College Resource

Dictionary of Common Terms

Academic advisor/guidance counselor – This is the person who can help your student decide what classes to take in high school. If you have questions about when the high school offers the ACT or SAT test, or to get a copy of your student’s grades or test scores or a letter of recommendation, this is the person to talk to. An academic advisor at the community college helps choose the courses your student will need to get a degree at TCC. You can also find out the courses that will transfer from the TCU Transfer Admission website. To find out which classes you can take at a community college that works toward a specific degree at TCU, contact Joael Kelly TCU office of Admission at 817.257.7490.

ACT – A very important test your student needs to take to get into college. Unlike different tests in a particular high school or state, this same test is taken by everyone throughout the United States. This helps the colleges know how a certain student would compare to other students who took the same test. Colleges look for high scores which let them know that a student is ready for their college. Students can take the test more than once to get a better score. TCU offers the ACT on the first Monday of most months. Please contact Margaret Thompson in the office of Counseling and Testing for more information. It is important to study for the ACT before you take the test. The best way to study is to take a class - TCU offers classes in the summer and some high schools also have classes. There are also books and computer programs that help students prepare for the test. These books can be found at a library, in your counselor’s office or at a retail book store.

Admission – Admission means being accepted to TCU. The Admission Office is in Sadler Hall room 112 and is where you can get information about applying, requirements and options. You can make an appointment with an Admission counselor and she will help you decide how to get ready for college while you are in high school. They will also answer your questions about your TCU application. Before you can attend TCU you must fill out an application and send a high school transcript, send a counselor recommendation, write an essay and take the SAT or ACT test.

Advanced placement – Advanced Placement classes are classes students can take in high school. These classes are hard but help students get ready for college. Also, if students do well on the advanced placement tests, they can get college credit and might not have to take those classes at TCU.

Class Rank – Based on grades, the class rank is where your student is placed compared to other students in the high school grade level. The better your student’s grades, the higher they are in the class of juniors or seniors. For example, if your student has a class rank of 2 in a class of 300, that means that he or she has the second best grades of anyone in the grade level.

Credit hour – Colleges have classes with credit hours. Many classes are 3 credit hours – this just means students go to this class 3 hours a week and earn three hours of credit.

FAFSA – This is a federal form for financial aid called the Free Application for Federal Student Aid. It is similar to an Income Tax form and you use the information from your IRS 1040 form to help you fill out the FAFSA. Depending on your income and how many children you have, your student might get free money from the government to use in college. You must fill out a separate form for each student who is attending college. The FAFSA is a very simple form to fill out, but if you have questions or need help, please contact the TCU Office of Financial Aid at 817.257.7858.

Financial aid – There are many kinds of financial aid – which is money for your student to go to college. Financial aid can be the tuition benefit, grants (you don’t have to pay these back), loans (you need to pay these back), federal work study (you are guaranteed an on-campus job for a few hours a week). Usually a student will get a combination of grants, work study and loans. Many loans are low-interest and do not start until after a student has left college. Loans can be paid back over a ten-year period and are guaranteed to the student. There are loans for parents and loans for students. The Financial Aid office will help you decide which loans are best for you.

First Generation college student— A student whose parents did not graduate from a university with a four-year degree. This includes students whose parents attended but did not graduate from a university or attended a community college.

Full load – This means taking 12 credit hours (usually 4 classes) or more of college classes each semester. Your student needs to take this much to be a full-time student.

GPA – grade point average. This is the combination of all the grades a student has earned in high school or college. TCU requires good grades to get admitted to the school. Most students that get in to TCU have A’s and B’s in high school or at the community college.

Remedial – At the community college (TCC, Weatherford College, Hill College or a Dallas community college) they have classes to help a student get prepared for college level classes. If a student is not ready to take a college math class, then he will take a remedial math class to teach him what he needs to know at the next level. Usually there are remedial English and math classes at the community colleges. These classes are important to prepare a student to be successful in a college level class, but they will not transfer to TCU.

SAT - A very important test your student needs to take – like the ACT. Colleges look for high scores which show students are ready for college. Students can take the test several times to get a better score. Some high schools have classes. There are also books or computer programs that help students.

TCU application – Your student needs to start filling this out early. It has several parts – basic information (address, high school), high school or college transcript, essay, letters from a teacher and guidance counselor, ACT or SAT scores.

Transfer student – After a student has taken 24 college credit hours (usually 8 classes) – TCU looks only at the grades from those classes and doesn’t look at the grades or SAT/ACT test scores from high school. The college classes must transfer to TCU, so if they are not college level, in other words remedial, then they will not count toward the 24 hour requirements. Please contact Joael Kelly in the Office of Admission at 817.257.6499 to find out which classes will transfer or vist the Equivalency section of the Admission web site.

Transcript – This is a record of what classes your student took in high school or college. A high school transcript includes the student’s grades, the classes they took, the class rank and often the SAT or ACT test scores.

Tuition benefit – This is an explanation of what options you have as a TCU employee. There have been changes to this benefit, so it is important to read the policy carefully.

Tuition exchange – This is a program with over 500 other colleges that are usually like TCU. If your student doesn’t want to attend TCU, he or she can go to another school such as Baylor or Tulane. Participating in this program depends on your years of service and the student’s academic performance in high school. Please contact Marishia Reeves for more information.

Upward Bound – This free program is for high school students whose parents didn’t graduate from college and/or have financial need. The TCU Upward Bound program gets students from six high schools – O.D. Wyatt, South Hills, Diamond Hill Jarvis, Paschal, Polytechnic and Dunbar. Upward Bound offers tutoring and other services.