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AA: The Associate of Arts degree. It is designed to transfer to Washington state universities and fulfill the general education portion of a bachelor’s degree.
ABE: Adult Basic Education
Academic Year: Refers to the September through June school year.
Accreditation: Certification that a school or a program meets standards set by an outside reviewing entity. Many forms of financial aid are available only to students enrolled at accredited institutions.
Accuplacer: An assessment of student skills in reading, writing, and math for placement into skill-level appropriate classes.
ACS Labs: Academic computer services labs in which students can use computers.
Add: Students can officially add a class to their schedule after initially registering for a given quarter (subject to deadlines).
Admission: Approval for a student to attend an educational institution or program. It usually follows a review of an application.
Adult High School: A program for adults 18 years and older, designed to help them complete requirements to earn a high school diploma.
Adviser: A member of the faculty or staff who assists students with scheduling and educational planning.
Articulation: A formal agreement between high schools and colleges or between community colleges and baccalaureate institutions designed to streamline the process of moving from one educational level to another.
AS: Associate of Science Degree. It is designed to transfer to Washington state universities and fulfill some of the general education requirements for science degrees, as well as the prerequisites for admission to specific majors.
Assessment: A method, such as an exam, of determining a student’s ability level, often to find his/her best placement level or starting point in a series of courses in math, English, foreign languages, or science.
Associate’s Degree: A diploma earned after successfully completing a required program of study in a community or technical college. It usually requires 90 or more credits. Some associate’s degrees enable students to transfer to baccalaureate colleges and universities; others prepare students to go right into the workforce in a professional/technical field.
ATA: The Associate of Technical Arts degree. It is a degree designed to provide career-specific job training.
Audit: Registering for a course and attending classes, with no obligation to complete homework or tests. No credit is earned.
Baccalaureate or Bachelor’s Degree: A college degree that can be earned after completion of a four-year instructional program. A baccalaureate institution, sometimes called a “four-year” college, is a college or university that is entitled to grant a baccalaureate or bachelor’s degree.
Basic Skills: A competency level, specifically in reading, writing, and math, which is required for successful college-level work.
Bb: Blackboard, the college’s online and hybrid course software program.
Bridge: A department that specializes in helping students improve their reading, writing, and critical reading skills for success in college.
Campus: The buildings and land that a college uses for instruction, student services, and related activities.
Catalog: A comprehensive resource listing college regulations, program and course descriptions, degree and graduation requirements, student services, transfer requirements, and other essential information.
CATCH: Creating Access to Careers in Healthcare, the CATCH program trains low-income adults in Snohomish County to fill critical jobs in health care.
CD Requirement: Cultural diversity requirement.
Certificate: A document granted by a college indicating that a student has successfully completed specified courses and requirements (compare to degree, which usually requires more time and coursework).
Class: (1) A specific group of students meeting for instructional purposes. (2) Often means the same as course. (3) A group of students who start at a school together and expect to complete their studies at the same time (e.g. “he’s in the class of 2007”).
Class Item #: the four-digit number associated with each class.
Class Schedule: A publication that lists detailed course and section information (days, times, room numbers) for a specific quarter. It can also mean the specific courses an individual student is taking or plans to take for a given quarter.
COC: Certificate of Completion for a short-term program.
College-level Study: Courses numbered 100 or above. It is assumed that students have already mastered certain skills and abilities and have the level of commitment needed for post-secondary schoolwork (compare to pre-college, developmental-level study).
Commencement: A ceremony at the end of an academic year when students formally receive their degrees or diplomas.
Continuous Enrollment: Classes that can be added after the tenth day of the quarter.
Counselor: A faculty member who has professional training in counseling and who assists students in student success, activities, and personal matters.
Course: Often means the same as “class” – planned sequence of instruction in a particular topic.
Credit: A unit of measure for college work. Often, one credit hour represents one hour of classroom attendance each week.
Credit Load: The total credit value of the courses for which a student is currently enrolled.
Curriculum: An established sequence of information to be learned and/or skills to be acquired in a specific course or in a complete instructional program. Or, the courses offered by a department, division, or college.
Degree: A rank conferred by a college or university and earned by a student who has successfully completed specified courses and requirements (compare to certificate).
Department: An organizational unit within the college or university, offering courses about closely related topics. For instance, the math department.
Developmental Level Study: Instruction that helps students improve their English and math abilities and prepares them for college-level study. Developmental level courses are numbered below 100.
Diploma: An official document issued by a college or university indicating that a student has earned a certain degree or certificate.
Direct Transfer Agreement (DTA): A transfer agreement that ensures that a student who completes an Associate of Arts degree (or designated direct transfer degree) at a public Washington state community college will have satisfied the lower-division general education (100 and 200 level coursework) requirements of most Washington state participating universities
Distance Learning: Instruction that is not time-or-place-specific, can include correspondence courses, televised or videotaped lectures, hybrid, and online courses.
Distribution Requirements: Course requirements included in an instructional program to make sure that the student is well-rounded and gains some perspective outside his or her specific focus or major.
Division: An organizational unit within the college or university consisting of two or more related departments.
Drop: To cancel the registration in a course after enrolling in it. Students can add and drop courses during a particular quarter, subject to deadlines. See also withdrawal.
EdCAP: Edmonds Career Access Program. A program for out-of-school youth between the ages of 16 and 21 to complete a high school diploma and begin work in a professional/technical area.
Elective: A course that is not required for a particular instructional program. Many programs require a certain number of elective credits.
Enrollment: The process of signing up and paying for courses. See also registration.
ESL: English as a Second Language. Usually refers to a developmental level instruction in English language skills for nonnative English speakers.
Faculty: The instructors or teaching staff at a school. At Edmonds CC, librarians and counselors are also faculty.
FAFSA: Free Application for Federal Student Aid. The application required for students to be considered for federal student financial aid.
Financial Aid: Money available from various sources to help students pay for college expenses. This comes in the form of loans, grants, scholarships from state or federal government, or other organizations.
Full-time Credit Load: For enrollment verification, a minimum of 12 credits in a term is considered full-time.
GED: General Education Development. A certificate representing the equivalent of a high school diploma.
General Education Requirements: Courses typically taken as part of the Associate of Arts degree to fulfill the first 90 credits of a bachelor’s degree.
GPA: Grade point average. Students can find their GPA at the bottom of their transcripts. Both the cumulative GPA (all courses) and college level (courses over 100 level) are shown.
Grade: A formal indicator of a student’s performance in a course, recorded on an official transcript.
Graduation: The formal completion of an instructional program or course of study.
Grant: A type of financial aid that does not have to be paid back after the student leaves school.
Hybrid: A class that is instructed through a combination of in-class and online methods.
I-BEST: Integrated Basic Education and Skills Training, a program that helps students improve their basic skills while at the same time gaining professional technical skills. I-BEST certificate programs include: Basic Bookkeeping, Allied Health, Materials Science, Medical Office, Parent Mentor, and Computers, Electronics and Networks.
Internship: A supervised short-term apprenticeship or temporary job in a real-world setting closely related to a student’s field of study. The student may or may not be paid but earns college credit for the work experience.
Learning Outcomes: What students are expected to know and be able to do as a result of their experience at the college and as a result of completing their general education requirements.
Learning Support Center (LSC): A center that provides free academic coaching and assistance for students to ensure success in their classes, e.g., tutoring.
Loans: A type of financial aid that must be repaid to the government agency or lending institution when the student leaves school.
LOEP: Levels of English Language Proficiency. An assessment of English language skills for non-native English language speakers.
Major: Specialization in one academic discipline or field of study.
Major Related Programs (MRP): Transfer associate degrees outlining the appropriate courses to prepare students to enter the major upon transfer to participating four-year institutions.
Math Center: A class students can take to work on a more individualized, structured manner to support math learning.
MESA: Mathematics, Engineering, Science, Achievement, a center that provides support to low-income, educationally disadvantaged students studying science and seeking to transfer to bachelor’s degree programs. The MESA center aims to increase the numbers of women and underrepresented minorities studying science.
Non-instructional Day: A day when classes do not meet but college staff work.
Office Hours: Time instructors and departments set aside to meet with students.
Online: A class that meets and requires class work via the Internet.
Open Admission: The policy of some colleges to admit nearly all applicants, regardless of high school grades and admission test scores.
Orientation: Information sessions designed to help students learn their way around the college. Orientations are offered in person and on the college website.
Placement: The appropriate level to enter a series of courses based on the student’s skills.
Placement Test: An assessment tool used to determine student skills.
Postsecondary: Educational programs for students past high school age; these include community and technical colleges, job training programs, and baccalaureate colleges and universities.
Practicum: A course that includes job-related activities and emphasizes the practical application of theory in a field of study.
Prerequisite: A course that must be completed or skills that must be demonstrated before a student may enroll in a more advanced course (e.g., math 80 must be taken before math 90).
Professional/Technical: A course or instructional program that emphasizes job training for a particular field of work, sometimes called occupational or vocational education.
Program: A very general term used in many ways in a college or university: (1) The courses that a student plans to take. (2) The courses required to complete a particular degree or certificate. (3) The courses that make up a department or the departments that make up a division. (4) Organized activities with a specific function.
Quarter: Edmonds CC organizes its academic year into three main periods: fall, winter, and spring quarters, plus a shorter summer quarter.
Records: Information the college keeps regarding a student; it includes registration activity (enrollment, withdrawal, etc.), grades, payments, awards received, financial aid applications and awards, notes on disciplinary actions, as well as address, phone numbers, and student identification number.
Refund: Tuition and fees that are paid back to a student who has withdrawn from a course, subject to deadlines.
Register/Registration: To sign up or enroll in a course or courses. Registration activity includes enrolling, adding, dropping/ withdrawing, choosing pass/fail in place of decimal grades, and making payments.
Requirement: Minimum standards defined by the college; e.g., admission, graduation, prerequisite, distribution, and general education.
Resident: For purposes of calculating a student’s tuition and fees, someone who has lived in the state for a specified length of time as demonstrated by specified types of evidence.
Scholarship: A type of financial aid grant. Organizations may give scholarships for academic achievement, financial need, or any other basis.
Section: A specific class with its own unique days, hours, location, and instructor.
Specified Elective: A choice of courses beyond what is required in the distribution requirements of the transfer degree.
SSD: Services for Students with Disabilities
Syllabus: An outline plan for a particular section of a class, including textbook requirements, class meeting dates, reading assignments, examination dates, and grading standards.
Transcript: The official copy of a student’s academic record showing courses completed, grades and credits earned, and degrees earned.
Transfer: To move from one college to another and have the second institution recognize and accept some or all of the course work earned at the first.
TRiO: A program that supports first generation college, learning disabled, and/or students on financial aid.
Tuition and Fees: Tuition is a student’s basic payment toward the cost of instruction at a college or university. Most institutions also charge fees for laboratory equipment and materials, computer use, parking, and other miscellaneous costs.
Undergraduate: A student who has not yet earned a bachelor’s degree.
Withdrawal: The process of formally dropping a class or classes after the term has started.
Writing Center: Part of the Learning Support Center that assists students in writing papers. |
