English New Words No.4, American College/University

These are words most American college students know well.

New words	Meaning
College	a post secondary (after high school)  educational institution offeringprograms of study leading to  bachelor degrees; sometimes colleges also offer programs leading to masters degrees as well.
University	a post secondary educational institution offering programs leading to bachelor’s degrees, masters degrees, and doctorates.
Community colleges	a post secondary educational institution offering programs leading to associate degrees. These college are open admission institutions, meaning that any person with a high school can enter the college---there are no entrance exams given.
Degree programs	programs of study that a student is enrolled in at a college or university; associate degree programs require two years of fulltime study; bachelor degree programs require 4 years of fulltime study (minimum requirements); a masters degree program requires two years beyond the  bachelors degree, a doctoral program requires an additional two to four years beyond a masters degree (a total of 8 to 10 years of post secondarystudy).
Course credits	a unit of academic work completed by a student; usually three credits are given for each course completed; a three credit course meets for an hour, three times a week for 16 weeks---a total of approximately 45 clock hours.
Academic year	a period of time that a college/university is open for the purposes of offering classes; usually, an academic year is 9 months long---from August through May. There are roughly four weeks of vacation time within the year.
Semester	a period of time a student normally takes classes, usually 16 to 18 weeks long; normally there are two semesters in an academic year.
Quarter	an alternative academic calendar some colleges may offer where classes are offered for a 12 week term; normally there are three quarters in an academic year.
Major	a field of study a student chooses to study in, eg. education, literature, history, anthropology, medicine, engineering.
Tuition	fees charged by a college or university to students to cover the cost of taking academic classes; in addition to tuition, other fees may be charged: student activity fee, laboratory use fees, health insurance fees, graduation fees, etc.