College Jargon
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Academic Advising
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On-campus help for students to: select courses, plan how you will accomplish getting through your programs, obtain permission to take courses at other institutions, and make sure graduation requirements are complete.
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Academic Probation
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If your grades fall below a certain level, your campus may place you on academic probation. This means that you need to raise your GPA or face the possibility of being removed from your school for academic reasons.
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Articulation/Transcription
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Process by which transfer courses are evaluated for equivalency to WSU courses.
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Catalog year
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Courses and requirements in place at the time of a student's major declaration. These requirements expire after 3 years for associate degrees and after 6 years for bachelor degrees.
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Credit Hour
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Unit of measurement for a course regarding work required by a course. Roughly equal to the amount of time spent in a classroom per week. Most courses are worth 3 credit hours a piece.
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FAFSA
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The Free Application for Federal Student Aid. This form is required for any student who wants to be considered for federal aid of any kind.
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Developmental courses
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Courses that are considered preparatory to university level coursework. These courses are designated as ENGL 900, ENGL 955, MATH 950, MATH 990, and MATH 1010. These courses are not calculated into your overall Weber GPA.
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Elective credit
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Credits received from courses that are not required for general education, major, or minor.
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eWeber/student portal
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Students' interface with WSU online resources. You can use the portal for registration, online course access, payment of tuition and fees, access WSU email, etc.
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Major
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Your major is the main focus of your studies; it will appear on your diploma. Roughly half of all courses will be focused on a student's major.
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Minor
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Your minor is the secondary focus of your studies. Generally, fewer courses are required for a minor than for a major.
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Tuition
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The cost of your classes. Some schools charge tuition based on how many units you are taking, while others charge a base rate per semester as long as you stay within a certain range of units.
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Syllabus
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Summary outline of a course usually given in the first week of the semester.
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Student Loans
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Money your school (or a bank, or even a relative) is giving you but that you must pay back at some point. Some loans have no interest; some loans don't collect interest until you graduate; some loans have terms that are connected to your plans after graduation (loans that are forgiven over time for teachers, for example).
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Pre-requisite
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A course that is required for entrance into a course or program.
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Academic Advising
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On-campus help for students to: select courses, plan how you will accomplish getting through your programs, obtain permission to take courses at other institutions, and make sure graduation requirements are complete.
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Academic Probation
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If your grades fall below a certain level, your campus may place you on academic probation. This means that you need to raise your GPA or face the possibility of being removed from your school for academic reasons.
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Adjunct Faculty
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A professor who is usually part-time or not on campus with a long-term contract (and, consequently, not eligible for tenure).
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Alumni
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(plural) former students of a college or university.
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Articulation/Transcription
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Process by which transfer courses are evaluated for equivalency to WSU courses.
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Catalog year
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Courses and requirements in place at the time of a student's major declaration. These requirements expire after 3 years for associate degrees and after 6 years for bachelor degrees.
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Convocation
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A formal ceremony generally held twice each year to mark the completion of your time at the university. It's where degrees, diplomas and certificates are awarded to students who have completed their programs.
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Co-requisite
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Two courses that must be taken together.
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Course Cancellation
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The process of dropping a course by which the course is removed from the student's transcript. For a course to be cancelled, it must be dropped before the cancellation deadline (usually the first three weeks of the semester).
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Course withdrawal
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The process of dropping a course in which a \"W\" appears on the student's transcript. To withdraw from a course, it must be dropped before the withdrawal deadline (usually around mid-semester).
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Credit Hour
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Unit of measurement for a course regarding work required by a course. Roughly equal to the amount of time spent in a classroom per week. Most courses are worth 3 credit hours a piece.
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Dean
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A Dean is someone traditionally in charge of a major area of a university. For example, there may be a Dean of Students, a Dean of Continuing Education, and a Dean of the College of Science.
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Developmental courses
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Courses that are considered preparatory to university level coursework. These courses are designated as ENGL 900, ENGL 955, MATH 950, MATH 990, and MATH 1010. These courses are not calculated into your overall Weber GPA.
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Elective credit
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Credits received from courses that are not required for general education, major, or minor.
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eWeber/student portal
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Students' interface with WSU online resources. You can use the portal for registration, online course access, payment of tuition and fees, access WSU email, etc.
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Faculty
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The faculty, or a faculty member, is generally anyone who teaches at the college.
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FAFSA
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The Free Application for Federal Student Aid. This form is required for any student who wants to be considered for federal aid of any kind.
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Fees
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Fees can be charged for anything from seeing a doctor in the campus health center to returning your library books late. Additionally, you may see something listed as \"student fees,\" which cover some student services that the school provides and/or may be the basis for the student government budget.
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Financial Aid
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Anything related to the way you are paying for school. Loans, scholarships, grants, work study awards, and any other resource you use are all considered part of your financial aid.
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Full-time status
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Status of a student registered for 12-20 credits hours during a semester.
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Grade point average (GPA)
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A measure of academic performance corresponding to the sum of the final grade values times the number of credits for each course divided by the total number of credits attempted.
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Grants
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Similar to scholarships in that you don't need to pay them back. Grants are often awarded on the basis of financial need or in support of research and other projects.
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Hybrid courses
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accelerated courses that combine the benefits of classroom instruction with the convenience of online courses. With WSU hybrids, you complete courses twice as fast with half the time in class.
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Major
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Your major is the main focus of your studies; it will appear on your diploma. Roughly half of all courses will be focused on a student's major.
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Minor
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Your minor is the secondary focus of your studies. Generally, fewer courses are required for a minor than for a major.
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Office Hours
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Professors are usually required to hold office hours on a regular basis throughout the semester, which is when students are able to drop in or make an appointment to meet with them. Often, if you can't make it to a professor's office hours, you can work with them to schedule a different time that works for both of you.
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Part-time
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Status of a student registered for fewer than 12 credits during a session.
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Pre-requisite
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A course that is required for entrance into a course or program.
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Registration
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The process of selecting courses that will be taken the next semester.
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Residency (graduation)
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Credit hours taken at WSU. The minimum residency requirement for an associate degree is 20 credit hours. The minimum residency requirement for a bachelor degree is 30 credit hours.
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Service Learning
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Service Learning is an approach to learning (i.e., classroom learning) that is often complemented by experiential learning (i.e., volunteering, immersion programs).
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Student Loans
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Money your school (or a bank, or even a relative) is giving you but that you must pay back at some point. Some loans have no interest; some loans don't collect interest until you graduate; some loans have terms that are connected to your plans after graduation (loans that are forgiven over time for teachers, for example).
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Syllabus
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Summary outline of a course usually given in the first week of the semester.
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Teaching Assistant (TA)
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Often the same thing as a Graduate Student Instructor (GSI), a TA is often a graduate student who helps out in your classes. They made grade papers, lead seminar discussions, and sometimes teach classes.
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Transcript
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An official copy of a student's academic record. Transcripts are updated at the end of each semester.
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Tuition
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The cost of your classes. Some schools charge tuition based on how many units you are taking, while others charge a base rate per semester as long as you stay within a certain range of units.
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Work Study
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this is basically a \"job\" that you will have as part of your financial aid package. (Note, however, that you still need to go out and find a job yourself; this just provides funding for it.) Most students work on campus but some work study jobs can be set up off-campus. You are usually not allowed to make more money in your work study job than has been allocated in your financial aid package.
