Glossary
Glossary of Terms for Students & Parents
As pertaining to high school athletes
ACT: Standardized test measuring comprehension and knowledge used for admissions and college placement. Often used in place of or in conjunction with the SAT.
APPLICATION DEADLINE: Final date which the college or university must receive an interested student's application for admissions in order to be considered. Also includes Financial Aid Application Deadline, which if not met can result in lost financial aid opportunities.
CONTACT PERIOD: Any face-to-face encounter between a prospect, or the prospect's parents, relatives, or legal guardian, and an institutional staff member or athletics representative during which a dialogue occurs in excess of a greeting
DEAD PERIOD: llittle to no recruiting during that time. Few if any exceptions. It remains permissible, however, for an institutional staff member to write, email or telephone prospective student-athletes once during such a dead period
EFC: Expected Family Contribution. Based on the FAFSA, the dollar amount a family is expected to contribute towards a student's college education.
EQUIVALENCY SCHOLARSHIP: A scholarship that can be divided to accommodate more than one athlete, providing partial athletic scholarships.
EVALUATION/EVALUATION PERIOD: is any off-campus activity designed to assess the academic qualifications or athletics ability of a prospective student-athlete, including any visit to a prospective student-athlete’s educational institution (during which no contact occurs) or the observation of any practice or competition at any site at which the prospective student-athlete participates.
FAFSA: Free Application for Federal Student Aid. Must be filled out by all students who request financial aid of any type from colleges.
FEES: Money charged on top of tuition, room and board, which may include registration fees, graduation fees, health service fees, lab fees, athletic and recreational fees.
FINANCIAL AID: Monatary assistance made available to the students with financal need to cover the cost of all or part of their education. My come in the form of scholarships, grants, educational loans, work study or foundation/outside scholarships
FINANCIAL NEED: The difference between the cost of the education and what the family of the applicant can be expected to contribute.
FULL SCHOLARSHIP: Full athletic scholarships, also referred to as "full ride", cover room, board, books, tuition and applicable fees. Full scholarships are only guaranteed only in Division1 Womans & Mens Basketball and Football.
GRANT: Awards based on financial need that do not require repayment
LOAN: Financial aid that must be repaid
NAIA: National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics. Over 300 four year member colleges in the United State and Canada. The NAIA is the second largest collegiate athletic association in the country.
NCAA: National College Athletic Associations. Includes 1,025 active colleges and universities, including 117 D1A, 121 D1AA, 88 D1AAA, 279 D2 and 420 D3 institutions
The major difference between divisions is level of play, academic and eligibility standards and financial aid limitations.
NJCAA: National Junior College Athletic Association, includes over 500 member two year colleges and competes in three different divisions. Most of the Division I and II NJCAA institutions offer athletic scholarships. California Junior Colleges are not participants in the NJCAA and do not offer athletic scholarships of any kind.
NLI: National Letter of Intent. By signing a National Letter of Intent, a prospective student-athlete agrees to attend the designated college or university for one academic year. Pursuant to the terms of the National Letter of Intent program, participating institutions agree to provide athletics financial aid for one academic year to the student-athlete, provided he/she is admitted to the institution and is eligible for financial aid under NCAA rules. An important provision of the National Letter of Intent program is a recruiting prohibition applied after a prospective student-athlete signs a Letter of Intent. This prohibition requires participating institutions to cease recruitment of a prospective student-athlete once a National Letter of Intent is signed with another institution. (see www.national-letter.org for complete rules regarding the NLI)
NON-RESIDENT: A student who does not meet specific state residency requirements or who lives out of state.
OFFICIAL VISIT: The NCAA allows a maximum of five official visits. Official visits refer to paid visits: May not exceed 48 hours on campus, expenses are paid only for you; travel, meals and lodging. You may not visit one school more than one time 'officially', though you may visit the school as often as you wish at your own expense.
PARTIAL SCHOLARSHIP: Partial athletic scholarship might only cover a portion of the costs of school. Allows schools with limited number of scholarships to allocate financial assistance to more athletes. Partial scholarships are more frequently given out than Full Scholarships.
PROBATION: Warning status for students who fall below academic requirements. Requirements vary by school.
PUBLIC COLLEGES OR UNIVERSITY: Receive support by the state. The state pays part of the schools operation costs.
QUITE PERIOD: is that period of time when it is permissible to make in-person recruiting contacts only on the member institution's campus. No in-person, off-campus recruiting contacts or evaluations may be made during the quiet period.
RECRUITER: A person who finds students and/or student athletes to attend their college.
RESIDENCY REQUIREMENTS: The minimum amount of time a student must live in the state to pay in-state tuition, which is lower than that tuition paid by out of state students.
ROOM & BOARD: Cost of living in campus housing or residence halls as well a cost of meals from campus food services.
ROTC: Reserve Officers' Training Corps. A great option for paying for college! Each branch of the military sponsors rOTC programs, preparing stuents for leadership and military science. Students will be required to serve as commissioned officers when they graduate from college.
SAR: Student Aid Report. Results of the FAFSA, which colleges will need to assist in determining financial need.
SAT: Standardized tests by the College Board (see www.collegeboard.org) Colleges take the scores of this test when making decisions about admissions or course placement. Concentrates on Verbal and Mathematical reasoning.
SAT II: Tests proficiency in 15 different subject areas (though not all at the same time!) Not required by all colleges but please check as most of the top academic institutions request or suggest you take this exam.
SCHOLARSHIP OFFER: A verbal commitment between a college and a students notifying the athlete of the institutions intent of awarding a scholarship. This will be followed by a written offer when NCAA/NAIA regulations allow.
TRANSCRIPTS: A copy of your high school or college academic record. High school records will include SAT and/or ACT scores to be provided directly to the colleges.
TRANSFER COURSES: College courses giving credit that may be transferred to another college. Students should always check with the prospective college to see if classes taking are transferable. Not all are classes are.
UNDERGRADUATE: A college student working on a bachelors degree
UNIT: A value that indicates the amount of college credit given for a course. Most college courses are three units, or three credits
WORK STUDY: Part time work, usually on campus, allowing students to earn money for college expenses while going to school. Employer will work around the students schedule.
