This petition serves as a formal request by the Geography and Planning Student Society (GAPSS) at the University of Alberta for the Office of the Registrar to review the Fall 2026 final exam schedule.

• Late Release of the Exam Schedule: The exam schedule was not released until after the add/drop deadline for the Fall 2026 semester, meaning students had already committed financially and academically to their courses before knowing when or how those courses would end. This took away their ability to make informed decisions, including dropping courses they were only taking out of personal interest that have now become a serious and avoidable source of stress.
• Restrictions on Exam Deferrals: Changes to the university’s exam deferral procedures have limited the options available to students experiencing legitimate scheduling conflicts or unforeseen circumstances
• Unreasonable Expectations for Professors, TAs, and Other Academic Staff: Academic staff are often left out of conversations like this when they are just as negatively affected as the students. TAs and professors have families. Some of them are students themselves. Some are caregivers. Placing them in a position where they are expected to spend the days leading up to Christmas grading hundreds of exams is unjust, impractical, and directly affects the quality of grading that students ultimately receive. The unnecessary stress placed on everyone during what is already an intense time of year is a genuine mental health concern that should not need to be stated, but apparently does
• Disproportionate Impact on Out-of-Province and International Students: Scheduling examinations at the very end of the semester creates additional challenges for students who must travel outside the province or internationally. For some international students, returning home can involve upwards of 35 hours of travel. Without sufficient time between final exams and the holidays, these students may be forced to choose between their academic responsibilities and spending time with their families, on top of the significant financial and logistical barriers that already come with holiday travel.

HGEO 100 and the Ripple Effects of Poor Scheduling

HGEO 100 has 150 students enrolled this semester, and its final exam is scheduled at the very end of the exam period, right before Christmas, leaving TAs with an unreasonable grading window and limited time to provide the quality of feedback students deserve. This is distressing because HGEO 100 is one of the primary entry points into the Human Geography and Planning program. For many students, this course is what shapes their first impression of the department and whether it is somewhere they want to go. Scheduling decisions like this risk turning students away from the program before they have had a real chance to explore it. 

These scheduling decisions will have cascading consequences on how students plan future course loads, on how professors and TAs manage their time and responsibilities, and on whether students in already difficult circumstances are able to finish the semester at all. For a student on the edge of their GPA, or one dealing with a family emergency abroad, a poorly timed exam with no deferral option can be the difference between graduating on time and not.