Common Terms

Overview

Some of the terms and acronyms used on the DegreeForums can be confusing. Here is a list of those that are commonly used, but it is not exhaustive. Don't be afraid to ask for clarification if you're not familiar.

Terms

A

• Accreditation: Certification of competency in education. Understanding accreditation is critical to deciding your future degree path.
• Acclaim: Platform for sharing and transferring courses certified by ACE; name was dropped in favor of unifying everything under Credly.
• Alt Credit: Alternative credit. Credits taken from institutions that are NOT a college or university. Examples include Sophia.org and Study.com.
• ACE: American Council on Education
• AOS: Area of Study. The focus of a bachelors degree.
• AP: Advanced Placement test. Available to anyone, not just high schoolers!

B

• B&M: Brick & Mortar; used in reference to classes taken at a college or university rather than from alternate credit sources. Usually applied to classes taken in-person, but can apply to online classes as well.
• Big 3: Thomas Edison State University, Excelsior College, and Charter Oak State College

C

• CLEP: College Level Examination Program, a type of course equivalency test
• Competency-based: Instead of paying per-credit, these schools operate on a subscription-based model. Once you pay the fees, you may take as many or as few classes are you are able to complete during your "subscription period".
• COSC: Charter Oak State College
• Credly: The new platform for sharing and transferring courses certified by ACE.

D

• DSST: DANTES Standardized Subject Test, a type of course equivalency test

E

• EC: Excelsior College

G

• GE - General Education; requirements that all all degree-seekers at a given school must complete.

I

• IC InstantCert.com - Many of the forum members use IC flashcards to study for CLEP, Dante, & Excelsior exams. Also has ACE-recommended courses of its own.

L

• LL: Lower-level credit - Courses/exams accepted at the 100-200 (freshman/sophomore) level

N

• NA: National Accreditation. Generally speaking you should avoid NA schools.
• NCCRS: National College Credit Recommendation Service

P

• PLA: Prior Learning Assessment - Some schools (and all of the Big 3) offer college credit by an evaluation of the knowledge a student has gained in prior learning, careers, employer training programs, military service, independent study. Credit is usually evaluated by a submission and review of a portfolio.

R

• RA: Regional Accreditation. Generally speaking, schools favor traditionally RA credits for transfer.

S

• SL: Straighterline. Provides some courses for a fee. A source of some credits for the Big 3.
• SDC: Study.com. Provides some courses for a monthly fee. A source of LL and UL credits for the Big 3.

T

• TECEP: Thomas Edison Credit by Exam Program, TESU's credit by exam/course equivalency test
• TEEX - Texas A&M Engineering Extension Service, offers ACE-approved courses for free and for cheap.
• TESU: (formerly TESC) Thomas Edison State University (previously Thomas Edison State College)

U

• UExcel: (formerly ECE/Excelsior College Exam), Excelsior College's credit by exam/course equivalency test
• UL: Upper-level credit - Courses/exams accepted at the 300-400 (junior/senior) level
• UMPI - University of Maine at Presque Isle. A school that offers a number of popular competency-based degrees.

W

• WGU: Western Governors University is a school that is only open to US residents and US military members, plus select areas of Canada. They have a number of competency-based degrees available.