8-Week Classes
We’ve changed the format of most of our academic classes to last around 2 months, or 8 weeks in length, and offering more of them through out the year.
On This Page
What are 8-week terms?
A term is the period of time we offer classes during a given time of the year.
We have typically offered traditional Fall and Spring terms that lasted around 4 month, or 16 weeks each. But now, most of our classes to last around 2 months, or 8 weeks, in length, and offering more of them throughout the year.
Example Schedule
With 8-Week classes, students will spend the same number of hours in the classroom in half the time of a traditional 16-Week class.
| Example Full-Time Schedule | |
|---|---|
| Example 16-Week Schedule | Example 8-Week Schedule |
| 16-Week Term Class 1: August-December Class 2: August-December Class 3: August-December Class 4: August-December |
8-Week Term 1 Class 1: August-October Class 2: August-October 8-Week Term 2
|
| 4 classes completed | 4 classes completed |
What are the benefits?
There are a variety of benefits, but the ones we care most about are the ones for our students. Some benefits are:
- Shorter wait times to start classes
- Ability to focus on fewer subjects at a time
- Build stronger relationships with instructors & classmates
- Complete degree requirements faster
- Maintain affordable price
- Build a schedule around your life
Who does this affect?
Not everyone will make the transition to 8-week classes. Most of our academic classes will be, but the few that WILL NOT be taking 8-week classes are:
- Workforce programs (skilled trades like welding, cosmetology, culinary arts, auto mechanics, etc.)
- Nursing
- Organic Chemistry
- Physics
- Certain Art classes
- Certain Music classes
How does this affect me?
If you’re taking the academic classes switching to the new 8-week terms, your classes will be formatted a little differently than they were before.
- You’ll take two classes at a time instead of four.
- Most classes will be hybrid, so you’ll have online assignments to go along with what you’re doing in the classroom.
- The speed you move through the content will be faster, but don’t worry, it’s in only two classes, so your workload will be about the same.
Enrollment FAQs
The amount of time you sit in each class for a single period will remain the same, but you will meet more frequently to finish your material in 2 months instead of 4 months. If you start a class in August, you’ll finish it in October. If you start a class in January, you’ll finish it in March.
You’ll take two classes at a time per 8-week term instead of four to be considered a full-time student.
Most 8-week classes are hybrid courses, meaning you may have more assignments online to do in addition to your in-person meetings to cover the same amount of content you would in a longer term.
CONTACT: Office of Enrollment Services // 903-823-3012
- Shorter wait time to start classes
- Focus on fewer subjects at a time
- Build stronger relationships with instructors & classmates
- Complete degree requirements faster
- Engaging pace
- Maintain affordable price
CONTACT: Office of Enrollment Services // 903-823-3012
Not everyone will make the transition to 8-week classes. Most of our academic classes will be, but the few that WILL NOT BE taking 8-week classes are:
- Workforce
- Nursing
- Organic Chemistry
- Physics
- Certain Art Classes
- Certain Music Classes
CONTACT: Office of Enrollment Services // 903-823-3012
In the Fall 2023 semester.
It depends. 8-week courses will meet more frequently or have additional online assignments to complete with the shorter length of the courses.
CONTACT: Office of Enrollment Services // 903-823-3012
To be considered a full-time student, you should take 2 classes each 8-weeks, meaning you’ll complete 4 classes total for the full 16-week semester. Students interested in taking additional courses should discuss it with their academic advisor.
CONTACT: Office of Enrollment Services // 903-823-3012
Yes, and the way they work will not change. They will still be two-week classes taking place in January and May, and they will still be “bundled together” with the credit hours from their adjoining semesters in terms of billing and financial aid. January Mini is still treated as part of the Spring semester, and May Mini is still treated as part of the Summer semester. If you wanted to take 15 hours per semester but felt nervous about signing up for 9 hours in an 8-week, these classes might be a good option to get those extra three hours.
For classes completed in the first 8-week term of each semester, YES, you will receive your grades in the middle of the 16-week semester.
CONTACT: Office of Enrollment Services // 903-823-3012
Yes, but we strongly encourage students sign up for both 8-week terms at the beginning of the semester to maximize time and earn the same amount of credits as the 16-week semester.
However, if a student feels unsure about registering for both 8-week terms, they can just register for one. Be sure to check with the Financial Aid office to see if it will impact your aid.
CONTACT: Office of Enrollment Services // 903-823-3012
Financial Aid / Business Office FAQs
What’s the Same
Payment for the full 16-week semester will be due up front or with a payment plan. Financial Aid eligibility will be based on all classes registered for the 16-week semester. Students will only receive financial aid one time per semester (not each 8-week term).
What’s Different
You’ll receive Financial Aid & Refunds for both of the 8-week terms up front. However, if you don’t start or complete the second term, you owe the money back to TC.
CONTACT: Office of Financial Aid // 903-823-3267
No. The estimated refund times will still remain the same:
- Fall Semester Refunds: disbursed September-October
- Spring Semester Refunds: disbursed February-March
Student loans will still be issued in two payments.
CONTACT: Office of Financial Aid // 903-823-3267
Students who register for both 8-week terms up front will receive their Pell Grant funds for both terms up front. This means a student will receive funds for the second term BEFORE they begin the second term. If a student doesn’t start or drops before a certain point in the second term, they will owe the funds issued for the second term back to Texarkana College.
CONTACT: Office of Financial Aid // 903-823-3267
Yes! We will be treating your preregistration for second 8-week classes as a firm financial and academic commitment from you that you fully intend to take those classes and will credit your financial aid to you for them in advance.
However, this commitment is a serious one that has consequences if you don’t follow up responsibly! Because the early refund is an advance on classes you have not officially started, if you don’t actually begin attendance in those second 8-week classes for any reason, your financial aid will be recalculated and reduced retroactively, leaving you with a debt to Texarkana College that must be repaid in full before you can register for future classes or access your official transcript or diploma.
CONTACT: Office of Financial Aid // 903-823-3267
If you are not able to begin a second 8-week class class after being paid financial aid for it for any reason (failing a first 8-week class needed to progress, life circumstances require you to withdraw, the class not “making” due to low enrollment, etc.), you will owe the financial aid paid for that class back to the college. If you are able to swap the class for another one required to graduate with the same number of credit hours, you will not owe a balance. Please consult with your academic advisor for assistance with finding a replacement class, and with the Financial Aid Office for questions about how a mid-semester schedule change may affect your financial aid.
CONTACT: Office of Financial Aid // 903-823-3267
You can retake it, but you will not be able to receive financial aid for the same class more than once per semester. You will need to plan on paying out of pocket for the retake unless you’re willing to wait to try again in the next full semester.
At the time of refund, you will only receive payment for classes for which you are registered at that time. If you later add additional classes (ex. in early October or early March), you will be billed for them separately and will need to make payment arrangements by the payment deadline. In that situation, financial aid like the Pell Grant may be increased if you are not already enrolled in 12 hours or more (full-time status) at the point of refund. If you are already full-time, no additional financial aid can be added unless you want to take out a student loan and are eligible. Because late registration creates many complicated “it depends” situations, we recommend signing up for both 8 weeks in advance to simplify the finances if you plan to attend both 8-week terms.
We strongly recommend students purchase all books and materials for both 8-week terms at the beginning of the semester, because no additional financial aid will be applied at the start of the second term. All financial aid will be disbursed at the beginning of the semester.
CONTACT: Office of Financial Aid // 903-823-3267
If you receive a scholarship that simply pays a flat dollar amount, the only thing you need to be careful of is maintaining any sort of minimum enrollment level that your particular scholarship requires. If you have an Honors College scholarship that pays your tuition and fees exactly, please contact the Financial Aid Office to let us know about any changes to your class schedule so we can adjust your scholarship to the correct value.
CONTACT: Office of Financial Aid // 903-823-3267
Yes, two things about 8-week classes are very relevant to VA education benefit recipients.
The first one applies to all VA educational benefits, and it is to keep in mind that the VA thinks in terms of date ranges, not semesters. Unlike financial aid like the Pell Grant, the VA will not total up your hours to pay you an average. If you take 12 hours a semester, but do it by taking 9 hours in the first 8 weeks and only 3 hours in the second 8 weeks, the VA will pay you at the full-time rate for the first eight weeks but only at half-time or ¾ time for the second 8 weeks. To maintain full-time enrollment for VA benefits, you need to take 6 hours in each 8-week term.
The second thing is specific to students using the Post-9/11 GI Bill©. For that benefit, the VA pays you at a lower housing rate (half the national average) if you are enrolled only in online classes during any time period. This means that if you enroll in 6 hours of in-seat classes in Fall I and 6 hours of online-only classes in Fall II, the VA will pay you the full BAH amount for the first 8 weeks but the lowered “online-only” rate for the second 8 weeks. Keep in mind, taking even a single in-seat class will prevent you from receiving the lowered rate. The VA considers any class “in-seat” if it requires you to occasionally come to campus (i.e. traditional and hybrid classes). They consider it “online” if your presence on-campus is not required at all or is completely optional (i.e. web and “flex” classes).
Note that the Hazlewood Exemption is not a federal benefit, and the shift to 8-week classes will not affect it at all.
CONTACT: Office of Financial Aid // 903-823-3267
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