Cornell Holiday Calendar 2026-2027: Academic Breaks & Staff Holidays

Cornell Holiday Calendar 2026-2027 includes benefits-eligible regular and temporary Cornell staff with 15 paid holidays per year: 13 fixed holidays (Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Memorial Day, Juneteenth, Independence Day, Labor Day, two Thanksgiving days, and six Winter Break days) plus 2 floating holidays.

Cornell University’s 2026-2027 calendar runs from Monday, August 24, 2026 (Fall instruction begins) through Saturday, May 22, 2027 (Spring term ends), and includes separate academic-break and staff-holiday schedules plus distinct calendars for Weill Cornell, Cornell Tech, Law, and Johnson.

These are two different calendars serving two different audiences. The Cornell academic calendar, maintained by the Office of the University Registrar (245 Day Hall, Ithaca, NY 14853), governs instruction dates, exam periods, and student breaks.

The staff holiday calendar, governed by Cornell HR Policy 6.9 (Time Off and Leaves), governs paid time off for regular full- and part-time, non-academic employees.

The two overlap on federal holidays such as Labor Day and Memorial Day but diverge sharply around winter break, when the student break runs roughly five weeks, and the staff break runs six paid working days.

This guide covers both calendars for the 2026-2027 cycle, plus the separate schedules published by Weill Cornell Medicine, Cornell Tech, Cornell Law School, and the Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management.

Cornell Holiday Calendar 2026-2027 At a Glance

The table below consolidates the highest-demand dates from both the academic calendar and the staff holiday calendar into a single reference.

Cornell Fall Break 2026

Cornell’s Fall Break 2026 runs Saturday, October 10, through Tuesday, October 13, 2026 — four consecutive no-class days positioned roughly seven weeks into the semester.

The break overlaps the federally observed Columbus Day / Indigenous Peoples’ Day (Monday, October 12, 2026), which is one reason searchers frequently ask whether Cornell observes that holiday separately: it does not appear as an independent no-class day or a separate paid staff holiday, because it falls inside the existing Fall Break window.

Fall Break’s October placement, distinct from many peer institutions that hold a shorter “reading days” break instead, traces to a calendar-committee redesign aimed at giving students a mid-semester recovery period; the break sits between the end of 7-week 1 session instruction (Friday, October 9, 2026) and the start of 7-week 2 session instruction (Wednesday, October 14, 2026).

Cornell Thanksgiving Break 2026 and 2027

Thanksgiving Break 2026

Cornell’s academic Thanksgiving Break for students runs Wednesday, November 25, through Sunday, November 29, 2026 — a five-day no-class window.

The paid staff holiday inside that window is shorter: Cornell HR observes Thanksgiving as two paid days, Thursday, November 26, and Friday, November 27, 2026. Non-academic staff who are not scheduled to work Wednesday, November 25, or the weekend do not receive additional paid time for those days; only Thursday and Friday count as the official staff holiday.

Thanksgiving Break 2027

For calendar year 2027, Cornell HR’s published staff holiday schedule lists Thanksgiving as Thursday, November 25, with the paid holiday observed Thursday, November 25, through Friday, November 26, 2027.

As of this writing, the Registrar had not yet published the full Fall 2027 academic no-class calendar (that term belongs to the 2027-2028 academic year, one cycle beyond the current 2026-2027 published calendar), so the multi-day academic break window comparable to 2026’s five-day span is not yet confirmed; only the staff-holiday dates above are currently official.

Cornell Winter Break 2026-2027: Students vs. Staff

Cornell’s “winter break” refers to two different windows depending on whether the searcher means the student academic break or the staff paid holiday, and they differ by roughly a month.

Academic Winter Break (Students)

The academic winter break for students spans Saturday, December 19, 2026 (last day of the Fall 2026 term) through Sunday, January 24, 2027, the day before Spring 2027 instruction begins Monday, January 25, 2027.

That is 37 calendar days, or approximately five weeks and two days. Students enrolled in Winter Session attend an optional three-week accelerated term (January 4–23, 2027) that overlaps most of this window but does not shorten it, since Winter Session is elective rather than mandatory.

Staff Winter Break (Employees)

The paid Staff Winter Break for regular full- and part-time, non-academic employees runs Friday, December 25, 2026, through Friday, January 1, 2027 — six paid working days, not the full nine-day calendar span.

The count works as follows: Friday, December 25, 2026 (Christmas Day holiday); Monday through Thursday, December 28–31, 2026 (additional paid office-closure days); and Friday, January 1, 2027 (New Year’s Day holiday).

Saturday and Sunday, December 26–27, fall on the weekend and are not counted as separate paid holiday days, which is why HR labels the block “6 working days” rather than the 8 calendar days it spans.

This staff window is roughly one month shorter than the student academic break.

Cornell February Break 2027

Cornell’s February Break 2027 runs Saturday, February 13, through Tuesday, February 16, 2027 — a four-day mid-spring recess.

It falls between the end of the 7-week 1 add/drop period (February 8, 2027) and the last day to add classes in the project-session-full session (February 26, 2027).

Cornell University February Break is not a paid staff holiday; university offices remain open on these dates for non-academic employees.

Cornell Spring Break 2027

Cornell’s Spring Break 2027 runs Saturday, March 27, through Sunday, April 4, 2027 — nine calendar days, with classes resuming Monday, April 5, 2027.

International students planning travel during this window should account for standard visa re-entry processing time, since a nine-day span leaves a narrower margin for delayed flights or expedited document renewals compared with the five-week winter break.

Cornell University Spring Break falls between the 7-week 1 final exam period (March 17–24, 2027) and the last day to change grading basis in the 7-week 2 session (April 14, 2027).

Cornell Staff Holidays 2026 and 2027

Cornell’s staff holiday schedule applies to regular full- and part-time, non-academic staff members and is governed by Policy 6.9 (Time Off and Leaves) and the associated Time Off and Leaves Program and Procedures.

Cornell Staff Holidays 2026

Cornell Staff Holidays 2027

Independence Day and Juneteenth each shift observance to the nearest weekday when the actual date falls on a weekend: in 2026, July 4 (Saturday) is observed Friday, July 3; in 2027, June 19 (Saturday) is observed Friday, June 18, and July 4 (Sunday) is observed Monday, July 5. This rolling-observance rule accounts for four of the seven date shifts visible between the two years above.

How Cornell Staff Holiday Pay Works (Policy 6.9)

Staff holiday pay eligibility and calculation rules are set out in full in Policy 6.9 (Time Off and Leaves) and the Time Off and Leaves Program and Procedures maintained by Cornell HR, rather than restated here.

In general, the holiday schedule applies to regular full- and part-time, non-academic staff; temporary and casual employees are subject to separate eligibility rules under the same policy framework.

Employees should confirm their specific eligibility, prorating, and pay-code details directly through Cornell HR or their Workday profile rather than relying on this summary for payroll decisions.

Cornell Floating Holidays 2026-2027 Explained

Since January 2025, Cornell has provided two additional paid floating holidays per year for benefits-eligible regular and temporary staff, bringing the total paid holiday allotment to 15 days annually — the 13 fixed staff holidays listed above (MLK Day, Memorial Day, Juneteenth, Independence Day, Labor Day, two Thanksgiving days, and six Winter Break days) plus 2 floating days.

Floating holidays are not tied to a specific calendar date; eligible staff select and request them individually through Workday, subject to supervisor approval and departmental staffing needs.

New hires and part-time employees typically receive a prorated number of floating-holiday hours based on FTE percentage and hire date within the calendar year; exact prorating formulas are not standardized into a single public table and should be confirmed against Policy 6.9 or with HR directly for individual cases.

Cornell Sub-Campus Calendars: Weill Cornell, Cornell Tech, Law, and Johnson

Four Cornell divisions maintain academic calendars that differ from the main Ithaca undergraduate calendar covered above.

Weill Cornell Medicine Holiday Calendar 2026-2027

Weill Cornell Medicine, based at 1300 York Avenue in New York City, runs on its own academic calendar distinct from Ithaca’s.

For the Health Sciences for Physician Assistants program’s 2026-2027 calendar, Fall 2026 instruction begins Monday, August 24, 2026; Labor Day falls Monday, September 7, 2026; Fall Recess runs Monday, September 21, through Sunday, September 27, 2026 (a full week, unlike Ithaca’s four-day October Fall Break); Thanksgiving Recess runs Thursday, November 26, through Friday, November 27, 2026; instruction ends Sunday, December 20, 2026; and Winter Recess spans Monday, December 21, 2026, through Sunday, January 3, 2027.

Spring 2027 instruction begins Monday, January 4, 2027; Martin Luther King Jr. Day is observed Monday, January 18, 2027; Presidents’ Day is observed Monday, February 15, 2027 — a holiday not observed on Ithaca’s undergraduate calendar; instruction ends Sunday, April 25, 2027; the term ends Sunday, May 16, 2027; and Commencement is Thursday, May 20, 2027.

These dates represent one Weill Cornell program (Physician Assistant studies); the Medical College, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, and Population Health Sciences programs each publish separate calendars through the Weill Cornell Office of the Registrar.

Staff and visitors searching for “NYP Cornell holidays” should note that NewYork-Presbyterian is a separately governed hospital system affiliated with Weill Cornell for clinical care and teaching; NYP’s own employee holiday schedule is not identical to Weill Cornell’s academic calendar and should be confirmed through NYP HR directly.

Cornell Tech Academic Calendar 2026-2027

Cornell Tech, located on Roosevelt Island in New York City, does not maintain an independent holiday calendar for its class start/end dates. Cornell Tech follows the main Ithaca campus’s academic calendar for class start and end dates, university deadlines, the final exam period, and holidays.

Every date in the Fall 2026 and Spring 2027 sections above — the August 24, 2026, term start, the December 19, 2026, fall term end, and the May 22, 2027, spring term end — applies directly to Cornell Tech students and staff.

The Cornell Tech MBA program, delivered jointly with the Johnson Graduate School of Management, follows a separate summer-launch calendar published independently by Johnson.

Cornell Law School Calendar 2026-2027

Cornell Law School maintains its own academic calendar, separate from both Ithaca’s undergraduate schedule and its own prior-year cycle. The Law School’s 2026-27 academic calendar lists key blocks on August 19–21, 2026, and October 12–16, 2026.

The October window runs one day longer than, and is shifted from, the main campus’s October 10–13, 2026, Fall Break, illustrating why Law students and staff cannot rely on the university-wide Fall Break dates for their own scheduling.

Full day-level detail — orientation, add/drop, reading period, and final exam dates — is maintained directly on the Cornell Law School Community site rather than reproduced here in full, since the Law School updates specific session labels independently of the university Registrar.

Cornell Johnson (SC Johnson College of Business) Academic Calendar

The Johnson Graduate School of Management’s two-year residential MBA program in Ithaca runs on a cohort-based term structure distinct from undergraduate semesters, while the one-year Cornell Tech MBA (New York City) follows its own summer-launch calendar.

Johnson’s 2026-2027 admissions cycle, distinct from its academic term calendar, runs on three rounds: Round 1 applications are due September 17, 2026, with decisions released between October 27 and December 9, 2026; Round 2 applications are due January 5, 2027, with decisions released between March 3 and March 26, 2027; and Round 3 applications are due April 6, 2027, with decisions released between May 7 and May 21, 2027.

These are application deadlines, not class or break dates; residential session dates, orientation weekends, and course calendars for enrolled Johnson students are published separately by the school and vary by program track (Two-Year MBA, One-Year MBA, Executive MBA).

Religious and Cultural Observances at Cornell 2026-2027

Cornell maintains a separate annual religious holiday calendar, published by the Office of Spirituality and Meaning-Making (osmm@cornell.edu), that is distinct from the academic no-class calendar covered above.

Observance of most Jewish and Muslim holidays begins at sundown the evening before the listed date, and Islamic dates are calculated by lunar sighting, so published dates are approximations that can shift by a day.

Reasonable accommodation for religious observance is not automatically a fully excused absence — the accommodation depends on the length of the observance and the academic requirements of the specific course — and students are encouraged to request accommodation through Cornell University’s Religious Observance Accommodations process at least two weeks before the observance.

A representative, non-exhaustive selection of major 2026-2027 observances that fall within the academic year:

This table covers thirteen of the dozens of observances Cornell tracks annually; the full calendar, including Pagan, Baha’i, Sikh, Zoroastrian, and Buddhist observances not listed above, is maintained on Cornell’s religious holidays calendar page and is subscribable as a calendar feed.

How Cornell’s Winter Break Compares to Other Ivy League Schools

Cornell’s winter break is on the longer end of the Ivy League range, driven by its optional three-week Winter Session, though exact peer-institution dates vary by school and are subject to change.

Yale, Columbia, Princeton, Brown, and Dartmouth typically cluster in a similar four-to-five-week range between fall final exams and spring registration, though each school’s exact 2026-2027 dates should be confirmed on its own registrar site, since several had not finalized full spring-term start dates at the time of this writing.

Penn’s shorter winter break relative to Cornell’s is a recurring comparison point among students researching Ivy League schedules, largely because Cornell’s Winter Session gives Ithaca students an additional accelerated-term option that Penn’s calendar does not offer in the same window.

Cornell Holiday Calendar 2026-2027 Frequently Asked Questions