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Dean
A middle level academic or administrative officer in charge of an administrative unit at a college or university.

Default
A default occurs when a borrower misses a number of payments or simply stops making payments on a loan that is due. If a student defaults on a loan, the student’s credit rating will be affected and the IRS could take away any tax refund the student expects to receive. In addition, a lender (or the federal government) could charge the borrower whatever collection fees are necessary to collect on the loan, and possibly refer the matter to a court for handling.

If a borrower allows a loan to go into default, the borrower loses the opportunity for deferment (or postponement of repayment), and the borrower will not be able to receive any federal financial aid until satisfactory arrangements to repay the loan have been made with the lender or guarantor or the loan obligation is discharged (handled).

Deferment
A deferment is a period of time that a borrower can postpone making loan repayments. For some loans, interest will not accrue during a deferment period. Even though payments are postponed, repayments are not cancelled—the repayment period is simply extended by the period of deferment. A deferment for full-time or part-time study at an eligible college or university is referred to as an “in-school deferment.”

Deferred Admission
The practice of permitting students to postpone enrollment for one or more terms after acceptance to a college or university. Some institutions do not permit deferred admissions.

Degree
An award conferred by a college, university, or other postsecondary education as official recognition for the successful completion of a program of studies. Types of degrees include:

• Certificate
• Pre-Baccalaureate Certificate—Less than 1 Year
• Pre-Baccalaureate Certificate—At least 1 but less than 2 Years
• Pre-Baccalaureate Certificate—At least 2 but less than 4 Years
• Post-Baccalaureate Certificate
• Post-Masters Certificate
• Further Professional Certificate
• Associate Degree
• Bachelor's Degree
• Master's Degree
• Doctoral Degree

Degree-Granting Institution
Refers to any institution that offers an associate's, bachelor's, master's, doctor's, or first-professional degree. Institutions that grant only certificates or awards of any length program (less than two years or two years or more) are categorized as non-degree-granting institutions.

Degree-Seeking Students
Refers to students enrolled in courses for credit who are recognized by the institution as seeking a degree or formal award. At the undergraduate level, this is intended to include students enrolled in vocational or occupational programs.

Delinquent
A loan is considered to be delinquent when a borrower doesn’t make a payment or file a deferment form on time. A borrower can be charged late fees for being delinquent in payment. If a borrower misses a number of payments in a row, the loan can be considered in default.

Department
The formal faculty group, together with its support staff, responsible for instruction in a general subject area.

Developmental Education
Instruction designed to bring students up to required basic skills or knowledge levels to allow them to attend programs that they would otherwise have been unable to follow.

Diploma
A formal document certifying the successful completion of a prescribed program of studies.

Discipline
An area of academic study.

Dissertation
The formal writing requirement, often an original contribution of knowledge, for a doctoral degree.

Distance Learning
A system and a process that connects learners with distributed learning. It is usually characterized by (1) separation of place and/or time between student and instructor; and (2) a level of interaction between student and instructor conducted through one or more media.

Doctoral Degree
The doctoral degree classification includes such degrees as Doctor of Education, Doctor of Juridical Science, Doctor of Public Health, and the Doctor of Philosophy degree in any field such as agronomy, food technology, education, engineering, public administration, ophthalmology, or radiology. For the Doctor of Public Health degree, the prior degree is generally earned in a closely related professional field of medicine or in sanitary engineering.

Double Major
Program of study in which a student completes the requirements of two majors at the same time.

Drop
To withdraw from a course.

Drop-Add
A period at the beginning of each term when students are allowed to change their class schedules by dropping or adding courses.

Dropout
A person who has withdrawn from all courses. One who leaves school entirely is known as a dropout.

Dual Degree
Program of study in which a student receives two degrees from the same institution.

Elective
A course chosen freely by the student from the institution's offerings. Also called “free elective.”

Elementary School
Primary school (grades 1-6 or 1-8).

Enrollment
The actual headcount number of students; a total count of all students who are currently enrolled.

Enrollment Status
Refers to a coding system that classifies the current enrollment of students into new, continuing, and returning students.

Ethnicity
Racial/ethnic designations reported in the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data Systems (IPEDS) do not denote scientific definitions of anthropological origins. The categories are:

• Black, non-hispanic—a person having origins in any of the black racial groups of Africa (except those of Hispanic origin).
• American Indian or Alaska Native—a person having origins in any of the original peoples of North America and who maintains cultural identification through tribal affiliation or community recognition.
• Asian or Pacific Islander—a person having origins in any of the original peoples of the Far East, Southeast Asia, the Indian subcontinent, or Pacific Islands. This includes people from China, Japan, Korea, the Philippine Islands, American Samoa, India, and Vietnam.
• Hispanic—a person of Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, Central, or South American, or other Spanish culture or origin, regardless of race.
• White, non-Hispanic—a person having origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, North Africa, or the Middle East (except those of Hispanic origin).

Exemption
The practice of exempting a student from a requirement. For example, if a college required all students to take freshman English, but on the basis of evidence of outstanding prior achievement (such as high scores on an examination) waived the requirement, this would constitute exemption.

Experiential Learning
Learning that takes place outside of the classroom through formal courses or other life activities.

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