Glossary

A | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | L | M | N | P | R | S | T | U | Y

A

Academic Year - The time period containing the academic sessions held during consecutive Fall, Spring, and Summer terms.

Accelerate Program - Completion of a college program of study in fewer than the usual number of years, most often by attending summer sessions and carrying extra courses during the regular academic term.

Adjunct Faculty - University employees who carry an employee classification of temporary full-time or part-time faculty in the Baylor human resource database.

Aid Year - Period of activity from August through July of the following year.

Applied/Complete - Applied:  An application has been submitted requesting admission to Baylor.  Complete:  The applicant has supplied the required documentation such that Baylor has the information necessary to make an admissions decision on the applicant.

C

Campus of Program - Campus location for an instructional program.

CDS (Common Data Set) - a collaborative effort among data providers in the higher education community and publishers as represented by the College Board, Thomson Peterson's, and U.S. News & World Report. The combined goal of this collaboration is to improve the quality and accuracy of information provided to all involved in a student's transition into higher education, as well as to reduce the reporting burden on data providers.

The CDS is a set of standards and definitions of data items rather than a survey instrument or set of data represented in a database. Each of the higher education surveys conducted by the participating publishers incorporates items from the CDS as well as unique items proprietary to each publisher. Consequently, the publishers' surveys differ in that they utilize varying numbers of items from the CDS.

Census Date - The official reporting date for institutional data. For semester terms, the census date falls on the twelfth class day of the fall and spring semesters and on the fourth day of the second summer session.  The census date is also the twelfth class day for quarter and trimester terms.
This provides a statistical portrait of the institution at a fixed point in time. Data collected on the census date are reported to internal and external authorities. The fall census date is reported for most purposes and is used to measure changes in enrollment. Spring enrollment is usually lower than fall enrollment because students graduate in December and the number of new students entering in spring semesters is small compared to fall semesters.

CIP (Classification of Instruction Programs) Discipline Code - These codes represent a nationally used, common taxonomy for the classification of higher education degree programs. The CIP is the standard method for reporting academic programs to the Federal government.

Credit - Recognition of attendance or performance in an instructional activity (course or program) that can be applied by a recipient toward the requirements for a degree, diploma, certificate, or other formal award.

Credit Hour - A unit counted toward completion of an academic program. Each course is worth a number of credit hours (also known as "credits"). The number of credit hours reflects the number of hours a student spends in class for that course per week.

D

Degree Count Type - Denotes whether degrees are counted by program or major.

Degree Seeking Student - Students enrolled in courses for credit who are recognized by the institution as seeking a degree or other formal award.

Dual Enrollment - A program through which high school students may enroll in college courses while still enrolled in high school. Students are not required to apply for admission to the college in order to participate.

E

Educational Goal (Ed Goal) - Indicator of a student's interest in health or law related professional fields, such as pre-medical or pre-physical therapy, separate from a student's major.

Enrollment Type - Denotes Headcount, Program Count or Major Count enrollment numbers.

F

Federal Race/Ethnicity - Race/ethnicity categories as defined for federal reporting such as IPEDS.  This classification reports U.S. Nonresidents separately.  See Racial/Ethnic Classification for further definition of how race/ethnicity is identified.

Financial Need Score (SNS) - Indicator if a student has high financial need as defined from the CSS Profile Expected Family Contribution (EFC).

First-generation Status (FGCS) - Indicates whether a student is a first-generation college student, if neither parent completed a four-year degree.

First-Time Freshman - An undergraduate student newly enrolled at Baylor University and not previously enrolled in a postsecondary degree program. This includes students enrolled in the fall term who attended college for the first time in the prior summer term and students who entered with advanced standing (college credits earned before graduation from high school).

Fiscal Year - A twelve-month period running from June 1st through the following May 31st.

FTE (Full-Time Equivalent) Employee - A numerical designator for an appointment based on 100% for full-time. An FTE for a full-time employee is 1.00. (Two people each serving in half-time faculty positions would equal, together, one FTE faculty position.)

FTE (Full-Time Equivalent) Student - A measure of student enrollment calculated on the total number of student credit hours. Every 12 credit hours at the undergraduate level equals 1.0 FTE, every 10 credit hours in the Law School JD program equals 1.0 FTE, and every 9 credits hours in all other graduate programs equals 1.0 FTE student.

Full-time Faculty - University employees who are employed full-time and carry an employee classification of contract faculty, senior lecturer, or full-time lecturer in the Baylor human resource database, excluding temporary faculty.

Full-time Staff - University employees who are employed full-time and are not classified as faculty, excluding temporary employees.

G

Gateway - One to three semester non-degree program designed for international students to prepare them for future academic success in their chosen degree program.

Graduation Rate - The percentage of a student cohort graduating four, five or six years from the date they entered.

H

Headcount - Number of individual people, whether full-time or part-time.  Dual-major students are counted once at the University within their primary unit or major.

Honors - Any special program for very able students offering the opportunity for educational enrichment, independent study, acceleration, or some combination of these.

I

Inquiry - Prospective student in the Admissions database who could be a candidate for admission to the specific recruiting term being reported.

IPEDS (Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System) - the core postsecondary education data collection system for the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES).

L

Legacy - A student whose relative has attended, or is attending, Baylor (grandparent, mother, father, sibling, aunt, uncle, husband, wife, cousin, or child).  This item is self-reported by students and collected at the time of application.

M

Major Count - Unduplicated count of students for each major in which they are enrolled.

Major Field of Study - Students are classified as majors according to their selection of a primary field of study. This field must be selected from approved programs within each degree program.

N

Non-Degree Seeking - A student enrolled in courses for credit who is not recognized by the institution as seeking a degree or formal award.

P

Postbaccalaureate Student - A student with a bachelor's degree who is enrolled in courses not to be credited toward a graduate degree or for graduate credit.

Program Count - Unduplicated count of students for each academic program in which they are enrolled.

R

Racial/Ethnic Classification - Categories used to describe groups to which individuals belong, identify with, or belong in the eyes of the community. The categories do not denote scientific definitions of anthropological origins. The designations are used to categorize U.S. citizens, residents, and other eligible non-citizens.
Ethnicity is self-reported. A new methodology for reporting categories was created by the federal government and was adopted at Baylor in October 2010.

Individuals are asked to first designate ethnicity as:
   - Hispanic or Latino or
   - Not Hispanic or Latino

Second, individuals are asked to indicate all races that apply among the following:
   - American Indian or Alaska Native
   - Asian
   - Black or African American
   - Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander
   - White

Retention rate - The proportion of students remaining within an institution once matriculating through the institution. Retention rates are typically reported from fall to the following spring (Fall-to-spring retention) or from one fall to the following fall (fall-to-fall retention).  These figures are based on cohorts; for example, all undergraduates in a particular term, or all entering first-time freshmen.

S

Season - Period of time used to identify enrollment terms for students, including summer, fall, winter, and spring.

Site - Indicates the location where students receive course instruction.

Specialized Programs - Academic programs that grant awards other than certificates, bachelors, masters, or doctoral degrees.

Student/Faculty Ratio - The number of FTE undergraduate students per FTE faculty.

T

Tenure - A status granted to professors that gives protection from summary dismissal.

Time to Graduation - Number of years from a student's entry term to term of graduation.

Transfer Student - An undergraduate student newly enrolled at Baylor University who was previously enrolled in a postsecondary degree program at another institution.

Trends - a report that presents comparative information about enrollment and student characteristics, faculty and staff, and the University's financial status over a seven year period.

U

Underrepresented Minority (URM) - Racial/ethnic groups identified as African American/Black, American Indian or Alaskan Native, Hispanic, Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander, and Multiracial.  Individuals identified as White, Asian, have no race/ethnicity specified, and those considered U.S. nonresidents are not classified as underrepresented minorities.

U.S. Resident - A person who is not a citizen or national of the United States but who has been admitted as a legal immigrant for the purpose of obtaining permanent resident status (and who holds either a registration card (Form I-551 or I-151), a Temporary Resident Card (Form I-688), or an Arrival-Departure Record (Form I-94) with a notation that conveys legal immigrant status such as Section 207 Refugee, Section 208 Asylee, Conditional Entrant Parolee or Cuban-Haitian).

U.S. Nonresident - 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.

Y

Year Type - Indicator for the periods of time used in reporting.  Aid year includes activity from August through July of the following year.  Calendar year includes activity from January through December.  Fiscal year includes activity from June through May of the following year.