UCLA Holidays 2026-2027: Academic Breaks & Closures for Students, Staff & UCLA Health

UCLA recognizes 12 official holidays across the 2026-2027 academic year, plus one winter campus closure period with a duration still to be determined as of this writing. All dates below come from the UCLA Registrar’s Office Annual Academic Calendar 2026-27, published at registrar.ucla.edu.

UCLA operates on the quarter system, not the semester system, which means its holiday and break structure differs in length, timing, and terminology from semester schools such as USC.

This page separates every date by audience — students, staff/HR, and UCLA Health — because each group experiences UCLA’s holiday calendar differently: students get instructional breaks tied to quarter boundaries, staff get University-paid holidays plus a curtailed winter closure period, and UCLA Health maintains modified but largely uninterrupted clinical operations year-round.

UCLA Holidays 2026-2027 at a Glance

UCLA Student Holidays and Breaks 2026-2027

UCLA students receive instructional breaks that align with quarter boundaries rather than a fixed weekly schedule, which distinguishes UCLA holidays from the block breaks common at semester-system schools.

Fall Quarter Breaks: Veterans Day and Thanksgiving

Students have no classes on Veterans Day, Wednesday, November 11, 2026, and during the two-day Thanksgiving holiday, Thursday-Friday, November 26-27, 2026.

Because Thanksgiving falls in Week 9 of a 10-week quarter, it does not function as a multi-week break — instruction resumes the following Monday, with finals beginning less than two weeks later.

UCLA Winter Break 2026-2027: Dates and Duration

UCLA’s student winter break spans from the end of Fall Quarter final exams on Friday, December 11, 2026, through the day before Winter Quarter instruction begins on Monday, January 4, 2027 — roughly three and a half weeks.

This is distinct from both the shorter set of paid staff holidays and the campus-wide administrative winter closure, explained below.

Winter Break vs. Winter Closure: What Is the Difference?

Winter Break and Winter Closure are not the same period, and confusing them is one of the most common search errors around UCLA’s calendar. Winter Break is the student instructional gap between quarters, typically about 24 days long.

Winter Closure is a separate, shorter administrative curtailment during which most non-essential UCLA offices shut down, typically running 9 to 10 days and overlapping only the front portion of the student break.

In the 2025-26 academic year, for example, the administrative closure ran Wednesday, December 24, 2025, through Friday, January 2, 2026, while students were on break for weeks longer on either side, with normal campus operations for staff resuming Monday, January 5, 2026.

Can Students Stay in Campus Housing During Winter Break?

This depends on residency status and requires advance approval; it is not an automatic right for all residents. International students, out-of-state students without local family housing, and students with documented hardship circumstances can typically apply through UCLA Housing & Residential Life to remain in university housing during the break.

Students who do not submit an approved break-housing request are generally expected to vacate residence halls for the closure period. Exact application deadlines and eligibility criteria are published by UCLA Housing each fall and should be confirmed directly rather than assumed from the prior year’s policy.

UCLA Spring Break 2027

UCLA does not have a mid-quarter spring break in the way semester schools do. Instead, the gap between Winter Quarter’s end on Friday, March 19, 2027, and Spring Quarter instruction beginning Monday, March 29, 2027, functions as the spring break window — roughly 10 days, further shortened by the Farmworkers Day holiday falling on Friday, March 26, 2027, three days after the quarter officially begins.

UCLA Summer Break 2027

Summer break, between the end of Spring Quarter on Friday, June 11, 2027, and the optional Summer Session 2027 start on Monday, June 21, 2027, runs about 10 days for students not enrolling in summer coursework.

Students who do not enroll in Summer Session effectively have a break lasting until Fall Quarter 2027 resumes in late September.

UCLA Staff and HR Holiday Calendar 2026-2027

UCLA staff receive a different set of dates than students: a fixed list of University-paid holidays, plus a separate winter curtailment period that is not identical to any single “holiday.”

Paid Holidays vs. Curtailed Winter Closure Days

UCLA’s paid staff holidays for 2026-2027 are Labor Day (September 7, 2026), Veterans Day (November 11, 2026), Thanksgiving (November 26-27, 2026), Christmas (December 24-25, 2026), New Year’s (December 31, 2026-January 1, 2027), Martin Luther King Jr. Day (January 18, 2027), Presidents’ Day (February 15, 2027), Farmworkers Day (March 26, 2027), Memorial Day (May 31, 2027), Juneteenth (June 18, 2027), and Independence Day, observed Monday, July 5, 2027.

Not every day within the winter curtailment period is a paid holiday — in the 2025-26 cycle, only four of the eight curtailment days (December 24, 25, 31, and January 1) were University-paid holidays, while the remaining four (December 26, 29, 30, and January 2) required staff to use vacation time, compensatory time, or approved leave without pay.

UCLA Winter Closure 2026: Historical Duration and Projected Dates

UCLA’s Winter Campus Closure for 2026-2027 is listed as “TBD” on the Registrar’s official calendar as of this writing. Based on the two most recent cycles, the closure typically begins the day before Christmas Eve or on Christmas Eve itself and runs through the first business day of the new year, before campus fully reopens the following Monday.

Sources: UCLA Campus Human Resources winter curtailment announcements, published for the 2025-26 and 2024-25 cycles respectively.

UCLA states the annual curtailment also produces measurable operational savings: the 2025-26 winter curtailment was projected to cut campus greenhouse gas emissions by more than 1 million pounds of CO2, a figure Campus Human Resources ties directly to reduced building energy use during the closure.

UCLA Premium Pay and Holiday Pay Calendar

UCLA’s premium pay calendar — used to determine holiday-rate compensation for staff required to work on recognized holidays — largely mirrors the standard holiday list but is published separately by UCLA Financial Aid and Campus Human Resources on a fiscal-year basis rather than an academic-year basis.

This means Independence Day, Labor Day, and other summer holidays may appear under a different calendar-year date than the academic year’s Summer Session table, even though the underlying holiday is the same.

Does UCLA Have a Winter Closure for All Staff?

No. UCLA Health System operations and certain essential-service facilities remain open during the winter closure, and staff in those roles continue to work on their normal schedule, unlike administrative, business, and finance staff, whose offices close campus-wide. Facilities Management, IT service desks, and other units supporting occupied buildings also maintain reduced but active staffing throughout curtailment.

UCLA Health Holiday Calendar 2026-2027

UCLA Health’s holiday schedule does not fully mirror the academic calendar. UCLA Health System operations continue during the administrative winter closure, since hospital and clinical care cannot pause for a campus-wide curtailment period.

UCLA Health Clinics and Hospital Hours on Holidays

Inpatient hospital care at UCLA Health facilities, including Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center and UCLA Santa Monica Medical Center, operates continuously through all 12 recognized holidays and the winter closure period, consistent with standard hospital-system practice.

Outpatient clinic hours vary by department and location and typically follow a modified holiday schedule rather than a full closure; patients should confirm hours directly with their specific clinic rather than assuming university-wide closure dates apply.

Elective Procedures and Non-Urgent Care During Winter Closure

Scheduling for elective procedures during the winter closure window generally follows each department’s own reduced-capacity calendar rather than a single system-wide freeze.

This page does not provide procedure-specific scheduling guidance; patients with elective care scheduled near December 24, 2026, through early January 2027, should confirm directly with their UCLA Health provider once winter closure dates are finalized.

Is UCLA Open Today?

Is UCLA open on Veterans Day 2026? No. Veterans Day, Wednesday, November 11, 2026, is a University-paid holiday: no classes are held, and administrative offices are closed. UCLA Health clinical operations continue on a modified schedule.

UCLA Health’s “modified hours” designation is a general pattern, not a guarantee for every clinic; individual departments set their own holiday hours.

Farmworkers Day 2027 (Formerly César Chávez Day) at UCLA

Farmworkers Day is the current official name for the state and University of California holiday observed on Friday, March 26, 2027, in UCLA’s 2026-2027 calendar; it replaces the previous name, César Chávez Day.

California renamed the holiday through Assembly Bill 2156, signed by Governor Gavin Newsom in March 2026, following a New York Times investigation that reported historical sexual abuse allegations against César Chávez, including allegations from labor leader Dolores Huerta.

The University of California confirmed it adopted the renaming system-wide shortly after the state legislation passed, stating the change would not affect employees’ ability to take the day off and that the updated name would be reflected in UC’s policy on officially recognized holidays.

This naming update has not propagated evenly across every UCLA document as of this writing. UCLA’s own Central Resource Unit already used the “Farmworkers Day” name for its office-closure notice on Friday, March 27, 2026, yet the Registrar’s Annual Academic Calendar 2026-27 PDF still lists the March 26, 2027 date under the label “César Chávez holiday.”

Readers should expect both names to appear across different UCLA offices for the 2026-2027 cycle: HR and payroll communications have moved to “Farmworkers Day,” while some academic-calendar documents have not yet been updated. The date itself — Friday, March 26, 2027 — is not affected by the naming discrepancy.

This section does not cover the broader public debate over renaming buildings, parks, or schools named after César Chávez outside of UCLA; that discussion is unrelated to UCLA’s holiday calendar and is not addressed here.

UCLA Winter and Spring Break Housing and Campus Logistics

Residence Hall Closure Dates and Exceptions

UCLA residence halls generally close to general-population residents for the administrative winter closure window, not for the full student winter break.

Students without an approved break-housing exception should plan to vacate before the closure begins and are not automatically readmitted until residence halls officially reopen for Winter Quarter move-in, shortly before instruction begins Monday, January 4, 2027.

Dining Hall and ASUCLA Hours During Breaks

Dining hall service typically scales down sharply during the administrative winter closure, often consolidating to a single limited-service location rather than operating all residential dining halls.

ASUCLA-operated retail and food locations on campus follow a similarly reduced holiday schedule, with many closing entirely for the core closure days (in the 2025-26 cycle, December 24, 2025, through January 2, 2026) and resuming normal hours only once regular campus operations resume.

Housing Options for International and Out-of-State Students

International students and out-of-state students without accessible family housing are the primary group eligible for approved break housing, though eligibility and application windows are set annually by UCLA Housing & Residential Life. Check out UCLA Move-in Day 2026.

This page does not list current-year application deadlines, since Housing typically finalizes these closer to each break rather than publishing them a full academic year in advance; students should confirm directly with Housing & Residential Life rather than relying on a prior year’s deadline.

UCLA vs. USC: Comparing 2026-2027 Break Schedules

UCLA and USC are both Los Angeles research universities, but they run on different academic calendar structures, which produce materially different break lengths even in the same academic year.

UCLA uses the quarter system (three ~10-week quarters plus optional summer session); USC uses the semester system (two ~15-week semesters plus optional summer session).

UCLA students get no dedicated mid-quarter break; USC students get a full week off in mid-March. UCLA compensates with more frequent, shorter breaks between quarters, while USC concentrates its break time into one longer winter recess and one mid-semester week. Neither structure produces more total time off across the full year — the difference is distribution, not volume.

UCLA Holidays 2026-2027 — Frequently Asked Questions