Alphabet Cross Words: Higher Education

The most desirable grade, the added plus enticing students since the dawn of organized education. Anything below this is unacceptable for those of us with a warped sense of the self-importance. Virginia Commonwealth University, my university, does not offer pluses or minuses. I will never receive one.
On February 29th, 2000, 6-year-old Dedrick Owens fatally shot his classmate, 6-year-old Kayla Rolland. Owens is the youngest recorded school shooter in U.S. history.
In 1642, Wilhelm Schickard created the first version of a calculator, which was perfected decades later by Blaise Pascal. The first solid state calculator was created in the early 1960s, with hand-held devices becoming available in the 1970s. This invention saved the Saturday nights of immeasurable students after 1970.
A neurotransmitter that helps control the brain's reward and pleasure centers. Dopamine is released when we do something we like: drink, eat, kiss. An equal amount of dopamine might be released in a student when he finds he got an A+ (the most desirable of grades) on an exam as when that same student puts off studying to have a "saved" Saturday night.
All students have this.
Most students have this, but some don't.
These are dangled in front of students in many forms: transfer, acceptance, career acquisition and stability. But the word doesn't have quite the same umpf as it used to.
A required freshman level course at most universities. This class is so important, it's often broken up over two semesters, parts I and II. All students must be proficient in the tales of ancient Roman and Greek wars and leaders, yet these same students burn water when trying to boil it.
Not often a determining factor in the acquisition of a bachelor's degree. While it is often seen as the most important part of educational success, it is often times a non-issue if the student i.) works hard and succeeds in rote memorization, ii.) has a powerful enough support system.
A requirement, along with a passing score on the Bar Exam, in most states to practice law in a professional setting. Virginia is one of the few states that does not require this to practice law, only that the individual passes the State Bar Exam.
A for-profit subsidiary of the Graham Holdings Company, it is a corporation built on providing educational services to colleges and universities. Using this, higher education outsources much of its student-help and test-prep to the all-mighty Internet.
Higher education should be a way to climb this, but recently this item seems to be getting shorter and shorter for students and the hole we climb out of deeper.
Whether through outlandish debt, scholarships, or the deep pockets of baby-boomer parents, this is the back bone of higher education. The phrase "For Profit College" refers to private, profit-seeking businesses, but it doesn't truly make sense. Considering the amount sucked out of students, it seems inconceivable that any institution of higher learning isn't "for profit".
Many Institutions of higher learning claim to be this, but as was discussed earlier, this phrase is disingenuous.
Extremely common on college campuses.
A requirement for school children through-out their completion of secondary school, this subject is considered unnecessary in tertiary education. Often, in conjunction with limited supervision and unlimited, unhealthy meal options, the lack of this class results in a phenomenon called the "freshman fifteen".
Often very difficult to achieve on a university campus. Sometimes a student must relegate herself to a hidden nook or distant corner to receive it.
A societal phenomenon in which members engage in an endless, self-defeating pursuit in the name of happiness.
A common by-product of attending a university or college, especially for those students undergoing other, non-scholastically inclined crises, in addition to the stresses of attaining a degree.
Either students' inspiration or the bane of their existence.
An institution of higher learning.
This is what a tertiary degree is considered an item of.
A common career choice for those in their student tenure. Compensation from this job and others like it often supplement school tuition, course books, living expenses, and sometimes- during an off semester- student loan payments.
Wife of Socrates, many humanities students learn about her in Philosophy 101.
People often think of students this way, but it is untrue in many ways. Students are people of all ages, and even those in the summer of their lives can feel immeasurably aged by the experience.
The expected emotion for a first-time new college student, and a distant, laughable memory for those nearing the end of their student tenure.