Mar 28, 2024  
2020-2021 Catalog 
    
2020-2021 Catalog [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

Glossary


Glossary of Abbreviations

(AA), see Associate of Arts.

(AAS), see Associate of Applied Science.

AS-T, see Associat in Science - Transfer

(CAS), see Certificate of Arts and Sciences.

(DTA), see Direct Transfer Agreement.

(GED), see General Educational Development.

GPA, see grade point average.

MRP, see Major Ready Program

(PIN), see Personal Identification number.

(prereq), see prerequisite.

Glossary of Terms

academic. Pertaining to a liberal arts program of study, opposed to a professional-technical one.

academic calendar. A two-year calendar indicating quarter start and end dates, holidays to be observed by the Highline campus and other non-class days.

adding or dropping classes/courses. Making changes in the student schedule by enrolling in additional courses or withdrawing from courses.

advising. The process of determining with an adviser which courses the student needs to take to meet his or her educational goals.

Associate of Applied Science (AAS). A degree designed for students in professional-technical programs.

Associate of Arts (AA). A liberal arts degree fulfilling the general requirements taken by college freshman and sophomores. Students must complete 90 quarter credits in courses numbered 100 or above and meet specific distribution requirements.

Associate in Science - Transfer.  The Associate of Science-Transfer (AS-T) degrees work best for students who want to major in most engineering and science fields.

Associate of Science, Option 1. A degree for students interested in biology, environmental science, chemistry, geology and earth science.

Associate of Science, Option 2. A degree for students interested in engineering, computer science, physics and atmospheric science.

Certificate of Arts and Sciences (CAS). A certificate in academic transfer studies (45 credits) for personal reasons. Not intended as a substitute for the AA degree.

Common Course Numbering. An effort to identify equivalent community and technical college courses and label the courses with the same department/division abbreviation and course number and title. Courses offered by a number of community and technical colleges are considered common if the official catalog descriptions are similar enough to be accepted as equivalent at a receiving college for transfer purposes.

Cooperative Education. Combines a specific program of study with related employment where students earn credit for applying classroom theoretical learning to work-based learning.

corequisite. Specific courses that must be taken concurrently (must be taken at the same time with another course).

core classes or requirements. Specific courses required by or applicable to a certain degree.

credit or credit hour. The unit measurement for the amount of work and/or time required for a course. A five-credit class will usually meet five hours a week. Also known as “quarter hour.”

Direct Transfer Agreement (DTA). The Direct Transfer Agreement (DTA) denotes associate degree programs that are recognized by the Intercollege Relations Commission (ICRC). The Associate of Arts, Option A, and the Associate in Science degrees are DTA degrees.

elective. Student-selected courses that apply to degree and/or certificate credit requirements. Such courses are often selected from a prescribed list.

entry codes. Instructor permission codes that allow a student entry into a particular course.

General Educational Development (GED). A program for adults who have not graduated from high school and want to earn a certificate of high school equivalency.

grade point average (GPA). A measure of a student’s overall academic achievement, computed on quarterly and cumulative bases by dividing the total grade points earned by the total possible credits for courses taken.

grade points. The number obtained by multiplying the numerical value of the grade received for a course by the number of credit hours earned in that course. For instance, if you earn a 3.6 grade in a five-credit course, you earn 18.0 grade points for that course.

Major Ready Program (MRP) Most Major Related Programs (MRP) help students prepare to transfer into high demand bachelor’s degree programs that require specific courses in the first two years. Business, biology, engineering and nursing are a few examples. Each MRP is based one of the statewide transfer agreements: Direct Transfer Agreement (DTA)  or the Associate in Science-Transfer (AS-T) and can reduce the time it takes to complete a specific bachelor degree pathway.

Personal Identification Number (PIN). An originally assigned six-digit birth date (mm/dd/yy) that students use to access records from the Web. For security purposes, Highline recommends students change their PINs to another easily remembered number.

prerequisite (prereq.). Generally a placement score or completion of a specific class that is required before enrolling in a course.

professional-technical. A program of study intended to prepare a student for employment in a certain field rather than for transfer to a four-year college or university. Also referred to as “vocational.”

quarterly class schedule (quarterly). A schedule of classes - listing times, locations, special fees and instructors for all classes offered by Highline - is published before each academic quarter.

statute of limitations. A policy by which grades from specific quarters may be removed from the GPA calculation.

Student Identification number. A unique number assigned to a student for tracking, data entry, identification, transcripts and for conducting other college business.

student information kiosk. Computer terminals located in Building 6 with online services offering admissions, registration and records activity.

transfer credits. Credits earned at one college that are accepted toward a degree at another college.