This story has been updated.
The University of Texas at San Antonio will delay the start of its fall semester to Monday, Aug. 24, as officials respond to a cybersecurity breach that was identified over the weekend.
Classes for the 2026 fall semester were previously scheduled to start on Aug. 19.
“We are making this decision to ensure the university systems, technology and services our students, faculty and staff rely upon are operating optimally as we begin the semester,” states an update sent to the UT San Antonio community by President Taylor Eighmy on Tuesday.
“Starting classes on Monday gives our teams the necessary time to restore services carefully and position our university community for a strong start,” the message continued.
UT San Antonio, students, faculty and staff started the week with little to no access to university accounts and systems after a potential cybersecurity breach was caught over the weekend.
As of Tuesday morning, the process of resetting passwords had been delayed, officials announced.
“University operations will continue as scheduled, with faculty and staff maintaining normal work schedules to ensure our students have access to the services and support they need,” Tuesday’s update states.
University officials alerted students, faculty and staff of “unauthorized activity”over the weekend that targeted the university’s technology systems. This prompted university officials to cut access to some online services as an ongoing investigation identifies any ongoing threats.
“The activity was detected at the edge of our network, before it reached core systems and University Technology Solutions (UTS), working with expert partners, took immediate action to contain it and protect the campus’ entire technology environment,” states a notice issued on Monday by Andrea Marks, senior executive vice president of enterprise operations and strategy and Michael Schnabel, chief technology officer.
In their statement, Marks and Schnabel said the actions taken were deemed effective and their ongoing investigation has not found evidence of a data breach.
The proximity to the first day of school and payment deadlines prompted concerns from students and their families who tried to access their accounts over the weekend to make payments, change classes or simply access their class syllabus.
On Monday afternoon, officials stated payment deadlines were extended until Friday, Aug. 21, at 5 p.m., waitlists were being restored, and registration would remain open for the fall 2026 semester.
“We understand how important access to these services is as you prepare for the fall semester,” an update posted at 12:30 p.m. on Monday said. “These adjustments are intended to give you additional time and flexibility while university technology services are restored.”
Phone systems were also down Monday and were expected to be restored later that day.
The investigation is ongoing and the university will take additional steps to protect its accounts and systems, officials said.
Students, faculty and staff are expected to receive notices and instructions to reset their university account passwords, known university-wide as “passphrases.”
“University Technology Solutions continues to address the technology issue affecting some university systems and services,” an update sent Monday said. “Please wait until you receive that communication before beginning the reset process.”
It’s still unclear who might have been behind the cyberattack.
The San Antonio Report partners with Open Campus on higher education coverage.
