URBANA — The University of Illinois campus senate approved minor changes to the 2012-2013 academic calendar Monday — changes that will allow final exams to be held on a Saturday and will compress the grading period for that year.

The senate, a quasi-legislative body of faculty and students, approves academic calendars several years in advance, and the 2012-2013 calendar had been set before Monday's meeting. But in order for the university to meet a federal student aid disbursement deadline, some adjustments had to be made to the 2012-2013 calendar, said Gay Miller, a UI professor who chairs the educational policy committee.

The 2012-2013 school year will begin on Monday, Aug. 27, 2012. Thanksgiving recess starts Saturday, Nov. 17, and classes resume Monday, Nov. 26; instruction for the semester ends on Wednesday, Dec. 12. Following a reading day on Dec. 13, exams are to begin on Friday, Dec. 14, and were set to end on Dec. 21, according to the previously approved calendar.

The new schedule approved Monday instead calls for exams to end on Dec. 20. The grade-submissions deadline will be pushed up to noon on Wednesday, Dec. 26, instead of the previously scheduled time of noon Dec. 28. The proposal also compresses the amount of time college administrators have to review the academic standing of certain students.

Senate Chairman Matt Wheeler called the modifications "a one-time situation" so the federal financial aid disbursement deadline could be met. If the university misses that federal financial aid deadline and students do not receive their financial aid, the effect felt will be much greater than their having to taking an exam on a Saturday, he said.

A few student senators raised concerns with the proposal because some students' religious beliefs prevent them from taking exams from sundown Friday to sundown on Saturday. Students have the right to schedule what's called a conflict exam, but "the problem is we need to inform the student body better about their rights," UI student Chaya Sandler said.

UI student senator Ryan Young, who was heading up a student-rights committee, said he and the committee were working on several projects to better inform students about their rights.

Miller said the committee will be asking for feedback from faculty, students and staff to assess how well the modifications work because the university may be faced with similar challenges again in the future.