Skip to Main Site Navigation Skip to Content Skip to Footer
Back To Top

Guide to College Terms


Throughout your Eastern experience, you will come across new terms that you may not have heard before. Below is a guide to these terms, the concept of which was borrowed from Niagara University, and what they mean.

Eastern Terminology

  • An instructional faculty member assigned to the student to serve as a reference for academic planning. The advisor's signature is required on registration forms to register for courses in the Fall or Spring semester.

  • A student who fails to make satisfactory progress in a given semester may be dismissed from the University.

  • Conditional re-admittance to the University after an academic dismissal upon successful appeal. A student will be given the terms of re-admittance from the Academic Advising Center. Failure to abide by these terms will result in dismissal from the University.

  • A part time instructional Faculty member.

  • An individual who has graduated and obtained a degree. Many alumni are still active in the Eastern community. More information can be obtained from Alumni Affairs.

  • An audited course is a course that a student attends but does not receive a grade or credit.

  • Refers to a student's status and is determined by the total number of credit hours that the student has successfully accumulated: Freshman (less than 30 credits), Sophomore (30 - 59 credits), Junior (60 - 89 credits) and Senior (Above 90 credits).

  • Graduation ceremony.

  • A student who does not live on campus and must drive to school.

  • A paid internship. During a semester in which a student has a Co-op, a student will not lose their full time status (and therefore is still eligible for housing).

  • Also known as Pass/Fail, this kind of course receives no formal grade, but either a pass or fail (passing grants the credits, failure does not but neither effect GPA). Some courses are automatically Credit/No-Credit. A student can place up to 4 other courses on Credit/No-Credit but these courses will only count as an elective and not as a Major, Minor, or GER course. Check the Academic Calendar for Credit/No-Credit deadlines.

  • The total courses required for a program or degree.

  • An administrator who oversees several academic or administrative department (i.e. the Dean of Students or the Dean of Arts and Sciences).

  • The name of the award for any full time student who has a semester GPA of 3.5 or better.

  • A course that is dropped is removed from the student's schedule without academic penalty. A full time student who drops below 12 credits will have their status changed to part time (and can affect Financial Aid). Refer to the Academic Calendar for the drop deadline.

  • A course that does not count toward a major or minor but taken out of interest by the student.

  • Another name for a test. Exams can be given periodically throughout the semester or during the week of Midterms or Finals.

  • Refers to the student's ID card. This card is necessary to use university resources (i.e. library, work-out facilities, etc.), dining hall (as long as the student has a meal plan or points), or points (money placed on the card). More information can be obtained from Card Services.

  • There are two types of faculty: Instructional and Administrative. Instructional Faculty are the classroom instructors including Professors, Associate Professors, and Assistant Professors. Administrative faculty include but are not limited to: Directors, Associate Directors, Assistant Directors, Coordinators, Hall Directors, Area Coordinators, etc.

  • Financial Aid includes grants, loans, and scholarships to aid a student in covering the cost of attendance. More information can be obtained at the Financial Aid Web Site.

  • A student who is enrolled for 12 or more credits (9 or more if a graduate student) in a semester. A full time student pays a flat tuition rate. Full and part time status affects the students Financial aid status.

  • Acronym for General Education Requirements, GERs are a core of courses required to be taken by all undergraduate students.

  • A student who is enrolled in a Master's or Doctoral Degree program. There are currently no Doctoral Programs offered at Eastern, but there are Master's Programs. More information can be obtained from the Graduate Division.

  • Acronym for Graduate Record Examination and is required for some Colleges and Universities for Graduate school (not required for Eastern graduate programs).

  • Shows up as a grade of "I" on a student's transcript, this is given in a situation where a student is granted time to complete course requirements after the semester has ended. If the Incomplete is not made up by the deadline of the following semester, an "F" is automatically recorded. Deadlines for making up Incompletes can be obtained from the Academic Calendar.

  • A course in which an individual under the direct supervision of a Faculty member, the student pursues and completes work for outside of the classroom on his/her own time.

  • A job in which the student receives academic credit. Internships for pay instead of credit are called Co-Ops.

  • An undergraduate student's focus or program of study.

  • Refers to formal enrollment at the University.

  • A small concentration of courses outside the major.

  • A student who did not continue immediately from High School to college. Most non-traditional students are in their mid 20's or older. Life experience credit is sometimes available to non-traditional students.

  • Part time students are students who are enrolled for less than 12 credits (less than 9 credits if a graduate student) in a semester. Part time students pay tuition by credit.

  • To copy the words or ideas of someone else and try to pass it off as one's own work.

  • The chief executive officer of the University who is responsible for the overall supervision of the University.

  • The process of enrolling in a course or courses for the semester. This can be done through the Registrar's office in person or at E-Web.

  • On-campus housing. The Residence Halls are Burnap Hall, Burr Hall, Crandall Hall, Mead Hall, Niejadlik Hall, Noble Hall, Occum Hall, South Residential Village, Windham Street Apartments, and Winthrop Hall. More information can be obtained at the Housing and Residential Life Web Site.

  • Resident Assistants, or RAs for short are student paraprofessionals that live within the Residence Halls. They are responsible for health, safety, and security as well programming and policy enforcement. RAs are supervised by Hall Directors and Area Coordinators.

  • When an instructional Faculty member is granted a semester paid leave to pursue research or writing to further their discipline.

  • This is a course that is usually smaller in size and encourages much more active participation. A typical seminar course is Senior Seminar.

  • A description of course content, course schedule, assignments, and grading policies handed out by an instructor at the beginning of the semester.

  • A permanent position granted to an Instructional or Administrative faculty member.

  • The student's permanent academic record which includes all courses taken, final grades, semester GPAs and cumulative GPA. It will also indicate whether or not the student has graduated and what the degree is in.

  • A student who is enrolled in college courses who has not yet finished a bachelor's degree.

  • The process of pulling out of a course or the University after the drop period and before the end of the semester. A course that is withdrawn from will receive a grade of either "WF" (withdraw failing) or "WP" (withdraw passing). It will still show up as part of the student's course load but will receive no grade or credit. See the Academic Calendar for the Withdrawal deadlines.

  • Certain student jobs on campus fall into the category of Work Study. A student must be approved for work study through the Financial Aid Office and may be required to carry a certain course load or maintain a certain GPA. On campus employment information is available at Jobquest.