One more day.Wednesday marks the beginning of the Thanksgiving holidays, and after nearly three months without vacation, University students are receiving reprieve, something psychology professors say some might desperately need.Hurricane Gustav ravaged the Gulf Coast and the University’s schedule Sept. 1. With school canceled from Sept. 2 to Sept. 7, the University canceled fall break, which was scheduled for Oct. 9 and 10.Clayton Cook, psychology professor, said stress traditionally becomes more prevalent in students during the final stretch of the semester — something he said could be worsened by the lack of a fall holiday.”We look at a number of mental health problems undergraduate students have,” Cook said. “They increase as we get closer to finals. That’s a function of the stress that’s induced by the final exam. You can imagine someone who is stressed at that point and has no break.”Robert Doolos, University Registrar, said the fall holiday that traditionally sandwiched between Labor Day and Thanksgiving was implemented in the fall semester of 1995. “The request for a fall break originated out of the students,” Doolos said. “[A] committee made a recommendation to the administration, and it was approved to begin fall break.”Miranda O’Brien, anthropology junior, said the absence of a fall holiday has not affected her grades — she’s just had to work abnormally hard to keep them up.”[Fall break] is only two days,” O’Brien said. “But it’s still two days when you don’t get any work piled onto you, and you get to prepare for the next leg of the semester.”For O’Brien, fall 2008 will be remembered for exhaustion and last-minute assignments.”Just having to go through two months without any reprieve was hard,” she said. “Very overwhelming … I’m just so tired. There was no time to catch up on anything.”George Noell, psychology professor, said the nearly break-less semester will affect each student differently. “It’s going to depend on the individual and how full their schedule was beforehand,” Noelle said. “For some people, it probably is actually going to be better because they’ll stay in a routine. They’ll do better.”Derek Hendry, pre-pharmacy freshman, said this semester’s schedule hasn’t affected his schoolwork or attitude.”Most of my teachers canceled class on fall break anyway,” he said. “I am going to have to study for finals through Thanksgiving.”—-Contact Lindsey Meaux at [email protected]