Definitions
TTU Definitions
Acronyms, Abbreviations and Internal Glossary of Terms
This list of terms is not necessarily inclusive. Please contact us if there are additional terms you believe should be added to this list.
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- 15th Class Day
- The official Summer semester census date for counting enrollment, semester credit hours, etc. for reporting to The THECB; used to determine funding.
- 20th Class Day
- The Official Fall/Spring semester census date for counting enrollment, semester credit hours, etc. for reporting to the Coordinating Board, used to determine funding.
A
- AACRAO
- American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers.
- AASCU-NASULGC
- American Association of State Colleges and Universities/National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges.
- AAU
- American Association of Universities; an organization of major research institutions.
- AAUDE
- American Association of Universities Data Exchange; a voluntary organization of major research institutions who exchange data in a number of areas.
- AAUP
- American Association of University Professors.
- AIR
- Association for Institutional Research; the professional organization for institutional researchers; national and international members; annual meeting in the spring.
- Academic Rank
- A categorization of faculty positions. Categories include: Professor, Associate Professor, Assistant Professor, and Instructor.
- Academic Year(AY)
- The time period containing the academic sessions held during consecutive Summer, Fall and Spring sessions.
- Acceptance Rate
- The percentage of applicants to a program or institution who are offered admission; also known as admit rate.
- Accreditation
- The process by which an institution's academic programs are reviewed by external agencies that evaluate the institution's ability to deliver the education it promises. SACS-COC is the accrediting agency for Texas Tech.
- Admitted
- Applicant who is offered admission status.
- Admitted (Student)
- Applicant who is offered admission status.
- African American or Black
- A person having origins in any of the black racial groups of Africa (except those of Hispanic origin).
- American Indian or Alaska Native
- A person having origins in any of the original peoples of North and South America (including Central America) and who maintains a tribal affiliation or community attachment.
- Applicant
- Applicant (first-time, first year): An individual who has fulfilled the institution’s requirements to be considered for admission.
- Asian or Pacific Islander
- A person having origins in any of the original peoples of the Far East, Southeast Asia, the Indian Subcontinent, or Pacific Islands. This includes people from China, Japan, Korea, the Philippines, American Samoa, India, and Vietnam.
- Assessment
- Systematic information gathering, research, evaluation, and programmatic change for purposes of improving teaching, learning, and service in educational settings.
B
- Big 12 Institutions
- Baylor University, Iowa State University, University of Kansas, Kansas State University, University of Oklahoma, Oklahoma State University, University of Texas, Texas Christian University, Texas Tech University, West Virginia University.
C
- CBM
- Reports that submit data to the Coordinating Board
- CDS
- The Common Data Set (CDS) is a set of standard data and definitions created through the collaborative effort of data providers in the higher education community and survey publishers, such as the College Board, Peterson's, and U.S. News & World Report. For more information, visit the CDS website. Common Data Set.
- CIP (Classification of Instructional Programs)
- Classification of Instructional Programs; A taxonomic coding scheme for postsecondary instructional programs, intended to standardize the organization, collection, and reporting of data about enrollment, degrees awarded, and other aspects of educational programs. The CIP is the accepted federal government statistical standard on instructional program classifications and is used in a variety of education information surveys.
- CIP Code
- Classification of Instructional Programs; A taxonomic coding scheme for postsecondary instructional programs, intended to standardize the organization, collection, and reporting of data about enrollment, degrees awarded, and other aspects of educational programs. The CIP is the accepted federal government statistical standard on instructional program classifications and is used in a variety of education information surveys.
- CSRDE
- The Consortium for Student Retention Data Exchange.
- CUPA
- College and University Personnel Association.
- Calendar Year
- The one year period that begins on January 1 and ends on December 31.
- Carnegie Classification
- An institutional classification structure developed by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and used to identify groups of roughly comparable institutions. Classifications are based on a number of characteristics, including highest degree awarded and level of research activity. Texas Tech's classification is Research University (high research activity).
- Census Date
- The official reporting date for institutional data. The census provides a point-in-time statistical portrait of enrollment, degrees, faculty, staff, etc. Collected census data are used to conduct analyses such as retention and graduation rates and are reported to a variety of internal and external authorities. Texas Tech census date for fall and spring enrollment is the 20th class day; summer terms 15th class day. For faculty and staff reporting, the census date is November 1st.
- Class
- A classification of students, first by level, then by class. Class is determined by the progress toward a degree. At the undergraduate level, students are classified as freshman, sophomore, junior, or senior.
- Classification
- A classification of students, first by level, then by class. Class is determined by the progress towards a degree. At the undergraduate level, students are classified as freshman, sophomore, junior, or senior.
- Cohort
- A group of students that share a common characteristic(s) and who are followed throughout their academic careers, with the original number always remaining the same. In institutional research, cohorts usually consist of full-time, first-time, degree-seeking undergraduates who begin college in a given fall (or previous summer) term.
- Course Enrollment
- The number of students officially enrolled in a section as of the census date.
- Credit
- Enrollment in an academic course for which credit can be applied, upon satisfactory completion, toward the requirements for a degree.
- Credit Hour
- A course's unit of measure, representing the number of hours a student spends in-class for the course per week, which is counted toward completion of a program.
- Credit Hours
- A course’s unit of measure, representing the number of hours a student spends in-class for the course per week, which is counted toward completion of a program.
D
- Degree-Seeking
- Students who are recognized as enrolled in for-credit courses in academic program and seeking a degree upon satisfactory program completion.
- Degree-Seeking Student
- Students who are recognized as enrolled in for-credit courses in an academic program and seeking a degree upon satisfactory program completion.
- Distance Education
- Doctoral Time To Degree
- Average of the total time elapsed from the start of any graduate school within the same institution to completion of the doctorate. Includes all doctoral degrees awarded in the prior fiscal year.
- Dual Enrollment
- A program through which high school students may enroll in college courses while still enrolled in high school.
E
- EEOC
- Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
- Enrollment
- Registration for coursework and payment of tuition/fees constitutes official enrollment.
F
- FERPA
- Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act. Texas Tech complies with the FERPA guidelines.
- FICE
- Federal Interagency Commission on Education (Texas Tech = 003644).
- FTE of Faculty
- Total of all instructional appointments excluding Teaching Assistants and Graduate Part-Time Instructors. Instructional Appointments are 1) direct instructional activities which include interaction with students and 2) administrative assignments which directly supplements the teaching functions.
- FTE of Faculty Teaching Staff
- Total of all instructional appointments including Teaching Assistants and Graduate Part-Time Instructors. Instructional Appointments are 1) direct instructional activities which include interation with students and 2) administrative assignments which directly supplements the teaching functions.
- FTE of Students
- Student FTE is the sum of semester credit hours divided by certain denominator depending on the level of the student. Undergraduate hours divided by 15; Graduate hours divided by 12, and Law hours divided by 15. All semester credit hours, not just state-funded hours, are included.
- Faculty
- All employees with instructional appointments.
- Faculty Definition (Who are included in the faculty headcount?)
- All employees with instructional appointments and whose 9-month salary is greater than zero.
- Faculty Full-Time Equivalent (FTE)
- see FTE of Faculty.
- Faculty Full-Time Equivalent (FTE)
- Total of all instructional appointments as defined by the THECB. Instructional Appointments include:
- Direct instructional activities which include interaction with students and
- Administrative assignments which directly supplement the teaching functions.
- Faculty Full-Time/Part-Time
- Full-time and part-time status as designated by Human Resources in accordance to the institution's policies.
- Faculty Headcount
- All faculty with instructional appointments and whose 9-month salary is greater than zero. Includes Teaching Assistants and GPT-I.
- Faculty Salary
- Fall report of budgeted faculty salaries.
- Faculty Salary Averages
- Faculty salary averages are taken from the salary of full-time faculty whose instructional appointments and 9-month salary is greater than zero. Does not include Teaching Assistants and Graduate Part-Time Instructors.
- Faculty Teaching Staff Full-Time Equivalent (FTE)
- see FTE of Faculty Teaching Staff.
- Faculty Teaching Staff Full-Time Equivalent (FTE)
- Total of all instructional appointments including Teaching Assistants and Graduate Part-time instructors as defined by the THECB. Instructional Appointments include:
- Direct instructional activities which include interaction with students and
- Administrative assignments which directly supplement the teaching functions.
- Faculty Workload
- Please see OP 32.18: Academic Workload Calculation.
- Faculty/Student Ratio
- The ratio of full-time equivalent students to full-time equivalent instructional faculty.
- Fall Faculty Headcount
- All employees with instructional appointments and whose 9-month salary is greater than zero.
- Federal Year
- A 12-month period used for annual reports. Federal year runs July 1 through June 30th the following year.
- First Time in College (FTIC)
- First Time in College. A first year student entering with less than 12 hours of college credit.
- First Year Student
- A student who has completed less than the equivalent of 1 full year of undergraduate work (less than 30 semester hours).
- First-Professional Student
- Students enrolled in law (L.L.B., J.D.).
- First-Time, First-Year Student
- A student attending any institution for the first time at the undergraduate level. Includes students enrolled in the fall term who attended college for the first time in the prior summer term. Also includes students who entered with advanced standing (college credits earned before graduation from high school).
- First-Time, Full-Time Student (FTFT)
- A student attending any insitutiton for the first time at the undergraduate level and who is enrolled full-time. Includes students enrolled in the fall term who attended college for the first time in the prior summer term. Also includes students who entered with advanced standing (college credits earned before graduation from high school).
- Fiscal Year
- A 12-month period that begins September 1 through August 31 of the following year.
- Full Time
A full-time undergraduate student that is enrolled in courses totaling 12 or more credit hours per semester.
A full-time graduate student is enrolled in nine or more credit hours per semester.
- Full Time Equivalent (FTE)
- Full Time Equivalent (as compared to headcount). Calculations that take full-time and part-time figures and convert them to a meaningful full-time equivalency. The FTE may be used for students, faculty, or staff, and may be calculated differently for different purposes.
- Full-Time and Part-Time Faculty
- Full-time and part-time status as designated by TTU Human Resources.
- Full-Time and Part-Time Faculty
- Full-time and part-time status as designated by Human Resources in accordance to the institution's policies.
- Full-time Student
A full-time undergraduate student that is enrolled in courses totaling 12 or more credit hours per semester.
A full-time graduate student is enrolled in nine or more credit hours per semester.
G
- Gender
- Students identify themselves as either male or female. If a student does not indicate a gender, they are reported as "unknown" or "not reported".
- Graduate Part-Time Instructor (GPTI)
- A graduate student who is teaching and/or assists a faculty member in teaching.
- Graduate Student
- A student who holds a bachelor's degree or equivalent, is taking courses at the post baccalaureate level and is admitted to a graduate program.
- Graduation Rates
- A calculation based on the number of students from a given cohort that have persisted and graduated from Texas Tech. Most often, the graduation rate is calculated based on the students’ degree completion within 150 percent or normal time to degree completion, or six years.
H
- Headcount
- Number of individual people, whether full-time or part-time, at a given point-in-time.
- Headcount (unduplicated)
- In a given period of time, the total count of students enrolled in for-credit courses with each student being counted only once regardless of when the student enrolled.
- High School Class Rank
- The relative numerical position of a student in his or her high school graduating class, calculated by the high school on the basis of grade-point average.
- Hispanic/Latino
- A person of Cuban, Mexican, Puerto Rican, South or Central American, or other Spanish culture of origin regardless of race.
I
- IPEDS
- Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System; vehicle for reporting data to the U.S. Department of Education; reports include Institutional Characteristics, Fall Enrollment, Completions, Finance Survey, Fall Staff Survey, etc.
- In-State Student
- A student who is a legal resident of Texas.
- Instructional Appointment
- Instructional Appointment include those directly involved in instructional activities which include interaction with students. It also include administrative assignments which directly supplement the teaching function, such as heads of teaching departments, coordinator of special programs or multi-section courses.
- Instructional Faculty
- Instructional Record
- Instructional Staff
L
- LAR
- Legislature Appropriations Request.
- LBB
- Legislative Budget Board.
- Level
- The student’s level of enrollment (undergraduate level, graduate level, law level):
- Freshmen and Sophomore students are categorized as Lower Level.
- Junior and Senior students are categorized as Upper Level.
- Graduate students are categorized as Graduate Level.
- Law students are categorized as Law Level.
- Level (of student)
- The student's level of enrollment (undergraduate level, graduate level, law level). Freshmen and Sophomore students are categorized as Lower Level; Junior and Senior students are categorized as Upper Level; Graduate students are categorized as Graduate Level; Law students are categorized as Law Level.
- Lower Division Student
- A student who has earned less than sixty semester credit hours (generally Freshmen and Sophomore).
- Lower Level Course
- A course level classification where the student course number is 1000 to 2999.
M
- Major
- A subject of academic study chosen as a field of specialization.
- Minority (student, faculty, and staff)
- American Indian or Alaska Native, Asian, Black or African American, Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander, Hispanic or Latino.
- Minority Faculty
- Faculty with an ethnicity group of American Indian or Alaska Native, Asian, Black or African American, Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander, Hispanic or Latino.
N
- NACUBO
- National Association of College and University Business Officers.
- NCAA
- National Collegiate Athletic Association.
- NCES
- National Center for Education Statistics, part of the U.S. Department of Education.
- NSF
- National Science Foundation.
- NSSE
- National Survey of Student Engagement, survey of student's involvement with the institution.
- National Comparison Group
- Group of institutions that Texas Tech considers peers and compares itself to when obtaining data from IPEDS Data Center.
- New Graduate
- First enrollment at Texas Tech University as a graduate student.
- New Law
- First enrollment at Texas Tech University as a Law student.
- New Undergraduate Transfer
- First enrollment at Texas Tech University as a undergraduate student after previous enrollment at another institution.
- Non-Degree Seeking Student
- A student enrolled in credit bearing courses who is not recognized by the college as seeking a degree or formal award.
- Non-Resident Alien
- 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.
- Non-Tenured
- Non-Tenure Track faculty are those who teach part-time or those who are full-time but do not have tenure-track status. These faculty hold title such as Instructor, Lecturer, Visiting Faculty, Adjunct Faculty, Research Scientist, and Research Professor.
O
- Other Appointments
- Other faculty appointments include academic support, public service, student services, institutional support operation and maintenance of Plant, and auxiliary enterprise operations. Academic support assignments include activities in the offices of academic and graduate deans, director of major teaching department grouping such as colleges, schools or divisions, and librarians.
- Out-of-State Student
- A student who is not a legal resident of Texas.
P
- Part-time Student
- An undergraduate student who is enrolled in less than 12 credits per semester; part-time graduate students are enrolled in less than nine credits per semester.
- Peer Institution
- An institution similar in role, scope, or mission to Texas Tech University that is used to compare data relating to admissions, enrollments, finances, etc.
- Persistence
- A student's continued enrollment at Texas Tech beyond any particular term.
- Post Baccalaureate Student
- A student holding a bachelor's degree who is enrolled in graduate or first-professional courses that do not result in a master's degree.
R
- Race and Ethnicity
- 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.
- Ranked Faculty
- Rank faculty are faculty having the title such as Professor, Associate Professor, Assistant Professor, and Instructors. These faculty can be tenured, tenure track, or non-tenured faculty.
- Research Appointment
- Research appointment are faculty assignments for activities specifically organized to produce research outcomes.
- Resident Alien
- A person who is not a citizen or national of the United States and who has been admitted as a legal immigrant for the purpose of obtaining permanent resident alien status and who holds either an alien registration card (Form I-551 or I-151), a Temporary Resident Card (Form I-688), or an Arrival-Departure Record (Form 1-94) with a notation that conveys legal immigrant status such as Section 207 Refugee, Section 208 Asylee, Conditional Entrant Parolee or Cuban-Haitian.
- Retention
- Student retention is the re-enrollment of (typically) undergraduate students one term to another. Student retention cohorts may be defined in various ways, e.g., first-time full-time, first-time part time, etc., likewise, the retention rate may be calculated in different ways, e.g., from the freshman to sophomore year or from the first fall enrollment through graduation date.
S
- SACS-COC
- Southern Association of Colleges and Schools-Commission on Colleges; the organization that provides the accreditation for Texas Tech.
- SAIR
- Southern Association for Institutional Research; the professional organization for institutional researchers in the Southern U.S. (Virginia to Florida to Texas; annual meeting in the fall).
- SAT Composite Score
- The SAT composite score is the sum of the scores on the three sections of the SAT Reasoning Test; the writing section, the critical reading (formerly verbal) section, and the mathematics section. The maximum score is 2400.
- SCH
- Semester Credit Hour.
- STEM
- Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics.
- SUG
- Southern University Group; invitation only group of approximately 25 large institutions in the South that voluntarily exchange data.
- State of Residence
- A student's permanent address. For entering freshmen, residence may be the legal resident of parent or guardian.
- Statutory Teaching Load Requirement
- Instructional faculty member must comply with the statutory teaching load requirement by serving as instructor or record for four or more organized courses in an academic year.
- Student Full-Time Equivalent (FTE)
- see FTE of Student.
- Student Full-Time Equivalent Enrollment (FTE)
- Student FTE is the sum of semester credit hours divided by certain denominator depending on the level of the student. Undergraduate hours divided by 15; Graduate hours divided by 12, and Law hours divided by 15. All semester credit hours, not just state-funded hours, are included.
- Student Full-Time/Part-Time
- A full-time undergraduate student that is enrolled in courses totaling 12 or more credits per semester. A full-time graduate student is enrolled in nine or more credits per semester.
- Student Right to Know Act
- Federal legislation under which institutions of higher education are required to report graduation data.
- Student/Faculty Ratio
- The ratio of full-time equivalent students to full-time equivalent instructional faculty.
T
- TAIR
- Texas Association for Institutional Research; the professional organization for institutional researchers in Texas; annual meeting in February.
- THECB (CB)
- Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board; state agency responsible for collecting and reporting data on Texas all higher education institutions (two-year and four-year, public and private, academic and health science centers).
- Teaching Assistant (TA)
- A graduate student who is teaching and/or assists a faculty member in teaching.
- Teaching Assistant and Graduate Part-Time Instructor (TA/GPTI)
- A graduate student who is teaching and/or assists a faculty member in teaching a class of laboratory (excludes those who only serve as graders). Faculty headcount can include or exclude Teaching Assistants..
- Teaching Load Credits
- 18 semester credit hours of organized undergraduate and/or graduate instruction equals 18 hours of teaching load credit.
- Teaching Workload
- The minimum teaching load for faculty members is equivalent to 18 semester credit hours of instruction in organized undergraduate and/or graduate classes each nine-month calendar year.
- Tenure
- Faculty who earn tenure are afforded the right to regular annual appointments subject to the conditions of employment and assignments in effect each year.
- Tenure-Track
- A status with which tenure may be possible. Faculty members in this status are typically working toward the tenure requirements.
- Tenured
- Faculty who earn tenure are afforded the right to regular annual appointments subject to the conditions of employment and assignments in effect each year.
- Transfer/Transfer-In Student
- A student who previously attended and earned credit at a postsecondary degree program, and subsequently enrolled in a Texas Tech program.
U
- Upper Division Student
- An undergraduate student who has earned 60 or more semester credit hours.
W
- Weighted Semester Credit Hours
- Total fall and spring semester credit hours taught, weighted by the funding matrix based on level and discipline. Only state-funded credit hours are included.
- White, non-Hispanic
- A person having origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, North Africa, or the Middle East (except those of Hispanic origin).
- Workload
- Workload is the sum of workload credit given to faculty members based on teaching, research, and service activities.
- Workload Equivalencies
- In calculating teaching load, equivalencies must be applied depending on the course type, level, class size, activity, and other attributes that take into consideration as prescribed in the rules approved by the Board of Regents.
Y
- Yield Rate
- The percentage of admitted students who enroll.
Institutional Research
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Address
Texas Tech Plaza, Suite 401 | 1901 University Ave. | MS2017 Lubbock, TX. 79410 -
Phone
806.742.2166 -
Email
irim@ttu.edu