Glossary
Admissions has a lot of jargon. Here's what the most common terms mean — in plain English, written for parents and students, not consultants.
- Net price
- The cost a family typically pays after grants and scholarships, but before loans and work-study. A truer affordability signal than sticker price.
- Yield rate
- The share of admitted students who enroll. Useful context, not a quality measure.
- Retention rate
- The share of first-year students who return for a second year. A practical academic-fit signal.
- Graduation rate (150%)
- Share of first-time, full-time students who graduate within 150% of the program's nominal length.
- Confidence class
- How much we trust a specific fact based on its source, freshness, and review state. See the methodology.
- Coverage score
- How complete a college's profile is across our priority fields. Profiles below threshold are not indexed by search engines.
- Reach / Target / Likely
- Planning categories — not promises — that families use when balancing an application list.
- FAFSA
- The Free Application for Federal Student Aid. The starting point for federal grants, work-study, and student loans.
- CSS Profile
- A separate financial aid form used by many private colleges. Required in addition to the FAFSA at some schools.
- Demonstrated interest
- Some colleges track whether you have visited, opened email, or attended events. Whether this matters varies a lot by school.
- Common Data Set (CDS)
- A standardized data report that many colleges publish each year. A useful cross-check for admissions and aid figures.
- Pell Grant
- A federal grant for students with significant financial need. Does not need to be repaid.