College glossary

College comes with its own language, and most of it is never explained to the adults in it. Here's every term this guide leans on, in plain English and alphabetical order. Jump to a letter, or use your browser's find. Where a term has a full guide, there's a link to it.

A · B · C · D · E · F · G · H · I · L · M · N · O · P · R · S · T · W

Numbers

• 2+2 - two years at a community college followed by transfer to a four-year school, often via a formal agreement. A real way to save money. More →
• 3+1 / 4+1 - accelerated degree paths that combine a bachelor's and a master's in four or five years total instead of six. One fewer year of tuition, but it is planned from the start and leaves less room to change direction - a good fit for a student certain of the field, a poor one for a student still exploring.
• 529 - a tax-advantaged college savings account: after-tax money grows and comes out tax-free for qualified education expenses. What it covers →

A

• AP (Advanced Placement) - college-level high school courses with an exam that can earn college credit; a common way to show rigor. More →

B

• Bid Day - the day a student receives and accepts an invitation to join a specific fraternity or sorority, ending rush. More →

C

• Contributor - anyone the FAFSA requires financial information from: the student, and one or both parents depending on their situation. Every contributor needs their own FSA ID and has to give their own consent, or the form will not process. See FAFSA.

• Co-op - a longer, paid, full-time work placement built into the degree, usually a full semester. An internship's bigger sibling. More →

• Cost of attendance (COA) - a school's total published yearly cost: tuition, fees, room, board, and estimated extras. What a net price calculator discounts from.
• Common App - the shared online application most colleges accept, so one application (plus supplements) reaches many schools.

D

• Demonstrated interest - the signals a student sends that a school is a real choice: visiting, opening emails, applying early. Matters at some schools, not others. More →
• Dual enrollment - taking actual college courses (often at a local college) while in high school, for both high school and college credit. More →

E

• Early Action (EA) - apply early, hear early, not binding. The low-risk early option. More →
• Early Decision (ED) - apply early, and if admitted you must attend and withdraw other applications. Binding. ED II is the same deal with a later deadline. More →
• EFC (Expected Family Contribution) - the old name for the federal aid figure, retired and replaced by the Student Aid Index. If a school, a book, or a relative still says EFC, they mean the SAI.

F

• FAFSA - the Free Application for Federal Student Aid; the form that determines eligibility for federal grants, loans, and work-study. Nearly everyone should file it.
• Fellow - a student in a selective, named track (Business Fellows, Teaching Fellows) with a smaller cohort, dedicated mentoring, special seminars, and sometimes funding or guaranteed research or study-abroad slots. Admission is usually separate and competitive, and it is a genuine distinction worth taking seriously if it is offered.
• FERPA - the law that makes your adult student's education records private from you unless they sign a waiver. More →
• FSA ID - the username and password used to sign in to the federal aid site and to sign the FAFSA electronically. The student needs one and so does each parent contributor; they are personal, never shared, and can take a day or more to verify, so make them well before you file.

G

• Gap year - a planned year off between high school and college, usually deferred with the school's blessing.
• GPA (weighted / unweighted) - the grade average. Unweighted caps at 4.0; weighted gives harder classes (honors, AP) extra points, so a B in a weighted class can lift the GPA more than an A in an easy one. More →
• Greek life - fraternities and sororities. How rush and the costs work →

H

• HIPAA - the medical-privacy law that keeps doctors from telling you about your adult student's care unless they've signed an authorization. More →
• Honors college - a selective community inside a larger university with smaller classes, priority registration, special housing and enriched coursework. A way to get a small-college feel at a big school; the trade is a few extra requirements.

I

• IB (International Baccalaureate) - a rigorous international curriculum offered at some high schools, similar in weight to AP. More →
• IEC (Independent Educational Consultant) - a private, paid college counselor. Optional; a hired version of what a school counselor does for free. More →
• Internship - a short, often summer stint working in a field, paid or unpaid. A common way to get real experience. More →

L

• Legacy - an applicant whose parent (sometimes grandparent) attended the school; historically a small admissions edge, now dropped by many schools.

M

• Match school - a school where the applicant's grades and scores line up with the typical admitted student. The core of a good list.
• Meal plan - a prepaid campus dining package, usually required for first-years living on campus.
• Merit aid - scholarship money from the college itself based on the student, not financial need; the single largest source of scholarships. More →

N

• Naviance / Scoir - platforms many high schools use to show how students like yours have fared at specific colleges. More →
• New member (pledge) - a student who has accepted a bid but not yet been fully initiated into a Greek chapter. More →
• Net price calculator - a tool on each college's own site that estimates your real cost after aid. The most useful and most ignored number in the process. More →

O

• Origination fee - a small percentage the government deducts from a federal loan before the money reaches the school, so you borrow slightly more than you receive. Higher on Parent PLUS than on student loans.

P

• Parent PLUS loan - a federal loan taken out by a parent, not the student, to cover a gap. Capped at $20,000 a year and $65,000 in total per student for loans first disbursed on or after 1 July 2026. See student loans.
• Prior-prior year - the rule that the FAFSA uses your tax information from two years before the school year it pays for, so the year that decides your aid is over before you fill anything in. See FAFSA.
• Professional judgment - the aid office's authority to reconsider your figures when something has changed since the tax year the form used, such as a job loss or a medical event. It is the formal name for asking, and asking is allowed. See comparing aid offers.
• PSAT - a practice SAT taken in high school; the junior-year version also qualifies students for National Merit recognition.
• Power of attorney - a document letting you make medical or financial decisions for your adult student when they can't. More →

R

• RA (Resident Assistant) - an upperclass student who lives in the dorm and helps run the floor.
• Reach school - a real long shot on the numbers; a great outcome if it happens, never the plan. More →
• Regular Decision (RD) - the main application deadline (usually January), decisions in spring, non-binding. More →
• Restrictive Early Action (REA) - non-binding early action, but you may not apply early to other private schools. More →
• Rolling admission - no single deadline; the school decides as applications arrive. Apply early in the cycle. More →
• Rush - the recruitment process for joining a fraternity or sorority, ending on Bid Day. More →

S

• SAT / ACT - the two college admissions tests, accepted equally by colleges; take the one you score better on. More →
• Safety school - a very likely admit the student would genuinely be happy to attend and can afford. More →
• Self-help aid - the parts of an aid offer that are not a gift: loans and work-study. They lower what you pay today and not what the education costs. Only grants and scholarships do that.
• Superscore - when a college combines your best section scores across multiple test dates. More →
• Study abroad - a term or more taking classes in another country through a partner program. More →
• Suite - a dorm setup where two or more bedrooms share a private bathroom and common area. More →

T

• Test-optional - the school lets you choose whether to submit test scores; not the same as test-blind (which ignores scores entirely). When to send →
• Transfer - moving from one college to another after starting, sometimes a smart money strategy, sometimes a long shot. More →
• Twin XL - the extra-long twin mattress size dorm beds use. Regular twin sheets do not fit; this trips up nearly every family. More →

W

• Waitlist / Deferral - waitlisted means "maybe, if space opens"; deferred means an early application was pushed into the regular pool for another look. Neither is a rejection; waitlists generally only move after the 1 May deposit deadline.
• Work-study - federally funded part-time campus jobs offered as part of a financial aid package.