Glossary of Terms

Accountability Measures – defined in collaboration with EWU, other Baccalaureate institutions within the state, Office of Financial Management (OFM) and the Higher Education Coordinating Board (HECB) annually- includes: Common Measures- degrees awarded, bachelor’s degrees in high demand, six year graduation, three year graduation rate for transfers, first year freshman retention, percentage of bachelor’s degrees a awarded to students not exceeding 125%; EWU Specific Measures- learning environment index, enrollment, quality of instruction index, number of undergraduate programs with national accreditation, job placement/grad school enrollment rates of graduates, percentage of recent high school graduates requiring remediation, proportion of new students who come from a Washington Community and Technical College (WA CTC), and percentage of bachelor’s degrees earned by graduates with more than or equal to 40 credits  from WA CTC.

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) Indicators identified through the Academic Strategic Planning process.  Approved by the President’s Executive Committee and Cabinet by which we will measure improvement success in serving students---- linked to our accountability measures.  Includes: enrollment, graduation rates, retention rates, program quality and learning environment.

Retention- generally used to represent the percentage of fist-time/full-time freshman who returned the subsequent fall.  Measurements are represented in CSRDE Data, IPEDS and the Common Data Set. Transfer numbers are also available, yet not referenced nearly as much as freshman on a local or national level.

Continuation/Advancement Rate- used to describe the rate at which a cohort of students who started one term continue on to the next term - fall to winter, winter to spring or spring to fall rate.

Attrition/Departure Rate-  the percentage of students who leave EWU for a variety of reason i.e. social, academic, financial, etc. May be referred to by term or annual rate.

Graduation Rate- rate at which a cohort of entering students, most often first-time/full-time freshman, graduate with consecutive enrollment in a certain number of years- measured in 4, 5 and 6 year rates.

Conversion Rate-  the rate at which a particular category of enrollment is converted to something else- i.e. headcount to FTE conversion rate.

Biennium-  A two year time period.  Washington State makes funding decisions on a two year cycle.  The biennium begins on July 1 of an odd numbered year and ends on June 30 of the next odd numbered year.  For example: July 1, 2007 through June 30, 2009 is the 07-09 biennium.

Enrollment Types:

Headcount (HC)-  actual number of students.  Headcount can be referred to as the total number of students in a particular category of enrollment- i.e. state or self-support.  Headcount is often duplicated between the two categories.  Thus, you may see unduplicated headcount referenced.   

Full Time Equivalent (FTE)-  A measure used in presenting statistical data on students and/or staff.  The calculation depends on the credit value of the course and the number of students enrolled in a given quarter. There are several ways in which full time can be measured.

Types of Full-Time Measurements	Undergraduates Credits	Graduates  Credits
Financial Aid Eligibility  (ACG/SMART/Stafford- avg. for grade level progression)	12 (15)	10
NCAA Eligibility	12	12
OFM State Funding	15	10
Tuition-  Resident                        2006-2007	10-18 $4,695	10-18                   $6,882
Tuition -  Non- Resident              2006-2007	10-18                     $13,725	10-18            $17,508

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Full time equivalent (FTE)

A measure used in presenting statistical data on all employees.

one 12 month, 100% time employee = 1 FTE
one 9 month, 100% time faculty = 9/12 or .75 FTE

OR

2,088 hours of paid staff time per year

Full time equivalent Faculty (FTEF)  - A measure used in presenting statistical data on faculty.  One 9 month, 100% time faculty = 1 FTEF

Full time equivalent student (FTES)  - A measure used in presenting statistical data on students.  The calculation depends on the credit value of the course and the number of students enrolled in a given quarter.

For 100, 200, 300 and 400 level courses:
(Course credit hours * Student enrollment in class )/ 15 = 1 quarterly FTES

For 500 and 600 level courses:
(Course credit hours * Student enrollment in class )/ 10 = 1 quarterly FTES

Average Annual FTES - calculated by adding the quarterly FTES for Fall, Winter and Spring quarters and dividing by 3. 

State Support-  Office of Financial Management funded enrollment level based on annualized FTE.

Self Support- enrollments which are reported to OFM, but no state funding received per FTE i.e. EWU Running Start, Off campus programs (BCC, Dental Hygiene-Pierce, etc.), Independent Learning.   Generally, seventy five percent of revenue remains with sponsoring program and 25% allocated amongst Student Affairs, Academic Affairs, Division of International and Educational Outreach, entrepreneurial fund, and Business and Finance.

Annualized- this term is most often associated with headcount or FTE.  This is the average of all three terms- adding fall, winter and spring then dividing by 3.

EWU Budgeted Enrollment Level- Internal number for purposes of projecting operating fees revenue. This number is conservative compared to OFM budget level, projection and goals because it is the basis for budgeted spending.

Forecasted Enrollment Levels- baseline forecast based on populations by age, unemployment and per capita income (regression analysis) provided by Institute for Public Policy and Economic Analysis

Enrollment Targets/Goals- Executive level decision that will drive strategies FY 08 through FY 11 is for growth between 1.5% and 2.5%.

Projected Enrollments- takes place in the spring and is based off application trends for the upcoming fall.

Actual Enrollments (HC/FTE- state/self support)- May be measured by quarter or on an annualized basis

Total enrollments - includes both state and self-support.  May be annualized or quarterly.                                                                                   

Total unduplicated headcount- number reported to IPEDS that is inclusive of all enrollments types- state, self, waivers, etc.

Student Engagement– referred to as the level of student involvement in both academic and social activities.  Specifically measured by the National Study and Student Engagement (NSSE).

Recruitment- all outreach, marketing and promotional activities intended to progress students from a prospect to an inquiry to an applicant to an admitted student and ultimately an enrolled student.

Prospect- essentially any potential EWU student- could be freshman, transfer, or graduate student.  For example, we purchase SAT and NRCCUA names of high school student who may or may not be at all familiar with EWU.  Students are potentially from all over the U.S.

Inquiry- a prospective student who has requested more information from EWU and has been placed into our recruitment communication stream via Banner- student may have inquired directly via the web, high school or CC visit, college fair, etc.

Applicant- a student who has formally applied for admission to EWU.  This student may or may not have been an inquiry.

Admit- a student who has been offered admission to EWU

Enrollment – all yield activities intended to transition an admitted student to an enrolled student.

Enrollment Management- ability of the campus to work collaboratively to take into account and work with internal and external factors to manage enrollments – includes all recruitment, retention and graduation activities.  It is an important factor in assisting institutions to attain stated goals and remain financially viable.

Yield Rates- often used when referencing the total number of applications, admits, or confirmed students who in turn enroll.

Student Credit Hours (SCH)-   A measure used in presenting statistical data on students.  Number of Credits x Headcount in class = SCH

Budget Services website with glossary of terms- Glossary of Terms

Acronyms

HECB - Higher Education Coordinating Board The Washington State Higher Education Coordinating Board (HECB) is a nine-member board of citizens, appointed by the governor, to represent the broad public interest in the development of higher education policy.  The Board administers state-funded student financial aid, and performs some oversight and authorization functions in addition to its financial aid and policy duties.

OFM -  Office of Financial Management The Office of Financial Management provides vital information, fiscal services and policy support that the Governor, the Legislature and state agencies need to serve the people of Washington State.

HEER - Higher Education Enrollment Reports Quarterly reporting to the Washington State Office of Financial Management (OFM) on student enrollments at public universities.

OSPI - Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction

SBCTC - State Board for Community and Technical Colleges

WICHE - Western Interstate Commission of Higher Education

IPEDS -Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System Annual Survey conducted by the U.S. Department of Education.  The primary purpose is to collect basic data to describe the financial condition of postsecondary education in the nations; to monitor changes in postsecondary education finance; and to promote research involving institutional financial resources and expenditures.  Participation in the survey is mandatory for all institutions which participate in any Federal financial assistance program.

CSRDE -Consortium for Student Retention Data Exchange

COP – Council of Presidents A voluntary association of Washington's six public baccalaureate institutions of higher education to coordinate various groups and activities undertaken in the interest of higher education.  COP cooperates with a number of state agencies and the legislature to provide information and assistance in policy development.