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College Terms

  •  Advisement - seeing an advisor to plan your course work.
     

  •  Advisor - a faculty member or professional staff trained to work with students in planning their coursework at Jefferson State.

  •  Associate in Applied Science (AAS) Degree- career and professional degree programs designed to prepare students for employment upon graduation.

  •  Associate in Arts (AA) and Associate in Science (AS) Degree - university parallel degree tracks designed to prepare students to transfer to senior institutions and pursue a bachelor’s degree.

  •  Audit - to attend a class for information only, no credit given.

  • Catalog Year - indicates the year of the degree plan or college catalog that a student is following for graduation requirements.  This code is found at the top of the degree plan.  (Example:  2001 - 2002 catalog year = 02F)

  • Certificate - programs of one year or less of study designed for students who wish to obtain specific occupational skills.

  • Course Load - the number of credit hours for which a student is registered.

  • Call Number - a number assigned to a course that refers to the time and day(s) of the week the course is taught.

  • Course Withdrawal - withdrawal from a single course after the registration period has ended.  A grade of W, WP or WF will be assigned depending on when the withdrawal is received.

  • Complete Withdrawal from College - a grade of W, WP or WF will be assigned depending on when the withdrawal is received.

  • Credit Hour - the standard unit for figuring college credit.  Jefferson State awards semester hours credit.

  • Degree Plan (Curriculum) - a stated list of courses required to complete a major, certificate, or degree.

  • Developmental Course - a skill-building course in reading, writing or math that prepares students for freshman-level English and math.

  • Drop - withdrawal from a class before the end of the registration period.

  • Freshman - a student with 30 or less semester hours of credit.

  • Full-time Student – a student enrolled for 12 or more semester hours.

  • Grade Point Average (GPA) - total quality points earned (an "A" in a 3-hour course equals 12 quality points, etc.) divided by a total of the semester hours attempted, regardless of whether passed or failed.

  • Major - an academic area of specialization chosen by the student.

  • Math and English Placement Test (ACT COMPASS TEST) - a test of reading, writing, and math used to place students in the appropriate courses based on their skills.

  • Part-time Student - a student enrolled in less than twelve semester hours.

  • Grades - grades of A, B, C, D, F, W, WF, WP, or I are assigned for all college level courses for which students have registered for credit.

  • Prerequisite - a requirement that must be met before another course is taken.

  • Program Code - identifying code for a degree program found at the top of the degree plan.  (Example: U_ _ _ ASC _ _ 4055)

  • Quality Point - the number of points given in a course, depending on the quality of work   done.  (A= 4, B= 3, C=2, D=1, F or WF=0)

  • Sophomore - a student with 31 - 60 semester hours of credit.

  • Session - a seven-week course taught at an accelerated pace.

  • Suspension - after having been on probation, a student's cumulative GPA drops below the minimum required GPA for the number of hours attempted.  The Standards of Progress Policy is printed in the JSCC College Catalog.

  • STARS - STARS is a computerized advising system created to inform students of the courses that they can take and transfer among public institutions without losing credit.

  • Transcript - a student's permanent record of courses taken and grades received.

  • Transfer Courses - non-developmental courses for which four-year colleges will accept as meeting degree requirements.

  • Transient - a student enrolled at an institution who will attend another institution and then return to the home institution.

  • TR Course - courses which do not transfer to Jefferson State (ex. technical courses and repeated courses).

  • Tuition - the charge for enrolling in college based on the number of credit hours a student is taking and the student's place of legal residence.