Commonly Used Terms

Academic load: The total semester hours of credit for all courses taken during a specified time—semester or summer session.

Academic probation: Probation is the status of a student who is not progressing satisfactorily toward his or her degree. A student shall be placed on probation at the end of the semester or term when his or her cumulative grade point average (GPA) falls below a 2.0.

Academic reinstatement: Restoration of a student’s eligibility to register for courses after being on academic suspension. This process requires a petition that is first reviewed by the dean of the student’s college or the Center for Advising and Career Services. Academic reinstatement does not guarantee restoration of financial aid eligibility which is a separate process handled by the financial aid office.

Academic suspension: The status of a person whose enrollment at UW has been terminated because of unsatisfactory academic progress towards either an undergraduate or graduate degree.

Accredited: A term applied to a school or specific program which has been recognized by a national or regional organization as meeting certain academic standards for quality and educational environment. The University of Wyoming, and all UW academic programs are accredited by the Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Institutions of Higher Education. This is the highest level of accreditation in the United States. Some academic programs have professional standards established by their respective accrediting associations.

Add and drop deadlines: The latest date in an academic term when a course may be added or dropped from a student’s class schedule without approval of someone other than the student. Adding and dropping of courses is done through WyoWeb.

Admission: The process of being admitted to the university with the opportunity to take classes.

AP exam: An Advanced Placement Examination from the College Entrance Examination Board (CEEB) in a specific subject area available nationally to high school students. Obtain information on taking the examination from a high school guidance counselor. Information on university course credit for these examinations is available from the Office of the Registrar.

Audit: Individuals who want to take a course but who do not want either a grade or credit for taking it may register as an audit. The instructor for the course determines the amount of work and/or participation that is required. Marks of either Audit/Satisfactory or Audit/Unsatisfactory are assigned. Audit hours are charged tuition at the normal rate. Audit hours are not used to determine full- or part-time status.

Banner: Banner is a suite of products that are used as our student information system.

CAPP: CAPP is an electronic degree progress/advising support system that matches a student’s completed and current UW course work (and any transfer work a student might have) with the current degree requirements to determine the student’s progress toward earning a degree.

Class schedule: A publication containing a listing of all courses scheduled to be offered during a specific semester or summer session. In addition to the printed class schedule, the schedule is available on the web and is updated daily with any changes.

CLEP test: Subject area examination administered by the College Entrance Examination Board.

Concentration: A collection of courses within a major which focuses on a particular subject area.

Continuing probation: A student is placed on academic probation at the end of the semester or term when his or her cumulative grade point average (GPA) falls below a 2.0. A student is considered on continuing probation in subsequent semesters if the student earns a term GPA of 2.0 or above but whose cumulative GPA is still below a 2.0.

Corequisite: A course to be taken or a requirement to be fulfilled at the same time as a particular course is being taken.

Cross-listed course: A course which is identical in content, title, credit hours, and requirements which is offered by one or more academic departments. The four-digit course number must be the same. This designation must be approved by the University Course Review Committee.

Curriculum: The set of courses in a particular degree program. More generally, the courses (in total) offered in a college or university.

Degree requirements: Degree requirements include all requirements of the university (including University Studies Program), college, academic department, and major. All requirements must be successfully met in order to obtain a specific degree.

Drop: To discontinue enrollment in a course or courses prior to the end of the drop/add period at the beginning of a term. A dropped course does not appear on the student’s academic transcript. Dropping from a class does not influence a student’s Satisfactory Academic Progress measurement, but may impact the amount of financial aid a student earns for the semester in question.

Dual-listed course: A course which is offered at both the 4000- and 5000-level that is identical in course prefix, content, title, and credit hours. The last three digits of the four-digit course number must be the same. The 5000-level course must require additional work beyond that required for the 4000-level course. This designation must be approved by the University Course Review Committee.

Financial aid reinstatement: Restoration of one’s financial aid eligibility based on being granted an exception to financial aid or scholarship rules. Financial aid restoration is a separate process from and is not guaranteed by academic reinstatement.

Full-time: A student taking 12 or more credit hours at the undergraduate level or 9 or more credit hours at the graduate level is considered a full-time student. During the summer session, undergraduate students enrolled in 6 or more credit hours and graduate students enrolled in 4.5 or more credit hours are considered full-time.

General Bulletin: The General Bulletin, or catalog, is the official document of the university which includes information on all undergraduate academic programs and their requirements, courses offered by each academic department, lists of faculty, policies and procedures related to admission, financial aid, all registration activity, and tuition and fees. A student’s degree requirements are based on the General Bulletin in effect the year he or she enters either UW or another bulletin year as approved with a petition.

Grade point average: The semester grade point average (GPA) is the sum of all grade points earned in a semester or term divided by all credit hours attempted for letter grade. Credit hours in courses in which marks of I, W, S, or U were assigned are excluded. The cumulative grade point average is the average of all grades earned at UW.

Lower-division course: Courses normally taken during the freshman and sophomore years. Lower division courses are those numbered between 1000 and 2999.

Major: The primary disciplinary interest or academic subject area of a student as represented by one of the curricula offered by the various academic departments. The undergraduate degree may or may not carry the same title as the major. Every student has one or more majors but may or may not have a minor or concentration.

Minor: A secondary subject area interest (to the major) represented by a specified set of hours and/or courses. Differs from a concentration in that a minor is not a subdivision of the major subject area.

Option: A concentration of elective courses within a major which emphasizes one aspect of the major, chosen by a student according to his or her interests.

Orientation: A program of one to three days on campus designed to acquaint a new student with the facilities, policies, sources of information and assistance, and academic and social environment. Academic advising and registration are also included.

Prerequisite: A requirement to be completed before enrollment in a course or a degree program. Prerequisites for individual courses are listed in their course description in this bulletin. Students are responsible for being aware of a course’s prerequisites prior to enrolling in the course.

Registration: The process of officially enrolling into one or more courses or matriculation at the university.

Satisfactory academic progress: Satisfactory Academic Progress only applies to federal financial aid applicants and recipients. Three measures of a student’s advancement toward the earning of his or her stated degree objective are 1) a grade point average putting the student in good academic standing, 2) a ratio of credit hours earned compared to credit hours attempted in the student’s most recent academic year, and 3) a comparison of the number of credit hours attempted in a college career compared to the number of hours required to earn the pursued degree.

Semester: The division of the calendar year used in academic scheduling. A semester is roughly 15 weeks in length.

Semester credit hour: The unit of academic credit for course work.

Transfer credit evaluations: An evaluation of previous college-level course work from another regionally-accredited academic institution, international post-secondary institution, standardized test, or military course work to determine whether courses are transferable to UW as well as to determine any UW equivalents.

Upper-division course: Courses normally taken during the junior and senior years. These courses are numbered from 3000 – 4999.

"W" Number: A student’s unique identifier in the Banner/WyoWeb system will begin with "W". This "W" number replaces the Social Security Number as a student’s unique identifier.

Withdrawal: To discontinue enrollment in a course or courses after the end of the drop/add period. When withdrawing from one or more, but not all, courses, a student should obtain and process an Individual Class Withdrawal form. To withdraw from all courses in a semester, a student should begin the process in the Dean of Students Office. A mark of W will be placed on the student’s academic transcript for each course. Withdrawal from a course or from the university may impact both a student’s current and future receipt of financial aid. Ask a financial aid office professional before withdrawal.

WyoWeb: The University of Wyoming portal used for communication with the campus community, registration activity, grade posting, financial aid, course management, and advising. A specialized version of WyoWeb is available for all enrolled students, faculty, staff, and alumni.