Data Definitions 
These terms are relevant to the data we display on the data dashboard.
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- Academic Term – The Summer semester/quarter is considered as the beginning of the academic year. Summer Intersession is defined as the period of time between the regular Summer and regular Fall terms. Fall Intersession is defined as the period of time between the regular Fall and regular Spring terms. Winter Intersession is defined as the period of time between the regular Winter Quarter and the regular Spring Quarter. Spring Intersession is defined as the period of time between the regular Spring term and the regular Summer term.
- Admission Status –
- First-time student – Entering undergraduate student who never attended college before.
- New Graduate Student – Entering graduate student not pursuing a Professional degree who never attended this institution as a graduate student.
- Transfer Student – Entering undergraduate student who has attended another institution but is enrolling at this institution for the first time.
- Continuing Student – A student who was enrolled in previous term(s) but is not a first-time or transfer student.
- Readmitted Student – Undergraduate student who was previously enrolled but is not a continuing student.
- New Professional – Entering graduated student who is pursuing a professional degree (law, medicine, veterinary, dentistry) and never attended this institution as a graduate student. The student may have attended as an undergraduate.
- Carnegie Classification – The Carnegie Classification® has been the leading framework for recognizing and describing institutional diversity in U.S. higher education for the past four and a half decades. Starting in 1970, the Carnegie Commission on Higher Education developed a classification of colleges and universities to support its program of research and policy analysis.
- Degree Level
- Associate (two-year) – An academic degree program with a significant general education core, designed to prepare students for immediate employment or career entry, but which also may serve as preparatory education for transfer to a related baccalaureate program.
- Undergraduate Certificate – An undergraduate, university offering of at least 18 SCH. At least half must be at the upper level.
- Baccalaureate – An academic degree program with a significant general education core, designed primarily as a first professional degree, but which also may serve as preparatory education for transfer to a related graduate program.
- Post-Baccalaureate Certificate – An undergraduate, academic offering (12-33 SCH) that is earned after a student has already completed a recognized baccalaureate degree. Commonly used as a path for alternate teacher certification, graduate school admission is usually not required for this undergraduate certificate.
- Masters – An award that requires the successful completion of a program of study of at least the full-time equivalent of 1 but not more than 2 academic years of work beyond the bachelor’s degree.
- Post-Masters Certificate – An academic offering, usually related to additional licensure or certification that is earned after a student has already completed a recognized Master’s degree.
- Doctorate – The highest award a student can earn for graduate study.
- Post-Doctoral Certificate – An academic offering that is designed for additional training or certification after a student has already completed a recognized Professional degree.
- Professional – A doctor’s degree that is conferred upon completion of a program providing the knowledge and skills for the recognition, credential, or license required for professional practice.
- Post-Professional Certificate – An academic offering that is designed for additional training or certification after a student has already completed a recognized Professional degree
- Educational Specialist – A postgraduate degree unique to the field of education, which is considered more advanced than a master’s degree but generally requires less coursework than a PhD or EdD.
- Graduate Certificate – a graduate-level academic offering addressing a particular topical area. The number of required courses varies, but the typical range is 12-18 credits.
- Non-Degree Seeking Student – A student enrolled in courses for credit who is not recognized by the institution as seeking a degree or recognized postsecondary credential.
- Full-time/Part-time Status – A measure categorizing students based on the number of enrolled credit hours and the student level.
- Institutional Categories from SREB – Institutions are assigned to categories using data on program completions from the previous academic year or, for two-year colleges and technical institutes or colleges, using data on estimated full-time equivalent enrollment for the current academic year. To keep the statistical comparison groups relatively stable over time, institutions change categories when they meet the criterion for another category for the third consecutive time.
- Four-Year Universities and Colleges
- Four-Year 1 – Institutions awarding at least 100 doctoral degrees that are distributed among at least 10 CIP categories (2-digit classification) with no more than 50 percent in any one category.
- Four-Year 2 – Institutions awarding at least 30 doctoral degrees that are distributed among at least 5 CIP categories (2-digit classification).
- Four-Year 3 – Institutions awarding at least 100 master’s, education specialist, post-master’s, or doctoral degrees with master’s, education specialist, and post-master’s degrees distributed among at least 10 CIP categories (2-digit classification).
- Four-Year 4 – Institutions awarding at least 30 master’s, education specialist, post-master’s, or doctoral degrees with master’s, education specialist, and post-master’s degrees distributed among at least 5 CIP categories (2-digit classification).
- Four-Year 5 – Institutions awarding at least 30 master’s, education specialist, post-master’s or doctoral degrees.
- Two-Year Colleges
- Two-Year with Bachelor’s – Institutions awarding primarily associate’s degrees and offering college transfer courses; some bachelor’s degrees also may be awarded.
- Two-Year 1 – Institutions awarding associate’s degrees and offering college transfer courses with FTE enrollment of 5,000 or more; some certificates and diplomas also may be awarded.
- Two-Year 2 – Institutions awarding associate’s degrees and offering college transfer courses with FTE enrollment of 2,000 to 4,999; some certificates and diplomas also may be awarded.
- Two-Year 3 – Institutions awarding associate’s degrees and offering college transfer courses with FTE enrollment of less than 2,000; some certificates and diplomas also may be awarded.
- Technical Institutes or Colleges
- Technical Institute or College 1 – Institutions awarding vocational-technical certificates and diplomas with FTE enrollment of 1,000 or more; some vocational-technical associate degrees also may be awarded.
- Technical Institute or College 2 – Institutions awarding vocational-technical certificates and diplomas with FTE enrollment less than 1,000; some vocational-technical associate degrees may also mabe awarded.
- Technical Institute or College – size unknown – Institutions awarding vocational-technical certificates and diplomas whose FTE enrollment was not reported; some vocational-technical associate degrees may also be awarded.
- Specialized – Specialized Special purpose institutions with specialized degree programs. These may include medical or health science centers and, in some instances, fine arts schools or military academies.
- Four-Year Universities and Colleges
- IPEDS – IPEDS is the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System. It is a system of interrelated surveys conducted annually by the U.S. Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). IPEDS gathers information from every college, university, and technical and vocational institution that participates in the federal student financial aid programs.
- SREB States – Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, West Virginia
- Student Level – The total accredited work by a student which reflects institutionally accepted progress toward a degree or certificate.
- Preparatory – A student concurrently enrolled in high school and college.
- Freshman – A student who has earned the equivalent of 0 to 29 semester credit hours.
- Sophomore – A student who has earned the equivalent of 30 to 59 semester credit hours.
- Junior – A student at a 4-Year institution who has earned the equivalent of 60 to 89 semester credit hours.
- Senior – A student at a 4-Yr institution who has earned the equivalent of 90 or more semester credit hours and who is seeking an undergraduate degree or credential up to the baccalaureate.
- Graduate I – A student admitted to and enrolled in a graduate degree program who is pursuing a Master’s degree or completing the first 30 hours of graduate credit work.
- Graduate II – A student who is admitted to and enrolled in a doctoral degree or post-doctoral program and has accumulated at least 30 hours of graduate credit.
- Specialist – A student who holds a bachelor’s degree or the equivalent ( “professional” degree) and is pursuing an educational specialist certificate/degree.
- Professional 1 – A student enrolled in the first year of the curriculum at a professional school (audiology, dentistry, law, medicine, nursing practice, pharmacy, physical therapy, and veterinary medicine).
- Professional 2 – A student enrolled in the second year of the curriculum at a professional school.
- Professional 3 – A student enrolled in the third year of the curriculum at a professional school.
- Professional 4 – A student enrolled in the fourth year of the curriculum at a professional school.
- Student Race – An indication of the student’s ethnic origin.
- Asian – A person having origins in any of the original peoples of the Far East, Southeast Asia, or the Indian Subcontinent, including, for example, Cambodia, China, India, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Pakistan, the Philippine Islands, Thailand, and Vietnam.
- American Indian or Alaskan Native – A person having origins in any of the original peoples of North and South America (including Central America) who maintains cultural identification through tribal affiliation or community attachment.
- Black, Non-Hispanic – A person having origins in any of the black racial groups of Africa.
- Hispanic – A person of Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, Central or South American, or other Spanish culture or origin, regardless of race.
- Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander – A person having origins in any of the original peoples of Hawaii, Guam, Samoa, or other Pacific Islands.
- White, Non-Hispanic – A person having origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, North Africa, or the Middle East.
- Foreign/Non-Resident Alien – A person who is not a citizen or national of the United States and who is in this country on a visa or temporary basis and does not have the right to remain indefinitely.
- Race/ethnicity Unknown – Student did not supply their race/ethnic designation.
- Two or more races – Two or more races.
- Total Student Credit Hours Scheduled (at Census Date) – This is the total, to the tenths, of the courses for credit that a student is enrolled in at the institution’s defined statistics day. Audit courses, “no credit” courses, and “noncredit” courses are not included in this total. Cross-enrolled courses are included in this total.
