A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z

Headcount
An unduplicated count of students enrolled in an institution.

High School
Secondary school (grades 6-12 or 9-12). Grades 6-8 are known as junior high school or middle school and the final four years (grades 9-12) as senior high school.

Homework
Regular assignments to be completed outside the classroom and taken into account in the student's course grade.

Honors
Special recognition of student's outstanding academic achievement.

IELTS
International English Language Testing System, which tests English proficiency in listening, reading, writing, and speaking for study or work purposes.

Incomplete
A temporary grade indicating that the student has not met all course assignments at the end of a semester or term.

In-State Student
A student who is a legal resident of the state in which he/she attends school.

Instructor
A formal term that designates a temporary, university teacher. It is also a synonym for teacher.

Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS)
Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) was established as the core postsecondary education data collection program for the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). IPEDS is a single, comprehensive system designed to encompass all institutions and educational organizations whose primary purpose is to provide postsecondary education. The IPEDS system is built around a series of interrelated surveys to collect institution-level data in such areas as enrollments, program completions, faculty, staff, and finances.

Intern
A student who is taking supervised professional training designed to allow students to apply previously acquired skills and knowledge to practical situations. Internships may be completed as part of a course, during vacation, or after graduation.

Internship
Supervised professional training designed to allow students to apply previously acquired skills and knowledge to practical situations. Internships may be completed as part of a course, during vacation, or after graduation.

Ivy League
Association of institutions located in the eastern United States originally organized for athletic competitions. The term has since become synonymous with highly selective prestigious and elite education. The Ivy League consists of Brown University, Columbia University, Cornell University, Dartmouth College, Harvard University, the University of Pennsylvania, Princeton University, and Yale University.

Junior College
Formerly referred to a public community college. With few exceptions, the term is now used only for private two-year institutions.

Junior Status
Refers to students who have entered the third year of study for a bachelor’s degree. Students who have completed 60-89 semester units are considered juniors.

Back to Top

Land-Grant Institution
A state-run institution founded under the terms of the 1862 Morill Act, which granted public lands to the states to establish colleges to provide full-time education in agriculture and mechanic arts.

Language Requirement
An institution's requirement that its graduates master one or more foreign languages.

Letter of Recommendation
Letter written in support of a student's application for admission to a study program, which assesses the candidate's qualifications for the program in question.

Liberal Arts
Also known as liberal arts and sciences, this term refers to academic work in the humanities (languages, music, art, etc.), social sciences (economics, history, sociology, etc.), and natural sciences (mathematics, chemistry, physics, etc.), as opposed to technical or professional subjects.

Liberal Arts College
Higher education institution in which the bachelor's degree emphasis is on liberal or general undergraduate education.

Load
An informal term used by students and faculty to refer to the number of credits they are studying or teaching, respectively.

Loan
A loan is money that must be repaid. Loan programs have varying repayment provisions.

Loan Consolidation
Loan consolidation is any type of program that refinances two or more loans so a borrower can make one smaller payment per month instead of several different loan payments. Although this type of arrangement can be helpful in dealing with monthly cash flow, loan consolidation does increase the total cost of borrowing. Loan consolidation may be helpful if a student has several different types of loans, all with different minimum payments, that must be met.

Lower Division
Courses designed for the first two years or within the first 59 semester units of study toward a baccalaureate degree, often taken at a community college and transferred to a university. The term also refers to freshman and sophomore students.

LSAT (Law School Admission Test)
A standardized external examination used by law schools to assess applicants' verbal, analytical, and reasoning skills.

Back to Top