Hi Frank, welcome to Just Answer and thanks for your question!



I was delighted to do a bit of research for you on this question and found some information I think you'll find helpful. What I did was get a cross-section of the largest (by 2010 enrollment stats) major US universities, private and public, located in all four corners of the country. What I found was the majority of Universities begin on August 22, 2011. Most of these schools were in the south. Many of the more northern schools start a bit later with dates ranging from 8/29 to 9/6. September 6 was the latest start date I found for any school. Here is the breakdown if you're interested, listed by date:



University of Florida: 8/22

University of Southern California: 8/22

Penn. State Univ.: 8/22

Univ. of Central FL: 8/22

Univ. of South FL: 8/22

Univ. of TX: 8/24

Texas A&M Univ.: 8/29

XXXXX XXXXX Univ.:8/29

Michigan State Univ.: 8/31

Ohio State University: 9/5

University of Minnesota: 9/6

New York Univ.: 9/6

Boston Univ.: 9/6


High schools are a bit more challenging since they don't often follow a trend relating to region or really anything else for that matter. Most school districts do their own thing. That said, high schools start sooner than colleges and you'll find most have begun classes by Monday, August 15 (some will have started the week before). So to answer your question more directly, from my research, 50% of colleges and most high schools will have started class by 8/22/11 and 90% of colleges will have started class by 9/6/11.



I do hope this information is helpful and I wish you the best of luck on your app! Have a Merry Christmas!