AACRAOnyms
A Primer of Higher Ed
Acronyms
for New Professionals
University of
Oregon
Acronyms vs. Abbreviations

Acronyms are pronounceable names made
up of a series of initial letters or word
parts (UNESCO)

Abbreviations are shortened or
contracted forms of word, used to
represent the whole word and are not
pronounced, and usually contain periods
(U.S. or lb.)
We are going to cover BOTH!
AACRAO
American
Association of
Collegiate
Registrars and
Admissions
Officers

AACRAO is
actually an
International
organization…
Do You Know
Your CRAO?
Quiz!

Shout out

Your state AACRAO association

Your regional AACRAO association
The Regional ‘CRAO’s

UMACRAO (Upper Midwest)

RMACRAO (Rocky Mountain)

SACRAO (Southern)

PACRAO (Pacific)

NEACRAO (New England)

MSACRAO (Middle States)

CACRAO (Carolinas)

New Jersey-New York
The State ‘CRAO’s

ALACRAO (Alabama)
to

WACRAO (Wisconsin)

Arizona, Arkansas, California, Florida,
Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas,
Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi,
Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio Oklahoma,
Oregon, Tennessee, Texas, Utah,Virginia,
Washington, West Virginia
Other Higher Ed Organizations

NACAC: Nat’l Association for College
Admission Counseling
◦
◦

States and regionals (PNACAC, GPACAC,
IACAC, MACAC)
no AFLAC
AIR: Association for Institutional Research
◦
States and regionals (PNAIR)
Other Higher Ed Organizations

AAU: Association of American
Universities (invitation only; 61 US and 2
Canadian public and private research
universities)

NASPA: Student Affairs Administrators in
Higher Education

NASFA: Association of International
Educators (was National Association of
Other Higher Ed Organizations

NACUBO: National Association of College
and University Business Officers

http://www.higher-ed.org/orgs.htm
Regional Accrediting Orgs

NWCCU: Northwest Commission on
Colleges and Universities

WASC-ACCJC: Western Association of
Schools and Colleges Accrediting
Commission for Community and Junior
Colleges

And several others…
Regional Accrediting Orgs

Ch, Ch, Ch, CHEA!:
Not a pet, but the Council for Higher
Education Accreditations

http://www.chea.org/Directories/
Higher Ed Lingo

SEM: Strategic Enrollment Management

NSSE: National Survey of Student
Engagement

ACAOPU: Association of Chief
Admissions Officers at Public Universities

IPEDS: Integrated Postsecondary
Education Data System

K-12 and P-20

NCAA
Quiz!

What does AACRAO’s
EDGE
stand for?

Electronic Database for Global Education
We Love Acronyms

Every project inevitably strives to figure
out an acronym that fits the project.

IDEA: Institute for Development of
Educational Achievement

PATRIOT: Phased Array Tracking RADAR
Intercept on Target
We Love Acronyms

APIT: Admissions Process Improvement
Team

PUG: Project User Group

CAI: Committee on Academic
Infrastructure
Unfortunate Acronyms

Students of Women Studies

American Symphony Orchestra League

Wisconsin Tourism Federation
User Groups

MABUG: Mid-Atlantic Banner Users’
Group

DUG: Datatel Users’ Group

HEUG: Higher Education User Group

JENZA-RUG-SOU: Jenzabar Regional
User Group – South

SETA: Sungard Education Technology
Association
Government/Legal

HEOA: Higher Education Opportunity Act

ADA: American with Disabilities Act

RTTF: Return of Title IV (often called
Return to Title IV)

FAFSA: Free Application for Federal
Student Aid
Government/Legal

FERPA: Family Educational Rights and
Privacy Act

FOIPOP: Freedom of Information and
Protection of Privacy Act

HIPAA: Health Insurance Portability and
Accountability Act of 1996
Government/Legal

DEO: Department of Education

OSHA: Occupational Health and Safety
Act

FLSA: Fair Labor Standards Act

FMLA: Family and Medical Leave Act

BOLI: Bureau of Labor and Industries
Health

TBI: Traumatic Brain Injury

ADD: Attention Deficit Disorder

ADHD: Attention Deficit Hyperactivity
Disorder
Companies

BBC: British Broadcasting Corporation

BMW: Bayerische Motoren Werke

Comcast: Communications and
Broadcast

IBM: International Business Machines

IKEA: Ingvar Kamprad Elmtaryd Agunnaryd

TUCOWS: The Ultimate Collection Of
Winsock Software

Intel: Integrated Electronics
Inventions

SONAR: Sound Navigation and Ranging

SCUBA: Self Contained Underwater
Breathing Apparatus

RADAR: Radio Detection and Ranging
Quiz!

LMNOP

Answer: Alphabet beginning with L
Language

ESOL: English Speakers of Other
Languages

TESOL: Teachers of English to Speakers of
Other Languages

TOEFL: Test of English as a Foreign
Language
Technical

PDF: Portable Document Format

CRM: Customer (or constituent)
relationship management

SIS: Student Information Systems

ERP: Enterprise Resource Planning
Technical

SPEEDE: Standardization of Postsecondary
Education Electronic Data Exchange

HTML: HyperText Markup Language

XML: Extensible Markup Language

EDI: Electronic Data Interchange

WAN and LAN: Wide Area
Network/Local Area Network
Technical

TWAIN: not an acronym (scanner
interface standard)

USB: Universal Serial Bus

JPEG: Joint Photographic Experts Group

EDUCAUSE: EduCom (Interuniversity
Communications Council) and CAUSE;
College And University Systems Exchange

PESC: Postsecondary Electronic Standards
Council
Quiz Time
EIEIO
Answer:
Old McDonald Had a
Farm
Business

KPI: Key Performance Indicators

SAP: Strategic Action Plan

BI: Business Intelligence

YTD: Year to date

FY: Fiscal Year

CIO: Chief Information Officer

MOU: Memorandum of Understanding

KFC: Kentucky Fried Chicken
Faculty

TT: Tenure Track

NTTF: Non-Tenure Track Faculty

GTF: Graduate Teaching Fellow

GA: Graduate Assistant

RA: Research Assistant

TA: Teaching Assistant
Counting

FTE: Full Time Enrollment

SCH: Student Credit Hours

WICHE: Western Interstate Commission
on Higher Education

SCARF: Student Centralized
Administrative Reporting File
Quiz Time

Acronyms have meaning that is often only
clear when the context of the industry
that uses them is known.
DNR
Quiz Time

Acronyms have meaning that is often only
clear when the context of the industry
that uses them is known.
DNR
Dept of Natural Resources, Do Not Resuscitate,
Direct Normal Radiation, Digital Noise Reduction
Testing

GED: General Education Development
test

AP: Advanced Placement

CLEP: College Level Examination Program

CBE: Credit by Exam

IB: International Baccalaureate

ETS: Education Testing Services

ACT: American College Testing
Testing

PSAT: Preliminary Scholastic Aptitude Test

SAT: Scholastic Aptitude Test

TOEFL: Test of English as a Foreign
Language

IELTS: International English Language
Testing System

GRE: Graduate Record Exam

LSAT: Law School Admission Test

Email Quickies

ASAP

IMHO

FWIW

BTW

IIRC

LOL

http://www.magicpub.com/netprimer/acron
Degrees

AA, AS, AAS

BA, BS, BFA

BARCH, BMUS, BED

MA, MS, MFA

MARCH, MED, MBA, MLS

PhD, DEd and don’t forget ABD

http://www.abbreviations.com/acronyms/DEG
has 675 entries.
Office Patter

PEBKAC: problem exists between
keyboard and chair

WAIT: why am I talking?

CASE: copy and steal everything

DAL: ding-a-ling

ABC: always be calm!
Random Silliness

UBOA: United Bus Owners of America

TLA: Three-letter Acronym

FLA: What you do when you run out of
TLA’s

DAP: Parents Against Dyslexia

AWGTHTGTTA?: Are we going to have
to go through this again?

NAA: Not Another Acronym!

More Sites

www.acronymfinder.com

www.abbreviations.com

www.acronymsearch.com

www.acronyms.silmaril.ie
Acronym Generators

www.allacronyms.com/special/acronym_generator

www.acromaker.com

www.cs/uoregon.edu/research/paracomp/a
nym/

Acronymcreator.net
Questions?
Good Luck Out There!!!
GLOT!!!