Definition of Terms
Attrition: Refers to a student who fails to reenroll at an institution in consecutive semesters
Cohort: A specific group of students established for tracking purposes.
Dropout: Refers to a student who did not complete his educational goal
First-time student (undergraduate): A student who has no prior postsecondary experience 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 term, and students who entered with advanced standing (college credits earned before graduation from high school). (IPEDS)
First-year student: A student who has completed less than the equivalent of 1 full year of undergraduate work; that is, less than 30 semester hours (in a 120-hour degree program) or less than 900 contact hours. (IPEDS)
Off-campus student (not with family): A living arrangement in which a student does not live with the student’s parents or legal guardians in any housing facility that is not owned or controlled by the educational institution (IPEDS)
Persistence: refers to the desire and action of a student to stay within the system of higher education from beginning year through degree completion
Retention: refers to the ability of an institution to retain a student from admission to the university through graduation
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 bachelors (or equivalent) degree-seeking undergraduates from the previous fall who are again enrolled in the current fall. (IPEDS)
Stopout: refers to a student who temporarily withdraws from an institution
Transfer Student: 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). (IPEDS)
Withdrawal: refers to the departure of a student from a college or university