First-Generation College Students

Advising Center
(214) 333-5415 | advising@dbu.edu

Your advisor helps you choose your classes and gives you permission to sign up for them (register). If you don’t know who your advisor is or how to talk to them, the Advising Center can help.

Cashier's Office
(214) 333-5336 | cashier@dbu.edu

The Cashier’s Office handles all payments and bills for your student account. If you have questions about your bill or how to pay it, contact them for help.

Counseling Center
(214) 333-5288 | counselingcenter@dbu.edu

Reach out to the Counseling Center if you are experiencing anxiety, depression, or having trouble adjusting to college life. The Counseling Center provides counseling to individuals and groups. Services are free for all DBU students.

Financial Aid
(214) 333-5363 | finaid@dbu.edu

The Office of Financial Aid helps you get money from the government, scholarships, loans, and grants to pay for college. Contact them if you have questions about your financial aid.

First-Generation College Student Advisory Council
first-gen@dbu.edu

Not sure who to contact? Submit a help form or email us, and one of our council members will get you connected to the help you need.

Health Services
(214) 333-5151 | healthservices@dbu.edu

Health Services is the first place you should go if you are sick or hurt. They offer many types of help, such as first aid, checking your health, giving vaccines, doing some tests, teaching you about your health, and helping you find other doctors or clinics if needed.

Information Technology (IT) Support Center
(214) 333-5500 | support@dbu.edu

The IT Support Center can help you with your computer, connecting to the internet at DBU, and downloading Microsoft Office 365 for classes. They also make your student ID.

Parent Services
parentservices@dbu.edu

DBU also wants to help parents of students with any questions or concerns. Parent Services is a parent's lifeline to DBU.

Private Scholarships
scholarships@dbu.edu

The Private Scholarships Office helps you find more money to pay for college. They also send out lists of scholarships to your DBU email account, so be sure to check your DBU email regularly.

Student Affairs
(214) 333-5101 | studentaffairs@dbu.edu

The Student Affairs Office helps you with life as a college student. They offer housing, health and wellness support, fun activities, counseling, and other services to help you do well in college and in life. Contact them if you are struggling in your classes or with other aspects of personal or college life.

Student Life
(214) 333-5611 | studentlife@dbu.edu

Student Life hosts the fun events on campus and oversees all student organizations. If you're looking for something to do, check out their calendar of events.

University Housing
(214) 333-5455 | housing@dbu.edu

Contact University Housing if you need help about living on campus or your meal plan.

Colleges often use specialized terms that may be new to first-generation students and their families. College faculty and staff often get so used to these terms that we forget that not everyone knows them.

So, here is a list of important terms and their definitions to help you navigate your college experience more confidently:

Academic-Related Terms

Academic Probation – A warning given when a student’s GPA falls below a certain level.

Blackboard – The learning management system (LMS) used by DBU. DBU’s online courses are delivered through Blackboard, but it may also be used in face-to-face classes to submit assignments, post class materials, and communicate with professors and classmates.

Course Code – The letter and number code that identifies a particular course. The letter portion is called the Subject Code (or course prefix), and it indicates which department offers the class. The number after the Subject Code indicates the credit hours and level (freshman, sophomore, junior, or senior) of the course. For example, ENGL 1301 Composition and Rhetoric I, means the class is a freshman level (1) English (ENGL) class that is worth 3-credit hours. A degree plan may only list the course codes rather than the full name of the class.

Credit Hour – A unit measuring course workload, usually tied to the number of classroom hours per week.

Dean’s List – Recognition for students who achieve high academic performance.

Degree Plan - A list of all the classes you need to take to finish your degree program and graduate.

Drop – When a student requests that a class be removed from their schedule. If you just stop attending a class, it stays on your schedule, and you still receive a grade for it. If you drop the course, you will not receive a grade for the class, and you may qualify for a refund or partial refund of tuition.

Elective – A course that is not specifically required for a major but can count toward graduation.

General Education (Gen Ed) – These are a group of courses that are required of all students, regardless of major.

GPA (Grade Point Average) – A measure of academic performance, typically on a 4.0 scale.

Lab – A hands-on class, often for science or technology courses.

Lecture – A class format where the professor speaks to a group of students.

Liberal Arts Education – A liberal arts education, like the one offered at DBU, helps you grow as a person so you can live a meaningful life, ask important questions, and achieve your goals. Most importantly, it prepares you to participate intelligently and fully in American society in a way that makes it better (Detweiler, The Evidence Liberal Arts Needs, 2021, p. 27.

Major – A student’s primary field of study.

Minor – A small group of classes you take in a subject that interests you, but it's not your main focus (major).

Pre-Professional Program – Professional degree programs like law and medicine require students to earn a bachelor’s degree first. Pre-professional programs prepare you for a professional degree. View complete list of DBU’s pre-professional programs.

Prerequisite – A course or requirement that must be completed before enrolling in another course.

Syllabus – A document outlining course objectives, assignments, grading criteria, and class schedule.

Transcript – An official record of a student’s coursework and grades.

Undergraduate – Refers to a student enrolled in a bachelor’s (4-year) or associate’s (2-year) degree program.

Withdrawal – Dropping a course after the add/drop deadline, sometimes with a “W” on the transcript.

College Structure

Academic Advisor – A staff or faculty member who helps students select courses and plan their academic path.

Cashier – The office that manages student billing and payments.  

Dean – An administrator who oversees a college or division within the university.

Department Chair – The faculty member in charge of an academic department.

Professor – The faculty member who teaches the class.

Provost – The Chief Academic Officer of a college. They supervise all faculty and administer academic policies.

Registrar – The office responsible for student records, course registration, and transcripts.

Financial Terms

Award – Your financial aid award details out your full financial aid package including scholarships, grants, loans, and work-study.

Block Tuition – DBU follows a block-tuition model, meaning students pay the same amount for classes if they take between 12–18 credit hours, rather than paying for each class by credit hour. If an undergraduate student takes less than 12 credit hours or more than 18 credit hours, they will pay the per credit hour rate.

Cashier’s Hold – If a student owes the college money, they may put a hold on a student’s account. This hold prevents the student from registering for classes until the balance is paid.

FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) – The form required to apply for federal and state financial aid.

Fees – Additional charges beyond tuition, often for services and facilities.

Financial Aid – Any form of money awarded to you to help pay for college. Financial aid includes scholarships, grants, loans, and work-study.

Financial Settlement – When you register for classes, you must tell the Cashier’s Office how you plan to pay for your classes. You can pay in full or select a payment plan option. This process is called Financial Settlement. If you do not make payment arrangements before classes start, you will be dropped from all classes.

Grant – Need-based financial aid that does not need to be repaid.

Loan – Borrowed money for college that must be repaid with interest.

Meal Plan - Instead of paying for each meal, colleges use meal plans that give them a certain number of meals in the college’s cafeteria per week each semester and a limited about of money to spend at other on-campus dining locations.

Offer Letter - The document that lists all of the financial aid you have been awarded. Your offer letter can be found in your Self-Service (MyDBU) account.

Pell – Refers to the Pell Grant which is awarded by the federal government to students who have high financial need based on their FAFSA and other factors.

Room and Board – The cost of housing and a meal plan.

Scholarship – Financial aid awarded based on personal accomplishments or characteristics that does not need to be repaid.

Subsidized Loan – A loan that does not accrue interest while you are in school. They are awarded based on financial need. Repayment is not required until after the student graduates.

Tuition – What colleges charge to take classes at their institution.

Unsubsidized Loan – A loan that accrues interest while you are in school. Repayment is not required until after the student graduates, but some families choose to pay the interest portion of the loan while the student is still enrolled.

Work-Study – A federal program that allows a student to work part-time in exchange for financial aid assistance.

Campus Life and Resources

Career Services – Offers help with selecting a major, finding internships, job searching, interviewing, and resume writing.

Counseling Center – Provides free mental health support for students.

Disability Services – Supports students with documented disabilities.

Orientation – A program to help new students become familiar with the college and register for their classes. DBU’s free orientation program is called New Patriot Orientation (NPO).

Residence Halls – Buildings where first-year students live on campus. They are also sometimes called dorms.

Resident Assistant (RA) – A student leader who oversees a floor or area in a residence hall.

Self-Service – The online student portal accessed through your MyDBU account that gives you access to all your student information, financial aid award, class schedule, degree plan, and account.

Student Affairs – A department that provides support services and programs outside of academics.

SWAT – DBU’s Student Welcome and Transition (SWAT) week is an annual event for incoming first-year students where they move into their residence hall and get familiar with campus.

Other Useful Terms

Commencement – Graduation ceremony.

FERPA – The Federal Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) is a federal law that prevents colleges from sharing a student’s academic information. If the student is over 18 years old, they must give the college permission to share academic information with the students’ parents.

Internship – A work experience related to a student’s field of study.

Office Hours – Scheduled times when professors are available to meet with students.

Private/Public Colleges – Public colleges are partially funded by state governments. Private colleges like DBU are not funded directly by the government.

University – In the U.S., the terms college and university are often used to mean the same thing. In general, a university offers more degree programs and offers master’s and doctoral degrees.

Upperclassman – A student who has completed at least 60 credit hours.