Academic advisors
Academic advisors at UC Santa Barbara provide professional guidance to students as they develop meaningful educational plans in pursuit of their goals. Academic advisors can be found both at the College and major department levels.
BARC
BARC stands for Billing Accounts Receivable Collections and is a centralized system that oversees campus charges (tuition, student fees, on-campus housing and meal plans, Student Health charges, etc.) that students are required to pay.
Campbell Hall
Campbell Hall is a lecture and recital hall, with classes held during the day, and performances held during the evening.
Canvas
Canvas is where students can access sites for their courses, find syllabus information, assignment due dates and more.
CAPS
Counseling and Psychological Services
CARE
Campus Advocacy, Resources, and Education
CCS
College of Creative Studies
CLAS
Campus Learning Assistance Services
Class level
Undergraduate class level (freshman, sophomore, junior, senior) is determined by the number of units completed.
CoE
College of Engineering
De Anza Center
Located nearby Manzanita Village, De Anza offers study spaces, meeting rooms, classrooms, and a kitchenette.
Discussion section
Discussion sections are typically led by teaching assistants and are where you will have additional opportunity to discuss/practice the course content and assignments.
DP
Del Playa Drive in Isla Vista
DSP
Disabled Students Program
Duo MFA
Duo Multi-factor Authentication adds an additional layer of security by verifying not only that the person knows a password, but that the person also has access to a registered device, like a personal smartphone. Duo is required for students to access many UCSB systems.
EAP
Education Abroad Program
Electives
Electives are courses that fall outside of a student's major requirements. Every student will need to take elective courses to fulfill the upper-division units needed to graduate.
EOP
Educational Opportunity Program
FRAP
Faculty Research Assistance Program
FSL
Fraternity and Sorority Life
FSSP
Freshman Summer Start Program
GE
General Education requirement, aka GEs, are a set of courses that are considered foundational to a student's well-rounded university education. GEs provide students with a breadth of knowledge to complement their major of choice.
General Catalog
The General Catalog is a comprehensive resource that includes information on courses, programs, activities, and services available at UCSB. It's where students can find the Undergraduate Major directory and Undergraduate Minor directory.
GOLD
Gaucho On-Line Data System (GOLD) is the student registration system. Students use GOLD to access their grades/academic history, registration information, class schedules, personal information updates, and more.
IGETC
The Intersegmental General Education Transfer Curriculum (IGETC) is a series of courses that California community college students can complete to satisfy freshman/sophomore level general education requirements before transferring to most colleges and majors at UC campuses.
ILP
The Interactive Learning Pavilion (ILP) is UCSB’s newest facility, offering lecture halls, standard classrooms, project-based learning rooms, and group study rooms.
IV
Isla Vista, the community next to the UCSB campus
L&S
College of Letters & Science
Labs
Labs are typically led by the teaching assistants and where students apply the content taught in lecture and in their readings.
Lecture
Some courses will have a lecture and a discussion section OR lab. Lectures are typically where the main content of the course is delivered by the professor/instructor.
Lower-division courses
Lower-division courses have an assigned course number of 1-99. They are open to all UCSB students and are especially appropriate for first and second-year students.
MCC
MultiCultural Center
OBSD
Office of Black Student Development
Pass time
Pass times (or registration appointments) are the times a student is assigned during which they can make changes to their schedule for a particular quarter.
Passed/Not Passed
Students may choose to take some of their courses as a Passed/Not Passed option instead of electing for a letter grade. It is strongly recommended that students review the Passed/Not Passed policies before selecting this option.
RA
A Resident Assistant is a trained student leader who coordinates activities in residence halls.
SEAL
Student Engagement and Leadership
Units
Units are the amount of educational credit that are dedicated to each course. The number of units will vary for classes depending on how much time is spent in class and the number of hours expected to dedicate to the course outside of class time.
Upper-division courses
Upper-division courses have an assigned course number of 100-199. They are open to students who have completed the necessary prerequisites for each course and are most commonly taken by juniors and seniors.
USS
Undocumented Student Services
Work-study
A need-based form of financial aid that students earn through on or off-campus employment and receive in the form of a paycheck.