Language of Higher Education

Adjunct:

The official label for a part-time instructor, e.g. Prof. Smith is an adjunct.
The only way this really impacts your class is potentially how available your professor is for in-person meetings. A full-time professor has an office on campus and is required to have office hours, so it's easier to drop in on them. With an adjunct professor, you'll need to be sure to make arrangements to meet -- be sure to read the syllabus for their contact info and to see if they've set up a drop-in time at the cafeteria or something!

Advisor

College employee dedicated to helping you select the right courses in the right order so that you can reach your goals on time.

Associate's degree

Refers to a degree you earn with 2 years of college, completing that stage of the degree requirements in the process.
Abbreviated as AA or AS for Associate of Arts or Associate of Science, respectively.

Course Catalog

Big master list of all the courses with their descriptions and prerequisites, as well as descriptions of degree plans and areas of study.
When you start at a college, take note of the Catalog that's in effect: this will govern what your degree plan needs to be, even if changes are made later on by the college. Archived copies of previous years are kept online for this purpose.

Credit Hours

The official amount of time a class takes up per week. Most for-credit classes are 3 hours: you will be in class for 3 hours each week, and successfully completing the course puts you 3 hours closer to the 60 hours you need for an Associate's degree.

Declare (a major)

To go on the record your major (and focus of your degree plan) will be ___. It's not uncommon to change your major at some point.

Degree Plan

Your roadmap of what classes you need, in which order, to get your degree. The advisors are your friends: keep checking with them that you're on the right track (otherwise you may take unnecessary classes that cost you extra time and money).

Diploma

Issued by the college to signify that you have successfully completed all the requirements of your degree program.
Not actually given out at the commencement ceremony (i.e. graduation): you'll receive this in the mail later, after the school has finished confirming your final grades and courses for the degree requirements.

Drop (a class)

To un-enroll from a class, for whatever reason. You can freely drop a class before Official Day; after that, you'll get a W.

Elective

A course that doesn't count to your major, nor does it necessarily count towards another requirement (like when you need an art and a social science class). Your degree plan will typically have some room for electives built in to it so you can enjoy some one-off classes that interest you.

Financial Aid

Programs to help you fund your education, including scholarships, grants, and work-study programs.

GPA (Grade Point Average)

You'll have a GPA calculated for each semester as well as a cumulative GPA for all your classes across all semesters. Your final grade for each class is assigned points (A = 4, B = 3, and so on), multiplied against the credit hours for each course, then divided out by your total credit hours.

Grant

A financial award, usually from the state or federal government. Unlike a loan, grant money does not need to be repaid!

Major

The focus of your degree plan, the thing you want to get a degree (associate's, bachelor's, etc) in.
In your first two years of college, you'll be taking a wider variety of courses. In your third and fourth years (working toward a bachelor's degree), you'll take more classes directly related to your major itself. To successfully complete a major requires taking a certain number of credit hours in that subject in qualifying courses.

Minor

A smaller area of focus than your major. To successfully minor in a subject, you'll need to complete a certain number of credit hours (much fewer than a major) in that subject in qualifying courses.
Minors are often closely related to majors, simply because it's easier to "double-dip" on your classes (e.g. maybe a biology major gets a chemistry minor because they already had to take 2 chemistry classes and therefore were halfway to a minor anyway, making it easier to add on just 2 more chemistry classes). That's not a requirement, however! (Minors often aren't required themselves, either.)

Office Hours

Time that professors reserve in their weekly schedule to be in their offices, ready for students to drop in. Ask questions about the class, get help with a topic you're struggling with (see also: tutoring), ask about campus happenings, and so on.
If a professor is in your major, you may ask for their advice about your future classes and other plans.

Official Day/Date

i.e. Official Day of Record. This is the day that enrollments in a class are 'set in stone' for the semester. Before this date, you can drop a class and it won't be part of your record; after this date, you must withdraw, which is recorded on your transcript.
This date (and the cut-off date for withdrawing from the course) will be in your syllabus.

Prerequisite (pre-req)

Criteria to be able to take a particular class. For instance, you can't take ENGL 1302 until you've passed ENGL 1301. Some specialized or advanced courses may have very particular criteria, including instructor approval.

Scholarship

A financial award to help you pay for school. Usually has conditions attached, like you have to maintain at least a 3.0 GPA to keep receiving it. Can be ongoing or one-time. Scholarships are available through the school as well as other entities, like businesses.

Unlike a loan, scholarship money does not need to be repaid!

Section (or Section Number)

The section number is just a unique label for your one specific instance of a class. There are lots of EDUC 1300 classes, but in a given semester, only one of those will be section #6001.

Altogether, a course and section will be written like: EDUC 1300

Syllabus

The blueprint and contract for your class. Your professor will lay out their expectations and policies for things like attendance, late work and due dates, and how to contact them with questions.

Yes, some parts are standard and you'll see them verbatim from class to class: those are no less important to be familiar with. Always read the syllabus. Read it again before asking a question about how the class works: it's probably covered in there and you'll get an answer faster.

Transcript

Official record from the school showing your dates of enrollment, which classes you took, and what the outcomes were (grade or withdrawn or dropped), as well as your cumulative GPA.

"Official" transcripts are sent directly from the school to whichever other school (or whoever) needs a copy: it can't pass through your hands and still be official. These often cost money.
"Unofficial transcripts," however, are free and can be downloaded. Sometimes an unofficial transcript will suffice for your purpose, and it wills how you all the important things that are documented.

Transfer

To start at one school but continue/finish at another. You want as many of courses to transfer with you so that you don't have to retake anything (nor do you want to start over from scratch). Talk to the advisors at your destination college (not your current college) about what will transfer.

Tutoring

Extra instruction for course material, typically optional (but recommended if you're struggling!). On-campus tutoring is free to current students. You might visit once for that one topic that wasn't clicking, or you might make the tutoring center your new second home!

Withdraw (from a class)

This will show as a W on your transcript. This does not impact your GPA. There is a cut-off for withdrawals: check your course syllabus for the specific date (and the date for Official Day).

In the state of Texas, you only get to have 6 Ws on your transcript for the entirety of your higher education experience, so use them sparingly.

 

Lone Star College, Research Guides. Terms to Know: The Language of Higher Ed, Apr 16, 2021. https://upresearch.lonestar.edu/educ1300/college101