• Admitted: Applicants who have been granted an official offer to enroll in a postsecondary institution.
• Applied/Applicant: An individual who has fulfilled the institution’s requirements to be considered for admission (including payment or waiving of the application fee, if any) and who has been notified of one of the following actions: admission, non-admission, placement on waiting list, or application withdrawn by applicant or institution.
• Cohort: A specific group of students established for tracking purposes.
  • Adjusted cohort**: The result of removing any allowable exclusions from a cohort (or subcohort). For the Fall Enrollment component, it is the cohort for calculating retention rate; for the Graduation Rates component, this is the cohort from which graduation and transfer-out rates are calculated; and for the Outcome Measures component, these are the four cohorts (first-time, full-time, first-time, part-time; non-first-time, full-time; or non-first-time, part-time) for which outcomes rates are calculated at 4, 6, and 8 years.
  • Cohort year: The year that a cohort of students begins attending college.
  • Exclusions: Those students who may be removed (deleted) from a cohort (or subcohort). For the Graduation Rates, Outcome Measures, and Fall Enrollment retention rate reporting, students may be removed from a cohort if they left the institution for one of the following reasons: death or total and permanent disability; service in the armed forces (including those called to active duty); service with a foreign aid service of the federal government, such as the Peace Corps; or service on official church missions.
  • Fall cohort: The group of students entering the fall term established for tracking purposes. Graduation Rates.
  • Full-year cohort: This is a group of students entering at any time during the 12-month period for tracking and reporting. For Graduation Rate (GR), a full-year cohort is from September 1 through August 31 and is used primarily by institutions that offer occupational programs of varying lengths. Students must be full-time and first-time to be considered in the cohort. For the Outcome Measures (OM) component, all degree-granting institutions report on a full-year cohort from July 1 through June 30. Students are reported once in one of the four OM cohorts: first-time, full-time; first-time, part-time; non-first-time, full-time; or non-first-time, part-time.
  • Initial cohort: A specific group of individuals established for tracking purposes. For the Graduation Rates (GR) and Outcome Measures (OM) components of IPEDS, the initial cohort is defined as the enrollment count before removing revisions and exclusions of all degree/certificate-seeking students who enter in either (1) the fall term of a given academic year, or (2) between September 1st and August 31st of the following year. For the GR component of IPEDS, the initial cohort is only for full-time, first-time students. For OM, all undergraduates are placed in one of four initial cohorts: full-time, first-time; part-time, first-time; full-time, non-first-time; and part-time, non-first time.
  • Other degree/certificate-seeking subcohort: A subset of students belonging to a GR cohort who were seeking a degree or certificate other than a bachelor’s degree upon entry.
  • Revised cohort: Initial cohort after revisions are made. Cohorts may be revised if an institution discovers that incorrect data were reported in an earlier year.
  • Sub-cohort: A predefined subset of the initial cohort or the revised cohort established for tracking purposes. Degree/certificate-seeking students in the bachelor’s degree-seeking group in the Graduation Rates (GR) component and Pell-Grant, non-first-time, part-time students in the Outcome Measures (OM) component are examples of sub-cohorts.
• Completer: A student who receives a degree, diploma, certificate, or other recognized postsecondary credential. In order to be considered a completer, the degree/award must actually be conferred.
• Completers within 150% of normal time: Students who completed their program within 150% of the normal (or expected) time for completion.
• Continuing/Returning student (undergraduate): A student who is not new to the institution in the fall but instead is continuing his or her studies at the institution (i.e., not first-time and not transfer-in).
• Cost of attendance (for IPEDS reporting purposes): The amount of tuition and fees; food and housing; books, course materials, supplies, and equipment; and other expenses that a full-time, first-time degree/certificate-seeking student can expect to pay to go to college for an academic year. Costs reported to IPEDS by the institution are those amounts used by the financial aid office to determine a student’s financial need for the academic year, which is typically nine months.
• 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 postsecondary degree, diploma, certificate, or other recognized postsecondary credential, irrespective of the activity’s unit of measurement.
• Credit course: A course that, if successfully completed, can be applied toward the number of courses required for achieving a postsecondary degree, diploma, certificate, or other recognized postsecondary credential, irrespective of the activity’s unit of measurement.
• Data dictionary: A file or a list that contains all known information about variables such as format, data type, field width, and source.
• Data revision system: The Web environment where an institution’s prior year data may be revised by keyholders or data managers.
• Data year: The year to which data pertains to a particular IPEDS component. For example, for collection year 2003-04, tuition is for data year 2003-04, whereas completions are for data year 2002-03.
• Database: Collection of electronically stored data or unit records (facts, bibliographic data, and texts) with a common user interface and software for retrieving and manipulating the data. The data or records are usually collected with a particular intent and relate to a defined topic. Each database is counted individually, even if access to several databases is supported through the same vendor interface.
• Degree/certificate-seeking students: Students enrolled in courses for credit who are seeking a degree, certificate, or other recognized postsecondary credential. This includes students who:
  • received any federal financial aid, regardless of what courses they took at any time;
  • received any state or locally-based financial aid with an eligibility requirement that the student be enrolled in a degree, certificate, or transfer-seeking program or
  • obtained a student visa to study at a U.S. postsecondary institution
    *High school students also enrolled in postsecondary courses for credit are not considered degree/certificate-seeking.
• Distance education course: A course in which the instructional content is delivered exclusively via distance education. Requirements for coming to campus for orientation, testing, or academic support services do not exclude a course from being classified as distance education.
• Distance education program: A program for which all the required coursework for program completion is able to be completed via distance education courses.
• Distance education: Education that uses one or more technologies to deliver instruction to students who are separated from the instructor and to support regular and substantive interaction between the students and the instructor synchronously or asynchronously.
• Dual credit: A program through which high school students are enrolled in Advanced Placement (AP) courses taught at their high school that fulfill high school graduation requirements and may earn the student college credits. (Term used in the IPEDS prior to 2021–22).
• Dual enrollment: Refers to students who enroll in college courses offered by an institution of higher education while enrolled in high school or seeking a recognized equivalent. Student performance is recorded on a college transcript, and postsecondary credit is awarded for a passing grade in the course.
  • Includes: All postsecondary courses, independent of course delivery mode, course location, course instructor, whether secondary credit is also offered, and whether the student enrolls through a formal state/local program or enrolls outside a formal state/local program.
  • Excludes: Credit-by-exam models such as Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate in which the student is not enrolled in a postsecondary institution.
• Enrolled/Enrolled for credit: Credit is the recognition of attendance or performance in an instructional activity (course or program) that can be applied by a recipient toward the requirements for a postsecondary degree, diploma, certificate, or other recognized postsecondary credential, irrespective of the activity’s unit of measurement.
• Entering students (undergraduate): Students at the undergraduate level, both full-time and part-time, coming into the institution for the first time in the fall term (or the prior summer session who returned again in the fall). This includes all first-time undergraduate students, students transferring into the institution at the undergraduate level for the first time, and non-degree/non-certificate-seeking undergraduates entering in the fall.
• Fall Enrollment (EF): This annual component of IPEDS collects data on the number of students enrolled in the fall at postsecondary institutions. Students reported are those enrolled in courses creditable toward a degree or other recognized postsecondary credential; students enrolled in courses that are part of a vocational or occupational program, including those enrolled in off-campus or extension centers; and high school students taking college courses for credit. Institutions report annually the number of full- and part-time students by gender, race/ethnicity, and level (undergraduate and graduate, including doctor’s – professional practice students); the total number of full- and part-time undergraduate degree/certificate-seeking students (first-time entering, transfer-ins, and continuing/returning) and full- and part-time undergraduate non-degree/non-certificate students); and retention rates. In even-numbered years, data are collected for state of residence of first-time students and for the number of those students who graduated from high school or received high school equivalent certificates in the past 12 months. Also, in even-numbered years, 4-year institutions are required to provide enrollment data by gender, race/ethnicity, and level for selected fields of study. In odd-numbered years, data are collected for enrollment by age category, student level, and gender.
• First-time student (undergraduate): A student who has no prior postsecondary experience (except as noted below) attending any institution for the first time at the undergraduate level. This includes students enrolled in academic or occupational programs. It also includes students enrolled in the fall term who attended college for the first time in the prior summer session and students who entered with advanced standing (college credits or recognized postsecondary credentials earned before graduation from high school).
• Full-time student: Undergraduate: A student enrolled for 12 or more semester credits, or 12 or more quarter credits, or 24 or more clock hours a week each term. Graduate: A student enrolled for 9 or more semester credits, or 9 or more quarter credits, or a student involved in thesis or dissertation preparation that is considered full-time by the institution. Doctor’s degree – Professional practice – full-time as defined by the institution.
  • FTF: First-Time Freshman– any entering freshman who has never attended any college. FTF includes students enrolled in the fall term who earned credits in the prior summer term and students who entered with college credits earned before graduating from high school (i.e., dual credit).
  • FTFT: Full-time, First-time Freshman– a student who meets the above characteristics AND is enrolled in at least 12 hours.
• Full-time equivalent (FTE) (by student headcounts):  The number of FTE students is calculated based on fall student headcounts as reported by the institution on the IPEDS Enrollment (EF) component (Part A). The full-time equivalent (headcount) of the institution’s part-time enrollment is estimated by multiplying the factors noted below times the part-time headcount. These are then added to the full-time enrollment headcounts to obtain an FTE for all students enrolled in the fall. This formula is used to produce an FTE that is used annually in the Digest of Education Statistics.
  • Part-time undergraduate enrollment
    • Public 4-year (.403543)
    • Private (not-for-profit and for-profit) 4-year (.392857)
    • Public 2-year and <2-year (.335737)
    • All other institutions (.397058)
  • Part-time graduate enrollment
    • • Public 4-year (.361702)
      • Private (not-for-profit and for-profit) 4-year (.382059)
• Graduate Assistants (Other): Graduate assistants are not included in the graduate assistant teaching or research sections.
• Graduate Assistants (Research): Graduate assistants whose specific assignments customarily are made for the purpose of conducting research.
• Graduate Assistants (Teaching): Graduate assistants who assist faculty or other instructional staff in postsecondary institutions by performing teaching or teaching-related duties, such as teaching lower-level courses, developing teaching materials, preparing and giving examinations, and grading examinations or papers.
• Graduate student: A student who holds a bachelor’s degree or above and is taking courses at the postbaccalaureate level. These students may or may not be enrolled in graduate programs.
• Graduation Rates: This calculation pertains to all students who enter an institution as full-time, first-time degree—or certificate-seeking undergraduate students during the fall term of a given year.
• In-district student: A student who is a legal resident of the locality in which he/she attends school and thus is entitled to reduced tuition charges if offered by the institution.
• In-state student: A student who is a legal resident of the state where he/she attends school.
• Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS): The Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS), conducted by the NCES, began in 1986 and involves annual institution-level data collection. All postsecondary institutions that have a Program Participation Agreement with the Office of Postsecondary Education (OPE), U.S. Department of Education (throughout IPEDS referred to as “Title IV”) are required to report data using a web-based data collection system. IPEDS currently consists of the following components: Institutional Characteristics (IC); 12-month Enrollment (E12); Completions (C); Admissions (ADM); Student Financial Aid (SFA); Human Resources (HR) composed of Employees by Assigned Position, Fall Staff, and Salaries; Fall Enrollment (EF); Graduation Rates (GR); Outcome Measures (OM); Finance (F); and Academic Libraries (AL).
  • Institutional Characteristics (IC): This annual component is the core of the IPEDS system and is required of all currently operating Title IV postsecondary institutions in the United States and other areas. As the control file for the entire IPEDS system, IC constitutes the sampling frame for all other NCES surveys of postsecondary institutions. It also helps determine the specific IPEDS screens that are shown to each institution. This component collects the basic institutional data that are necessary to sort and analyze not only the IC DATA but also all other IPEDS DATAs. IC data are collected for the academic year, which generally extends from September of one calendar year to June of the following year. Specific data elements currently collected for each institution include institution name, address, telephone number, control or affiliation, calendar system, levels of degrees and awards offered, types of programs, application information, student services, and accreditation. The IC component also collects pricing information, including tuition and required fees, food and housing charges, books and supplies, and other expenses for release on College Navigator.
  • IPEDS Use the Data Webpage: (formerly IPEDS Data Center) The IPEDS Use the Data webpage is the single entry point for retrieving IPEDS data. Using the webpage, one can easily download data files for one or more institutions with information from any of the IPEDS survey components, download complete data files, produce various reports and data trends, or create group statistics.
• IE: Institutional Effectiveness
• IR: Institutional Research
• Non-first-time entering student (undergraduate): A student who has prior postsecondary experience before attending the reporting IPEDS institution. This cohort of students may closely reflect the transfer-in (non-first-time entering) enrollment from Fall Enrollment (EF), 12-month Enrollment (E12), and Outcomes Measures (OM) components.
• Noncredit course: A course or activity having no credit applicable toward a degree, diploma, certificate, or other recognized postsecondary credential.
• Other degree/certificate-seeking sub-cohort: A subset of students belonging to a GR cohort who were seeking a degree or certificate other than a bachelor’s degree upon entry.
• Out-of-state student: A student who is not a legal resident of the state where he/she attends school.
• Race/ethnicity: Categories developed in 1997 by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) that are 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. 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
• Required fees: Fixed sum charged to students for items not covered by tuition and required of such a large proportion of all students that the student who does not pay the charge is an exception.
• Retention rate: A measure of the rate at which students persist in their educational program at an institution, expressed as a percentage. For four-year institutions, this is the percentage of first-time bachelor’s (or equivalent) degree-seeking undergraduates from the previous fall who are again enrolled in the current fall. For all other institutions, this is the percentage of first-time degree/certificate-seeking students from the previous fall who either re-enrolled or successfully completed their program by the current fall.
• SACSCOC: The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges
• Stop out: A student who left the institution and returned at a later date.
• Total cost of attendance: The sum of the cost of attendance components used to compute the average net price for first-time, full-time degree, or certificate-seeking students for IPEDS reporting purposes. This amount is typically based on a nine-month period for institutions using a traditional academic calendar. Program reporters provide one month of costs that are annualized in the system for IPEDS reporting purposes.
• Transfer-in student (non-first-time entering): A student entering the reporting institution for the first time but known to have previously attended a postsecondary institution at the same level (e.g., undergraduate, graduate). This includes new students enrolled in the fall term who transferred into the reporting institution the prior summer session. The student may transfer with or without credit. For systems of coordinated institutions (multi-campus system), students are to be identified as transfer-in students upon entering an institution from another institution within the same coordinated system.
• Undergraduate: A student enrolled in a 4- or 5-year bachelor’s degree program, an associate’s degree program, or a vocational or technical program below the baccalaureate.
• Variable: A fundamental unit of data contained in a file that is given a unique label.

**Includes: All postsecondary courses, independent of course delivery mode, course location, course instructor, whether secondary credit is also offered, and whether the student enrolls through a formal state/local program or enrolls outside a formal state/local program. Excludes: Credit-by-exam models such as Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate in which the student is not enrolled in a postsecondary institution.