Glossary
College Terms Explained
Plain-English answers to the words you meet in college, from credit hours to dean's list, with regional differences noted.
A
- What Are Alumni?
- What Is A/B Testing?
- What Is AP Credit?
- What Is APR (Annual Percentage Rate)?
- What Is Academic Dismissal?
- What Is Academic Regalia (Cap and Gown)?
- What Is Academic Standing?
- What Is Academic Suspension?
- What Is an AI Hallucination?
- What Is an Academic Calendar?
- What Is an Academic Year?
- What Is an Acceptance Rate?
- What Is an Adjunct Professor?
- What Is an Apostille?
- What Is an Articulation Agreement?
- What Is an Assistantship?
- What Is the Add/Drop Period?
B
C
- What Are CATS Points?
- What Are Cookies on a Website?
- What Is CPM (Cost Per Mille)?
- What Is Click-Through Rate (CTR)?
- What Is Commencement?
- What Is Compound Interest?
- What Is Conversion Rate?
- What Is Convocation?
- What Is Credit Utilization?
- What Is Credit/No Credit (Pass/Fail)?
- What Is Curricular Practical Training (CPT)?
- What Is a CAS (Confirmation of Acceptance for Studies)?
- What Is a CEGEP?
- What Is a Call to Action (CTA)?
- What Is a Chancellor?
- What Is a Citation Style?
- What Is a Class Waitlist?
- What Is a Cohort?
- What Is a Collegiate University?
- What Is a Commuter Student?
- What Is a Concentration?
- What Is a Contextual Offer?
- What Is a Core Curriculum?
- What Is a Corequisite?
- What Is a Cosigner?
- What Is a Course Load?
- What Is a Course Withdrawal (W Grade)?
- What Is a Credential Evaluation?
- What Is a Credit Hour?
- What Is a Cross-Listed Course?
- What Is the Common Data Set?
D
- What Are Dining Dollars?
- What Is Deferred Enrollment?
- What Is Demonstrated Interest?
- What Is Dependency Status for Financial Aid?
- What Is Direct Deposit?
- What Is Dual Enrollment?
- What Is a DOI?
- What Is a Dean at a College?
- What Is a Degree Audit?
- What Is a Designated Learning Institution (DLI)?
- What Is a Designated School Official (DSO)?
- What Is a Diploma Supplement?
- What Is a Dissertation Defense?
- What Is a Dorm (Residence Hall)?
- What Is the Difference Between Correlation and Causation?
- What Is the Difference Between Gross and Net Pay?
- What Is the Difference Between Impressions and Reach?
E
F
G
H
I
L
- What Are A Levels?
- What Are Learning Outcomes?
- What Is Legacy Admissions?
- What Is Loan Forgiveness?
- What Is a Lab Section?
- What Is a Land-Grant University?
- What Is a Landing Page?
- What Is a Large Language Model?
- What Is a Learning Management System (LMS)?
- What Is a Lecture?
- What Is a Letter of Acceptance?
- What Is a Living Cost Allowance?
- What Is a Loan Servicer?
M
- What Are Mandatory Fees?
- What Are Mitigating Circumstances?
- What Are Moderation and Second Marking?
- What Is Matriculation?
- What Is Minimum Wage?
- What Is a Major?
- What Is a Marketing Funnel?
- What Is a Matriculation Exam?
- What Is a Mature Applicant?
- What Is a Meal Swipe?
- What Is a Midterm?
- What Is a Minor?
- What Is a Module?
N
P
- What Are Predicted Grades?
- What Is Peer Review?
- What Is Postgraduate Study?
- What Is a Pathway Program?
- What Is a Personal Tutor?
- What Is a Placement Year?
- What Is a Polytechnic?
- What Is a Postdoc?
- What Is a Practicum?
- What Is a Preprint?
- What Is a Prerequisite?
- What Is a Primary Source?
- What Is a Probation Period at Work?
- What Is a Provost?
R
- What Is Reading Week?
- What Is Regular Decision?
- What Is Residency for Tuition Purposes?
- What Is Restrictive Early Action?
- What Is a Recitation Section?
- What Is a Registrar?
- What Is a Registration Hold?
- What Is a Repayment Threshold?
- What Is a Research Assistant (RA)?
- What Is a Resident Assistant (RA)?
- What Is a Roth IRA?
S
- What Is SEVIS?
- What Is Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP)?
- What Is Service Learning?
- What Is Single Sign-On (SSO)?
- What Is Sponsored Content?
- What Is Statistical Significance?
- What Is Sticker Price?
- What Is Superscoring?
- What Is a Sabbatical?
- What Is a Scholarly Journal?
- What Is a Secondary Source?
- What Is a Semester?
- What Is a Seminar?
- What Is a Social Media Algorithm?
- What Is a Stipend?
- What Is a Student Brand Ambassador?
- What Is a Summer Session?