Day Course. Any course where any session begins any weekday on or before 5:45 pm.

Degrees Awarded.  Number of students receiving degrees in each year. Students with more than one major are counted only once.

Degree Student. A student admitted to a degree program at the college. Must be enrolled in at least one credit-bearing course.

Degree Types. LaGuardia offers three degree types.

• Associate in Applied Science
• Associate in Science
• Associate in Arts

For statistical purposes, certificates are considered a fourth type.

Early Transfer. A student who ends his or her enrollment at LaGCC before receiving a degree or certificate and who subsequently enrolls at another institution of higher education.

Employee. Any person receiving earnings from LaGuardia as authorized by college administration, including tax levy, and Research Foundation funding.

Employee Information.  Headcounts, demographics, and other summary data relating to all College employees.

Enrollment Statistics. Brief summary enrollment tables showing student enrollments, broken down by student characteristics such as rank, sex, college, and full-time/part-time status, etc. More detailed enrollment statistics are also available, showing semester enrollment from 1994-95 to the present, including breakdowns by major. Results are updated after the end of each semester.

Enrolled Student. An admitted and tested or a continuing student who has completed registration.

Evening Course. Any course that begins any weekday after 5:45 PM.

Fact Book. See Institutional Profile.

Faculty. Refers to employee who holds a faculty contract, which can be one of the following types:

• Tenure track
• Non-tenure track
• Adjunct

Faculty Rank. For full-time faculty:

• Professor
• Associate Professor
• Assistant Professor
• Lecturer
• Instructor
• Substitute Associate Professor
• Substitute Assistant Professor
• Substitute Instructor
• Substitute Lecturer

First-Year Retention. Undergraduate retention information broken down by factors related to attrition/retention, including student major.

First-Year Student Studies.  Survey of entering first-year students soon after admission to LaGCC.

First-Year Student Profile. See Institutional Profile.

Follow-up Studies. Studies of graduates one year and fives years after graduation.

Freshman. Freshman may be defined either of two ways: 1) To distinguish first-time students from transfers, a freshman is a new, first-time student in their first semester at LaGCC; and 2) To separate students into categories of progression toward a degree, a freshman is any student who has earned 30 or fewer credits.

FTE.  FTE (Full-time Equivalent) is a way to designate or estimate full-time status of employees and student enrollment in various contexts. With respect to employment an FTE of 1.0 indicates full-time status, while 0.5 indicates half-time status, and other variations are possible. With regard to student enrollment, FTE is calculated by dividing the total credit hours by 15 (semester FTE). The term FTE appears in numerous reports having to do with such areas as enrollment, credit hours, and budget information.

Full-time Student. An enrolled student attempting courses with credit units totaling 12 or more.

Generic. This term is used in reference to questionnaire items and results, which are from all respondents in a survey.

Graduation rates. Number and percent of students in a cohort who graduated. Students are counted in each major according to the last major in which they enrolled (or graduated), because of the possibility that students can change majors many times over the course of 1, 2, or 3 years. Each cohort consists of first-time, full-time, degree-seeking first-year students (freshmen).

LaGCC Course Inventory.  This is the list of courses for a given semester.

Leaver. Any degree-seeking student who stops or suspends enrollment before degree completion. Leavers include students who drop out, stop out (until they re-enter), or transfer to another institution.

Major Codes.  College majors are coded into majors, which are more precisely split by option codes. (link to code table)

Major results. These are results from survey questions asked of all respondents, broken down by respondent majors.

New First-Year Student.  New freshman as defined/determined by the Office of Admissions.

New First-Year Student Profiles. Tables show characteristics of entering first-year undergraduate students (freshmen). Data includes numbers of applicants and admitted students. For enrolled students data includes gender, race/ethnicity, residency, home country, and native language.

Non-degree Student. An enrolled student who has not been admitted to a degree program.

Part-time Student. An enrolled student attempting courses with credit units totaling less than 12.

Profile.  See Institutional Profile.

Research Foundation. The City University organizational unit that administers all government grants, many private grants and funds derived from these grants. Research Foundation employees authorized by the College and located at the College are considered College employees for statistical purposes.

Residence, In-state, City.  See Tuition residency information.

Retention.  Remaining enrolled in consecutive semesters. Retention is measured either by cohort or in aggregate. Retention may be measured semester to semester, fall to fall, or from one semester to a given future semester. National statistics are generally for cohorts of students who enter as full-time, first-time freshmen. Aggregate measures determine the return rate of individuals, regardless of cohort.

Student Assessment.  This refers to the process of gauging the impact of LaGCC on its students, with the goal of continuous improvement. Student assessment is required by the Middle States Accrediting Association as well as by specialized accrediting agencies. Student assessment information is also part of the program review process within departments and programs. The Strategic Plan is geared to meet student assessment needs.

Student/Faculty Ratio.  Student FTE divided by budgeted faculty FTE.

Student FTE.  Student credit hours divided by 12. Some national surveys estimate by taking the full-time headcount and adding 1/3 of the part-time headcount.

Student Headcount.  Number of students enrolled in a given semester, either for Session I, Session II or both Sessions (unduplicated).

Student Involvement/Engagement.  Each year the Community College Student Engagement survey is administered every other year to a random sample of students. The survey measures levels involvement in terms of academic and social activities, personal goals, and adjustment to college life.

Student Retention.  See Retention.

Student Right-to-Know.  The Student Right-to-Know (SRK) Act of 1990 requires all institutions to make available to current and prospective students reports of completion or graduation rate and transfer-out rates (if known) for full-time, first-time, degree- or certificate- seeking undergraduates. The SRK regulations pertain to all institutions that participate in federal Title IV student financial aid programs and to institutions which award financial related to athletics. Reports of graduation and transfer-out rates from LaGCC—OIRA. For more details see the SRK report from the Association for Institutional Research.

Tax-levy expenses. These are expenses funded by appropriations from the City or State administered through City University. Tax-levy funds do not include grant funding administered by either the Research Foundation or the LaGCC Education Fund, LaGuardia Foundation funding, funds collected from auxiliary enterprises or the Alumni Fund.

Tested Prospect. A person who has been admitted to the college and completed all basic skills testing requirements.

Transfer-out Rates.  Number and percent of students in a first-year (freshman) cohort who did not graduate from LaGCC, but subsequently enrolled at another college or university.

Type of Appointment.  This refers to full-time or part-time employment at the University. The two appointment types are listed below. For an example report utilizing this term see the linked document.

• Full-time--Employees that have appointments at 1.0 FTE
• Part-time--Employees that have appointments at less than 1.0 FTE

Type of Employee. Employees at LaGCC are of the types described below.

• Administrative Staff
• Clerical and Classified Staff
• Executive Staff
• Faculty
• Technical and Paraprofessional