Academic calendar
Continuous Monthly Start Model runs Jan 1, 2025 – Dec 31, 2026. Calendar aliases that share a date range are grouped together, with every source term still shown.
- Continuous Monthly Start ModelRelevant now
- Continuous Monthly Start Terms (Academic Year 2025-2026)Monthly Six-Month Terms (Academic Year 2025-2026)Monthly Six-Month Terms (Continuous Enrollment)Monthly Term Start Pattern (Academic Year 2025-2026)
- Rolling Monthly Start Terms
- Monthly Start Term Beginning January 2026
- Rolling Six-Month Terms (2026-2027 model published in 2026 catalog)
- Monthly Start Term Beginning February 2026
- Monthly Start Term Beginning March 2026
- Monthly Start Term Beginning April 2026
- Monthly Start Term Beginning May 2026
- Monthly Start Term Beginning June 2026
- Monthly Start Term Beginning July 2026
- Continuous Monthly Start Terms (Academic Year 2026-2027)Monthly Six-Month Terms (Continuous Enrollment)Monthly Term Start Pattern (Academic Year 2026-2027)Monthly Term Starts (Academic Year 2026-2027)
- Monthly Start Term Beginning August 2026
- Monthly Start Term Beginning September 2026
- Monthly Start Term Beginning October 2026
- Monthly Start Term Beginning November 2026
- Monthly Start Term Beginning December 2026Monthly Term Start - December 2026
- Monthly Start Term Beginning January 2027
- Monthly Term Start - June 2027
Campus language
Search the full glossary. Nothing is sampled or hidden when the search field is empty.
Showing 43 of 43 terms
A
- Accelerating
- The act of completing more than the minimum required courses within a single six-month term.
- Acceleration
- The practice of completing more than the required 12-13 CUs in a single six-month term.
- Accelerator
- A student who completes their degree requirements significantly faster than the standard timeline
- Assessment Services
- The department that manages proctoring, exam scheduling, and evaluation of tasks.
B
- Blue Bar
- The progress indicator on the student dashboard that turns blue as courses are completed.
- Blue Bucket
- A slang term for the 'In Review' status icon when a Performance Assessment is being graded.
- Blue Envelope
- The physical package containing a student's diploma sent after graduation
- Blue Screen
- The specific status screen in the student portal that confirms a graduation application has been approved.
C
- C-number
- The alphanumeric code used to identify a specific course (e.g., C172)
- CI
- Course Instructor; a faculty member who provides subject-specific support for a single course.
- CI
- Course Instructor; a subject matter expert who provides support for a specific class
- COB
- The College of Business, one of the four main academic colleges.
- Confetti
- The digital animation that appears on the student portal when a student officially passes their final course and graduates.
- CU
- Competency Unit; WGU's version of a credit hour, representing the demonstration of specific skills.
- CUs
- Competency Units; WGU's version of credit hours based on mastery rather than seat time
- CUs
- Competency Units; WGU's version of credit hours, where one CU is equivalent to one semester hour of learning.
E
- EC
- Enrollment Counselor; the staff member who assists prospective students with the admissions process
I
- IT
- The College of Information Technology.
- ITSC
- IT Service Center; the technical support department for student portal and email issues.
L
- Leavitt School of Health
- The specific name for WGU's health and nursing college.
- LSH
- Leavitt School of Health
N
- Night Owl
- The official mascot and the term students use to refer to themselves and fellow classmates.
O
- OA
- Objective Assessment; a high-stakes, proctored multiple-choice exam that determines if a student passes a course.
P
- P
- Pass; since WGU uses a competency-based model, students receive a 'Pass' or 'Not Passed' rather than a letter grade.
- PA
- Performance Assessment; a written project, presentation, or assignment graded by an evaluation team.
- PM
- Program Mentor; a dedicated advisor who provides consistent guidance throughout a student's entire degree program.
- PM
- Program Mentor; the primary faculty member assigned to guide a student through their entire degree program
- Pre-A
- Pre-Assessment; a practice version of the Objective Assessment used to gauge readiness for the final exam
S
- SAB
- Student Advisory Board; a group of students who provide feedback to university leadership.
- SDA
- Student Disability Services; the office responsible for coordinating classroom and testing accommodations.
- SGA
- Student Government Association; the representative body for the WGU student voice.
- SR
- Student Records; the department responsible for processing graduation applications and official transcripts.
T
- The Blue Bar
- The progress bar on the student portal that turns blue as courses are completed.
- The Confetti
- The digital animation of falling confetti that appears on the student portal once all graduation requirements are met.
- The Night Owl
- The official mascot of WGU, often used to refer to the student body or the university's blog.
- The Portal
- The WGU Student Portal, the central online hub for all coursework, grades, and communication.
- The Well
- The WGU Student Lounge, an online community platform for networking and support
W
- WGU
- Western Governors University, the parent institution.
- WGU Academy
- A separate, pre-enrollment program designed to help students qualify for admission to the main university.
- WGU Alumni
- The official organization for graduates, often referred to as the Night Owl Network.
- WGU-AS
- WGU Academy, a preparatory program for students to earn admission into the main university.
- WGUAA
- Western Governors University Alumni Association.
- WGUx
- WGU's platform for micro-credentials and short courses
Places and practicalities
Buildings, logistics, and other local references drawn from the approved campus snapshot.
- C-number
- The unique alphanumeric code assigned to each course (e.g., C172) used for identification in the catalog.
- CI
- Course Instructor; the subject matter expert available to help students with specific content in a single course.
- Course Instructor
- A subject-matter expert who provides academic support for a specific course
- Degree Plan
- The interactive roadmap in the portal that lists all courses required for graduation.
- Evaluation
- The process where an anonymous grader reviews a Performance Assessment (PA) and provides a pass/fail result.
- Examity
- A third-party online proctoring service used to monitor Objective Assessments via webcam.
- Guardian
- The secure browser and proctoring software required for taking Objective Assessments.
- Guardian Browser
- The specific, secure web browser required by WGU for taking proctored Objective Assessments.
- In-house
- Refers to assessments created by WGU faculty rather than external certification providers
- In-house Proctoring
- WGU's internal system for monitoring exams, replacing previous third-party services like Examity.
- OTP
- On-Time Progress; a metric indicating whether a student is completing enough CUs to graduate within the expected timeframe.
- PM
- Program Mentor; the faculty member assigned to a student for their entire degree to provide coaching and schedule courses.
- Pocket WGU
- The official mobile application used to access course materials and track progress
- ProctorU
- A third-party service used to monitor students during Objective Assessments
- ProctorU / Guardian
- The external services used to monitor students via webcam during Objective Assessments.
- Program Mentor
- A faculty member assigned to a student for the duration of their program to provide guidance and accountability
- SAP
- Satisfactory Academic Progress; the requirement to complete a minimum number of competency units per term
- SLC HQ
- The physical administrative headquarters located in Salt Lake City, Utah.
- Standard Path
- The default sequence of courses recommended by the university for a specific degree program.
- Student Portal
- The central website (my.wgu.edu) where students access all coursework and administrative tools
- Term
- A fixed six-month window of time in which a student must complete a minimum number of CUs.
- Term Break
- A formal leave of absence between six-month terms, typically lasting 1 to 3 months
- The Library
- The digital WGU Library, which provides access to online databases, journals, and e-books.
- The Portal
- The student's personalized online dashboard (my.wgu.edu) where all coursework and administrative tasks occur.
- The Portal
- The central student dashboard (my.wgu.edu) where students access their courses, email, and financial records.
- The Well
- WGU’s digital student support center focused on mental health and wellness resources.
- The Well
- A dedicated student resource center providing mental health support and wellness tools.
- WGU Academy
- A separate online entity used by students to complete prerequisite courses before full admission to the university.
- WGU Commons
- The internal social networking platform where students can interact and join study groups.
- WGU Library
- The fully online library system providing access to journals, ebooks, and research databases.
- wgu_headquarters_cafeteria
- WGU Headquarters Cafeteria
Quick answers
Useful facts students can verify from the guide above.
- What academic term is relevant now?
- Continuous Monthly Start Model runs Jan 1, 2025 – Dec 31, 2026.
- How much campus context is included?
- 43 approved campus terms and 31 local details are included in full.
- Are all approved campus terms included?
- Yes. The complete approved glossary is available in the scrollable, searchable campus-language section.
- Where does this guide come from?
- Calendar dates, campus terms, and local details come from DormWay's approved campus reference library.