Term Definition
1. Academic Calendar The academic calendar includes dates and deadlines for registration, school breaks, last day to drop classes, final examinations, holidays, and other important dates.
2. Academic Integrity Doing your own work for all assignments and tests; not cheating
or plagiarizing information
3. Academic Standing Students are considered to be “in good academic standing” if they maintain a semester minimum GPA of 2.00, are eligible to re-enroll at the College, and are not on academic suspension or dismissal status.
4. Add/Drop The period of time at the beginning of each term when schedules can be adjusted without penalty. The length of the add/drop period varies by course and is determined by the number of instructional weeks; is determined by calendar days within the term.
5. AdministrativeWithdrawal An administrative withdrawal occurs when an instructor or staff member has a student withdrawn from a course because of excessive absences, undue academic difficulty, or a serious non-academic issue. This will count as a W grade on a student transcript.
6. Advisor A faculty or staff member who is assigned to help schedule courses for each semester and ensure the necessary requirements for the student’s degree plan (career pathway). Advisor assignments can be found in SIS.
7. Associate of Arts and Science Degree Designed for those who plan to transfer to a four-year college or
university.
8. Associate of Applied Science Degree For students primarily interested in acquiring technical skills that
lead directly to employment after graduation. Not intended for transfer.
9. Asynchronous Courses can be completed Anytime as long as deadlines are met.
Noted on schedule as WA.
10. Canvas Canvas is a Web-based learning management system (LMS) designed to support online courses and provide a space to supplement a face-to-face course. Canvas provides many types of tools and features for enriching the learning experience.
11. Career Pathways A degree plan; a list of courses that a student must successfully complete in order to earn a degree, certificate or credential.
12. Career Studies Certificate Designed for enhancement of job/life skills, retraining for career changes, and/or investigating new career possibilities. Not intended for transfer.
13. Certificate Certificates are awarded for career-technical programs, usually two semesters in length. Not intended for transfer.
14. Consortium Agreement A written agreement between 2 eligible schools under which the latter school provides all or part of the program for students enrolled in the former school – if the former school gives credit to students enrolled in that part of the program on the same basis as if provide that program itself.
15. Co-requisite A course that must be taken at the same time as another course.
16. Course Content The material that will be covered in the semester.
17. Course Objective The goals of a course; what a student is expected to learn during the semester.
18. Credit Hour The unit of measurement that colleges use to define how often a course meets, how long the course meets, and the amount of material covered.
19. Disability Accommodation Policy States how a student can apply for and receive accommodations for a documented disability.
20. EMPL ID Student ID, often referred to as EMPLID is the unique identification number assigned to each MECC student, faculty and staff through VCCS.
21. FACA
22. FAFSA To apply for federal student aid, such as federal grants, workstudy, and loans, you need to complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). Completing and submitting the FAFSA is free and easier than ever, and it gives you access to the largest source of financial aid to pay for college or career school. You can complete the FAFSA at www.fafsa.gov. The MECC Financial Aid office can assist you with this process.
23. FERPA (The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act) A federal law protects the privacy of student education records.
24. FSA ID The FSA ID is a username and password you use to log in to certain U.S. Department of Education Websites, including fafsa.ed.gov, StudentAid.gov, and StudentLoans.gov. The FSA ID is your legal signature and shouldn’t be created or used by anyone other than you – not even your parent, your child, a school official, or a loan company representative. You’ll use your FSA ID every year you fill out a Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) form and for the lifetime of your federal student
loans.
25. Full-time Student/Part-Time Studentt Students are considered full-time if they are enrolled in 12 or more credit hours of course work in a semester or summer term. Students are considered part-time if they are enrolled in fewer than 12 credit hours of course work in a semester or summer term.
26. GPA A number representing the average value of the accumulated final grades earned in courses over time.
27. Grading Criteria The standards by which an assignment is graded.
28. Guaranteed Admissions Agreement (GAA) The purpose of a Guaranteed Admissions Agreement is to ensure acceptance of MECC graduates to transfer institutions after they have earned an Associate of Arts & Sciences Degree and in some cases an Associate of Applied Sciences Degree and have fulfilled requirements as specified by the transfer institution.
29. Hold A ‘hold’ is placed on a student record to prevent some or all services to a student. A hold may also be referred to as a ‘block’. Students who have a hold on their account may be unable register for classes, obtain a copy of their academic transcript, etc. There are a number of reasons that a hold may be placed on a student account. Some common reasons include: The student is new to the College and has not met with an advisor, the student has an outstanding debt to the college, such as unpaid charges for tuition, fees and/or books or library fines or an administrative hold has been placed on the student account fornother reasons.
30. Hybrid Classes Hybrid classes are courses that meet for approximately half of the
time of a traditional class. The other half of the instructional time is replaced with activities, which may include use of technology.
31. Hy-Flex courses can be completed on campus (assigned day/time and classroom will show on schedule); via Zoom; or as an asynchronous course. Hy-Flex classes are Flexible (whichever method works for you) Noted on schedule as F(number) in section area.
32. Incomplete The “I” grade is to be used only for verifiable unavoidable reasons that a student is unable to complete a course within the normal course time. Eligibility for an “I” can be found in the College Catalog.
33. Loan Loans are borrowed money that must be repaid.
34. MyMECC A web portal that allows students to access Canvas, the Student Information System, student e-mail, library services, and other student resources from one location using one login.
35. Online Classes In this mode of instruction, all coursework and interactions with the instructor and classmates are completed online.
36. Orientation (FOX) Freshman Orientation eXperience, a mandatory seminar, designed
to provide critical information to first time MECC students to ease transition into college.
37. Pell Federal Pell Grants are awarded to eligible undergraduate students who have not earned a bachelor’s or a professional degree. Eligibility is primarily based on the Expected Family Contribution (EFC) from the Student Aid Report (SAR), but is also affected by enrollment status. The EFC must be 5711 or less.
38. Prerequisite A course that must be taken before a student can take another course.
39. QEP The Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP) describes a carefully designed and focused course of action that addresses a well- defined topic or issue(s) related to enhancing student learning or student success.
40. Register/Enroll This is a procedure by which students choose classes each semester. It also includes the assessment and collection of fees.
41. SAP Satisfactory Academic Progress Appeal. A required measurement of a student’s academic progress toward their academic goal. Progress must be measured by both grade-based (qualitative) and time/pace of completion (quantitative) standards. For programs lasting one year or less, SAP must be assessed at the end of each payment period. For programs lasting more than one year, SAP must be assessed annually (corresponding with the end of the payment period.) SAP must be measured cumulatively.
42. SIS The Student Information System allows students to complete tasks such as registering for classes, paying tuition/fees, accessing personal information, viewing financial aid, viewing final grades, viewing/printing unofficial transcripts, monitoring degree progression, and viewing student account information.
43. STAGE The Schoch-Tucker Assessment of General Education (STAGE) is an objective measurement of general education. Unlike nationally developed assessments, STAGE is based on the VCCS definition of general education which currently includes seven elements: Communications, Cultural and Social Understanding, Information Literacy, Personal Development, Quantitative Reasoning and Scientific Reasoning.
44. Student Email After a student has enrolled in classes, a college email address is assigned to them. Students must use their college e-mail account for correspondence with faculty and staff. It is accessed through MyMECC.
45. Syllabus The contract between an instructor and a student that provides information about the course content, objectives, grading criteria, and course schedule.
46. Synchronous Courses have a scheduled meeting. Time/day and classroom will appear on schedule. Noted on schedule as a number, i.e., 01 on schedule.
47. Title IX Under Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972: No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving federal financial assistance.
48. Transcript (Official/Unofficial) A permanent academic record. It may show courses taken, grades received, academic status, and honors received. The college will not release an official transcript of a student who owes any money to the college.
49. Transfer Agreement MECC has transfer agreements that allows graduates to move
from an associate degree to a bachelor’s degree without loss of credits or duplication of courses.
50. Transfer Degree The Associate in Arts and Sciences Degree programs are designed
for students planning to transfer to a four-year college or university.
51. Tuition The amount paid for each credit hour of enrollment. Tuition does not include the cost of books or fees. Tuition charges vary from college to college and are dependent on such factors as resident or out-of-state status, level of classes enrolled in, and whether the
institution is publicly or privately financed.
52. Withdrawal A grade of “W’ is awarded to students who withdraw or are withdrawn from a course after the add/drop period but prior to the completion of 60% of the session. The grade is not included in GPA calculation. Please refer to the deadlines for for withdrawal in the academic calendar.