An alumnus (masculine) or alumna (feminine) is a former student of a college, university, or school. Informal equivalents are alum and alumn (with a silent "n"). The term is often mistakenly thought of as synonymous with "graduate." Alumni/ae reunions are popular events at many institutions. They are usually organized by alumni associations and are often social occasions for fundraising. A __ B -- C -- D -- E __ F -- G -- H -- I __ J -- K -- L -- M __ N -- O -- P -- Q __ R -- S -- T -- U __ V -- W -- X -- Y __ Z The alphabetical listing is based on Christina DeMellos pages at http://www. ... An alumni association is an association of former students (alumni). ... This page is an encyclopedia article on fundraising; for fundraising on Wikipedia, see our fundraising page, or read about how we use the money. ...

In Latin, alumnus is the masculine singular form and alumna the feminine singular form. (The words are derived from the Latin verb alere, "to nourish," and literally mean "nourished one" or "nursling.") Although these terms are recommended by leading English-language dictionaries, their use can be limited because they are gender-specific. The Latin plural is alumni for men and mixed groups and alumnae for women. The gender-neutral English term alum/alumn, created by clipping the ending from alumnus, is also used, along with its plural alums/alumns. Latin is an ancient Indo-European language originally spoken in the region around Rome called Latium. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... ... Gender-neutral language (gender-generic, gender-inclusive, non-sexist, or sex-neutral language) is language that attempts to refer neither to males nor females when discussing an abstract or hypothetical person whose sex cannot otherwise be determined, as opposed to more traditional language forms, which may use male or female... Clipping has several meanings: Coin clipping, the act of shaving off a small portion of the precious metal for profit Clipping (computer graphics), to the task of making sure that only the visible part is actually drawn Clipping (gardening), or pruning, the practice of removing diseases, overmature or otherwise unwanted...

Recently, the definition of "alum" has expanded to include people who have "matriculated at" or exited from any kind of organization or process. As such, one can potentially be a "corporate alum" of XYZ Company, or an alum of a military branch, non-profit organization, or training process. The matriculation ceremony at Oxford Matriculation refers to the formal process of entering a university, or of becoming eligible to enter by acquiring the required prior qualifications. ... A non-profit organization (sometimes abbreviated to not-for-profit, non-profit or NPO) is an organization whose primary objective is to support some issue or matter of private interest or public concern for non-commercial purposes. ...

Educational institutions tend to follow Latin usage: alumnus for males, alumna for females, and alumni for mixed groups. All-women colleges use alumna and alumnae. Some institutions, such as Texas A&M University, do not refer to their graduates as "alumni" or even "graduates," choosing to use the term former students. Texas A&M University, often Texas A&M, A&M or TAMU for short, is the flagship institution of the Texas A&M University System. ...

In the United Kingdom and, to a lesser extent, Australia, the phrases old boy and old girl are traditionally used for former school pupils, and old member for former university students. The term old student can nowadays refer to the graduates of either schools or universities. In Scotland, the term Former Pupil (FP) is also used, especially when referring to sports teams of a school.

See also

• Alma mater
• Old boy network
• Alumni association