Glossary

Academic Probation

Students who have completed two or more terms at Purchase College and have an Purchase cumulative GPA below 2.0 will be placed on academic probation. Students who attain a cumulative GPA of 2.0 or better are removed from academic probation.

Academic Suspension

Students who are on probation and have a subsequent term GPA of less than 2.0 are placed on suspension. A student who has been suspended from Purchase College is prohibited from enrolling in classes, denied all privileges of the college including living in any university-recognized living groups and must fulfill specified criteria before being readmitted to the college. Academic suspension is recorded on the student’s academic record.

Academic Warning

Students with a term GPA below 2.0 are placed on academic warning.

Add/Drop

Students may add or drop classes during the first two weeks of each term.

Advisor

A faculty or staff member appointed by the department or college to assist a student with planning academic programs.

Commencement

Purchase College’s annual graduation ceremony held in May

Common Hour

Time frame between 12:00-3:00pm every Wednesday. No classes are scheduled during this time in order to allow students, faculty and staff the opportunity to participate in co-curricular activities.

Credit

The academic value assigned to a course based on the type and level of the subject material, as well as the expected number of hours spent on class preparation. One credit is generally given for three hours of work per week, in and out of the class.

Degree Audit

The degree audit provides the student with a list of requirements that must be completed in order to earn a Purchase College undergraduate degree. General College requirements, distribution requirements, and major requirements are shown on this report. Completed courses are shown in each area indicating progress toward completion of the degree requirements. The degree audit indicates the remaining courses and number of credits required to complete the degree. A student should use this audit to review requirements prior to meeting with an advisor to plan a schedule for the upcoming semester.

Electives

Courses that are not required as part of a degree program, but are generally chosen and used by a student to supplement or enrich the required curriculum.

FERPA-Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act

This federal law gives students certain rights with respect to their educational records.

Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA)

The completed FAFSA is necessary if a student is requesting financial grants, loans, or any aid other than from family or scholarships. Not completing this form in its entirety prevents the processing of the request for aid, resulting in aid not being granted. The form can be filed at fafsa.ed.gov.

First Year Seminar (FYS)

Required for the majority of incoming BA and BS freshmen and selected transfer students (excluding the liberal studies BA and the BS in communications). Graded on a pass/fail basis: cannot be repeated.

Grade Point Average

Total number of grade points received divided by total number of credits attempted. Grade points are assigned for one term credit of each grade:
A=4.0; A-= 3.7; B+=3.3; B=3.0; B-= 2.7; C+=2.3; C=2.0; C-= 1.7; D+=1.3; D=1.0; D-= 0.7; F=0.0. Grades of I,P,N,S, U and W are not computed.

Major

The primary field of study in which a student wishes to receive a degree. Majors require at least 36 credits, 24 of which must be upper-division.

Matriculated Student

A student who has successfully satisfied all admission requirements, has been officially accepted into a degree program at Purchase College, and has registered for courses.

Minor

A second field of interest, consisting of a minimum of 27 designated term credits of related course work, 12 of which must be at the upper -division level.

Moodle

Online learning platform maintained by the Teaching, Learning, and Technology Center on campus

Prerequisites

Requirements that must be completed before enrollment in a course. The instructor may waive a prerequisite.

Resident Assistant (RA)

Undergraduate student leaders who live on each floor/building as the residents.  RAs are trained to create welcoming residential environments on campus through programming, one-to-one resident outreaches, and informative bulletin boards. 

Residence Coordinator (RC)

Full-time professional staff members that oversee the operations of residence halls or apartments, supervise RA staff, teach FYS courses, oversee community development and programming, and serve as a conduct hearing officers among other responsibilities.

Syllabus

A list of course objectives, lecture topics, assigned readings, exams, etc., prepared and distributed by an instructor at the beginning of the semester/term.

Title IX

A federal civil rights law that prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex. In accordance with Title IX Purchase College has policies, procedures, and resources to prevent and address issues such as discrimination based on sex, including sexual violence and gender-based harassment.

Transfer Student

A student who has completed 24 or more term credits at one institution and will resume their college course work at a second institution.

Withdraw

To voluntarily leave a course of the college without academic penalty. A “W” letter grade will be placed on the student’s transcript for each course attempted.