Glossary

Institutional Research Glossary

SUNY System Institutional Research Official Glossary of Terms (PDF)

SUNY Institutional Research Data Resources

• Academic Program Enterprise System (APES) - The inventory of all academic programs offered by the State University of New York. (S)
• Census Date – The date computed from the part-of-term which is used to officially measure enrollment and workload statistics. For a fifteen week term, it is the end of the third week of classes (i.e., 20 days after the first day of classes). For courses that meet for less than fifteen weeks, the census date is calculated when 20% of class work has been completed. (S)
• Classification of Instructional Programs (CIP) - A taxonomy of academic disciplines used to classify courses or academic majors.
• Continuing Student – A student in the current term who was enrolled during the previous term. In the case of the fall term, “previous term” shall mean either the previous summer or spring term. (S)
• Credit Course – Those courses which can be used to meet the requirements of a degree or certificate granted by Monroe Community College. (S)
• Credit Hours – The number of academic units assigned to a credit course. A semester credit hour is granted for satisfactory completion of one 50-minute session of classroom instruction per week for a semester of not less than fifteen weeks. This basic measure may be adjusted proportionately to reflect modified academic calendars or formats of study. (S)
• Cross Registration – A cooperative arrangement between colleges that allows a full-time matriculated undergraduate student to receive instruction and obtain academic credit for courses administered by an institution other than the student’s home institution. These arrangements are to be established on a quid pro quo basis. (S)
• Equivalent Credit Hours – Imputed credit hours for workload calculations for certain instructional activities which generate workload but do not generate academic credit.
  
  The relationship between class hours and equivalent credit hours is as follows:
  • Educational activities structured as typical classroom courses (including developmental and remedial courses) would be accounted for on a standard one- for-one basis, i.e., one class contact hour per week per term is awarded one credit hour.
  • A laboratory component, typically related to a lecture, is counted on a three-for one-credit hour.
  • Learning Centers, available for the individualized instruction of the student under the supervision of instructional employees, are counted on a two-for-one basis, i.e., two class contact hours per week per term are awarded one credit hour.
  • Practice Centers, available for the casual use of the student on an as-needed basis, do not generate any equivalent credit hours. (S)
• First-Time Student – A student who has not been previously enrolled at any college or university and who is enrolled for the first time at Monroe Community College in a term. A student enrolled for the first time during a summer term is classified as first-time in the following fall term. (S)
• Foreign Student – A student who is neither a citizen of the United States nor holds Permanent Residence Status. (S)
• Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) – A unit of measure derived from student credit hours. One FTE is equivalent to 15 student credit hours. This measure is used for semester FTEs, for annual, one FTE is equivalent to 30 student credit hours. At Monroe Community College we usually report annual FTEs in our website.
  For example: A 3-credit class of 32 students has (3 x 32)/30 = 3.2 FTEs (S)
• Full-Time Student – A student who is enrolled for 12 or more credit hours in a given semester. (S)
• IPEDS (Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System) - A data collection system conducted by the National Center for Educational Statistics (NCES). IPEDS currently consists of the following data gathering surveys: Institutional Characteristics (IC); Completions (C); Employees by Assigned Position (EAP); Fall Staff (S); Salaries (SA); Enrollment (EF); Graduation Rates (GRS); Finance (F); and Student Financial Aid (SFA).
• Matriculated Student – A student who has been formally accepted into and is enrolled in a degree/certificate program.
• Non-Credit Courses – Courses for which regular College credit is not awarded and which cannot be used to meet the requirements for a degree or certificate.
• Non-Credit Courses; State Aidable - A subgroup of non-credit courses which are eligible for State operating budget aid; only remedial courses are in this subgroup. (S)
• Non-Matriculated Student - A student who is enrolled at the college to take certain credit courses, but who has neither formally matriculated nor is considered by the institution to be currently pursuing a specific type of degree. (S)
• Part-time Student - A student who is enrolled for fewer than 12 credit hours in a given semester. (S)
• Returning Student - A student in the current term who has been enrolled at the college, but was not enrolled in the previous term. In the case of the fall term, "previous term" shall include both the previous summer and spring terms; e.g., a student in the fall of 2006 is a returning student if he/she was previously enrolled at the college but in neither the spring 2006 nor summer 2006 terms. (S)
• STEM - Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. MCC categorizes academic programs as being composed of two categories: “Applied STEM” and “Transfer STEM.” Download this pdf of MCC's advising codes that was approved by the Academic Leadership Council in 2012, and by the Provost and the Vice President of EDIWS.
• Student/Faculty Ratio - The ratio of full-time equivalent students (student contact hours divided by 30) to full-time equivalent faculty during a semester. This ratio is calculated by dividing the full-time equivalent student workload by the full-time equivalent faculty. (S)
• Transfer Student - A student who is enrolled at Monroe Community College for the first time in the current term, but has attended other colleges or universities prior to the current term. (S)