Break Housing Information

• Fall Closing – Noon on December 18, 2025. All residents not registered for winter break housing must depart.
• Winter Break (including J-Term) – December 18, 2025 – January 21, 2026. 

• • • Residence Halls and Apartments will be closed for Winter Break (and J-Term) at 12:00pm on Thursday, December 18, 2025. Halls and apartments will re-open at 9:00am on Tuesday, January 20, 2026. 
    • Students can register to stay on campus during Winter Break / J-Term for certain pre-approved reasons: being an international student, a student who is a domestic student who has nowhere else to go, or a student participating in a campus sponsored program. See instructions below.
    • To be eligible for Winter Break / J-Term housing, students must have a housing contract for Fall 2025 or Spring 2026.

• The deadline to register for Winter Break and J-Term Housing is November 17th.
• Students participating in January Term (J-Term) can start returning back to campus on January 2, 2026 at 9:00 AM.
• Special requests for the following are not allowed: Getting over jetlag, non-Macalester related events, transportation arrangements or prices, and error in scheduling. While this is not an exhaustive list, Residential Life reserves the right to deny requests.

• • Operations of campus (12/18/2025 – 1/2/2026) – Café Mac will be closed from 12/18/25 – 1/1/26. Hamre Center, Leonard Center, and Campus Center will be closed from 12/24/25 – 1/1/26. These services will re-open for J-term on 1/2/26. Each student staying on campus during this time will have access to a kitchen in their residence hall, and the Open Pantry will offer food resources to those who need them. Additionally, all students have 24/7/365 access to the Press 2 counseling* and Press 3 access nurse** support, whether they stay on campus, go home, or use the winter break to travel somewhere different.

• Café Mac will reopen for J-Term on January 2, 2026.

• Spring Move-In- January 20-21, 2026. All residents with a full year or spring semester contract may return starting at 9:00am.

**These dates are estimated based on the yearly cycle of Macalester and may be tweaked once campus announces the days the college is closed. Services are extremely limited on campus during this time. Any students who live on campus will need to organize their own meals and can expect Press 2, Public Safety, and some Open Pantry hours to be the limited resources available.