Annual Report Definitions and FAQ

NWCCU Annual Report Definitions (2013)


Institution Type	Public institution	An educational institution whose programs and activities are operated by publicly elected or appointed school officials and which is supported primarily by public funds.

	Tribal/ Native institution	Tribal colleges are institutions of higher education, chartered by the governing body of one or more federally recognized tribes. The colleges are locally governed and most are located on American Indian reservations. They exist to provide higher education opportunities to American Indians/Alaskan Natives through programs that are locally- and culturally-based, holistic, and supportive.

	Private non-profit institution	An educational institution controlled by a private individual(s) or by a nongovernmental agency, usually supported primarily by other than public funds, and operated by other than publicly elected or appointed officials. A private institution in which the individual(s) or agency in control receives no compensation, other than wages, rent, or other expenses for the assumption of risk. These include both independent not-for-profit schools and those affiliated with a religious organization.

	Private for-profit institution	An educational institution controlled by a private individual(s) or by a nongovernmental agency, usually supported primarily by other than public funds, and operated by other than publicly elected or appointed officials. A private institution in which the individual(s) or agency in control receives compensation, other than wages, rent, or other expenses for the assumption of risk.

Degree Levels	Associate	An award that normally requires at least 2 but less than 4 years of full-time equivalent college work.

	Baccalaureate	An award that normally requires at least 4 but not more than 5 years of full-time equivalent college-level work. This includes all bachelor's degrees conferred in a 5-year cooperative (work-study) program. A cooperative plan provides for alternate class attendance and employment in business, industry, or government; thus, it allows students to combine actual work experience with their college studies. Also includes bachelor's degrees in which the normal 4 years of work are completed in 3 years.

	Master	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. Some of these degrees, such as those in Theology (M.Div., M.H.L./Rav) that were formerly classified as "first-professional", may require more than two full-time equivalent academic years of work.

	Doctorate	The highest award a student can earn for graduate study. The doctor's degree classification includes such degrees as Doctor of Education, Doctor of Juridical Science, Doctor of Public Health, and the Doctor of Philosophy degree in any field such as agronomy, food technology, education, engineering, public administration, ophthalmology, or radiology. This degree level includes both “first-professional” degrees of professional practices, such as the DC, DDS or DMD, LLB or JD, and research/scholarship degrees based on original research, such as the PhD, EdD, DMA, DBA, and DM.

Calendar Plans	Semester (calendar system)	A calendar system that consists of two sessions called semesters during the academic year with about 15 weeks for each semester of instruction. There may be an additional summer session.

	Trimester (calendar system)	An academic year consisting of 3 terms of about 15 weeks each.

	4-1-4 (calendar system)	The 4-1-4 calendar usually consists of 4 courses taken for 4 months, 1 course taken for 1 month, and 4 courses taken for 4 months. There may be an additional summer session.

	Quarter (calendar system)	A calendar system in which the academic year consists of 3 sessions called quarters of about 12 weeks each. The range may be from 10 to 15 weeks as defined by the institution. There may be an additional quarter in the summer.

Student Enrollment	Unclassified students	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 regular college courses for credit.

	Unduplicated count	The sum of students enrolled for credit with each student counted only once during the reporting period, regardless of when the student enrolled. Use fall 2012 enrollment data.

	Full-Time Equivalent (FTE)	The full-time equivalent (FTE) of students is a single value providing a meaningful combination of full time and part time students. Use a calculation based on fall student headcounts only. A full-time student is defined as: Undergraduate—A student enrolled for 12 or more semester credits, or 12 or more quarter credits, or 24 or more contact 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; First-professional—as defined by the institution.
		The full-time equivalent (headcount) of the institution's part-time enrollment is estimated by multiplying the factors appropriate to categories of part-time headcount. These are then added to the full-time enrollment headcounts to obtain a total FTE for all students enrolled in the fall term.

Faculty	Full-time faculty	Those members of the instruction/research staff who are employed full-time and whose major regular assignment is instruction, including those with released time for research. Also, includes full-time faculty for whom it is not possible to differentiate between teaching, research and public service because each of these functions is an integral component of his/her regular assignment. These persons may hold academic rank titles of professor, associate professor, assistant professor, instructor, lecturer, or the equivalent. This category also includes persons who may hold titles such as deans, directors, or the equivalent, as well as associate deans, assistant deans, and executive officers of academic departments (chairpersons, heads, or equivalent) if their principal activity is instruction combined with research and/or public service.

	Part-time faculty	Those members of the instruction/research staff who are employed on hourly or less than fulltime contracts.

	Unduplicated count	The sum of faculty employed counted only once during the reporting period, regardless of when the faculty was hired. Use fall term 2012 faculty data.

	FTE faculty	The full-time-equivalent (FTE) of faculty is the total number of full-time faculty positions employed in fall term 2012. Part-time faculty FTE is the unduplicated headcount employed in fall term 2012 adjusted for comparable full-time equivalent workloads using total credits taught by all part-time faculty

Institutional Finances	Expenses for Private/ Independent institutions	For those institutions using the Financial Accounting Standard Board (FASB) to prepare financial statements, insert Line #13 of the IPEDS Part E (Expenses by Functional and Natural Classification) of your Spring collection of the 2012-2013 Finance survey. For those institutions using the Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) to prepare financial statements, insert Line #19 of the IPEDS Part C (Expenses and Other Deductions) of your Spring collection of the 2012-2013 Finance survey.

	Expenses for Public institutions	For those institutions using the Financial Accounting Standard Board (FASB) to prepare financial statements, insert Line #13 of the IPEDS Part E (Expenses by Functional and Natural Classification) of your Spring collection of the 2012-2013 Finance survey. Exclude separate medical school and/or hospital budgets in your total. For those institutions using the Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) to prepare financial statements, insert Line #19 of the IPEDS Part C (Expenses and Other Deductions) of your Spring collection of the 2012-2013 Finance survey. Exclude separate medical school and/or hospital budgets in your total.

	Expenses	Expenses incurred through natural classifications such as salaries and wages, benefits, operation and maintenance of the plant, depreciation and interest. For examples of expenses to include, expenses in functional categories of expenses are typical categories, such as instruction, research, public service, academic support, student services, institutional support, auxiliary enterprises, and independent operations.

Deficit	Operating Deficit	For those institutions using the Financial Accounting Standard Board (FASB) to prepare financial statements, insert Line #16 of the IPEDS Part D (Revenues and Investment Return) of your Spring collection of the 2012-2013 Finance survey MINUS Line #13 Part E (Expenses by Functional and Natural Classification). If the result is less than zero, enter the result in the Operating Deficit field. For those institutions using the Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) to prepare financial statements, insert Line #25 of the IPEDS Part B (Revenues and Other Additions) of your Spring collection of the 2012-2013 Finance survey MINUS Line #19 Part C (Expenses and Other Deductions). If the result is less than zero, enter the result in the Operating Deficit field.

	Accumulated Deficit	For this year's 2013 Annual Report only, please input the amount reported in the 2012 Annual Report Operating Deficit field minus the amount reported in the 2013 Annual Report Operating Deficit field.

Default Rate	Cohort default rate	As defined by the US Department of Education, the percentage of an institution's borrowers who enter repayment on loans during a federal fiscal year of October 1 to September 30, and subsequently default before the end of the next fiscal year. For institutions with thirty students or more, the calculation ends September 30, 2011, whereby the number of borrowers who entered repayment in 2010 and defaulted in 2010 or 2011, are divided by the number of borrowers who entered repayment in 2010 (two-year non-average rate). The calculation is based on the number of borrowers, not on the number or types of loans. Note: Any institution with less than thirty students must include student borrowers who entered repayment in that fiscal year and the two previous fiscal years and defaulted before the end of the following fiscal year (two-year average rate).

	Cohort fiscal year of 2010	The period extending from 10/1/2009 to 9/30/2011 for the number of borrowers who defaulted in 2010 and 2011, and the period 10/1/2009 to 9/30/2010 for the number of borrowers who entered repayment in 2010.