faculty-led travel courses.
Advisors say the growth is mostly strategic: students use the term to retake a course, clear a stubborn prerequisite, or knock out a general-education requirement so a future semester is lighter. A four-year-plan tool added last year flags which requirements a student could pull into January.
“It is not for everyone — a semester of work in three weeks is genuinely hard. But for a student who is one course behind, it can be the difference between graduating in May and graduating in December.”
— director of academic advising
The university added sections in high-demand subjects this year and is studying whether to offer a small residential Winter Term option for students who cannot study effectively at home.
Contact: Office of University Communications, news@uwporterfalls.edu
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