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Definitions

Undergraduate Students

First-time Entering Students

First-Time Undergraduate: All students who have not previously enrolled in a college or university. (High school concurrent enrollment coursework is not considered previous enrollment.) Also known as a First-time In-College (FTIC).

Entering Undergraduate Transfer: All students that have attended another higher education institution before attending UCA. These students do not have credits at UCA (excluding high school concurrent courses) and can have transfer credits that were earned beyond their high school graduation date at a higher education institution other than UCA.

Other Undergraduate Students

Readmitted Undergraduate: All undergraduate students that continually enrolled at UCA but have not been in attendance for one or more semesters.

Continuing Undergraduate: All undergraduate students that were continuously enrolled at UCA. This group excludes Intensive English (IEP), Post-Baccalaureate, Pre-Baccalaureate, and High School Student Students

Pre-Baccalaureate: All non-high school undergraduate students that are not seeking a degree, who do not have a bachelor’s degree. Visiting students are considered pre-baccalaureate students. Admit Codes: IP, ND, TV

Post-Baccalaureate: All students that have obtained a baccalaureate degree or higher and are enrolled in undergraduate courses at UCA. Admit Codes: PB, PN

High School Students: All students currently enrolled in high school. Admit Codes: HS, EA

Graduate Students

First-Time Entering Graduate: All graduate students newly admitted into a graduate program at UCA (including those previously enrolled in a graduate program at another college or university).

Readmitted Graduate: All graduate students that were enrolled at UCA but have not been in attendance within the previous year. A student must have earned credit within the program to be readmitted.

Continuing Graduate: All graduate students that continually enrolled at UCA as a graduate student.

University Definitions

Undergraduate Student Classifications: NOTE: These hours do not include IEP or remedial credit.

  • Freshman – A student that has between 0 and 29 credit hours at the undergraduate level.
  • Sophomore – A student that has between 30 and 59 credit hours at the undergraduate level.
  • Junior – A student that has between 60 and 89 credit hours at the undergraduate level.
  • Senior – A student that has more than 90 credit hours at the undergraduate level

Minority: A minority includes students identifying as Asian, Black, Hispanic, American Indian/Alaskan Native, Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander, and anyone with two or more races.

Admit Status: The admit status of a student into the university. The status is based on the initial admission decision that allows a student to register for classes.

  • Conditional Admission –Student meets minimum admission requirements but the cumulative GPA and/or test scores require additional placement testing and/or coursework upon enrolling with the university.
  • Conditional Prep – A first-time undergraduate who does not qualify for conditional admission may be admitted under extenuating circumstances with Conditional-Prep Status by submitting a formal appeal form to the admissions committee.
  • Regular Admission (Non-Conditional Admission) – Student meets all minimum state and institutional requirements and does not require additional coursework or testing.

Attend Status: The attend status indicates if the student is enrolled as part-time or full-time. A full-time undergraduate student must have a minimum of 12 hours for the fall or spring terms. A full-time graduate student must have a minimum of 9 hours for the fall or spring terms. If the student does not meet the minimum hour requirement, the student is classified as part-time.

Student Semester Credit Hours (SSCH): The summation of credits generated by a student through attended courses. For example, a student taking two courses that award three credits at completion would generate six credit hours. 3+3=6

Full-Time Equivalent (FTE):

  • Term – Term based FTE is only calculated for the fall or spring term. Summer can not be calculated. For undergraduate courses, you take the total SSCH and divide by 15. For graduate courses, you take the total SSCH and divide by 12.
  • Annualized – The SSCH is calculated for a whole fiscal year, including summer terms. For undergraduate courses, you take the total SSCH and divide by 30. For graduate courses, you take the total SSCH and divide by 24.

Term: A term is defined as a Fall, Spring, or Summer semester.

Census Day: This is the 11th class day for Fall and Spring terms or the 5th class day for Summer terms. Census day counts do not represent official data. Data collected on census day is audited by the OIR office, which involves review with several offices, before it is submitted to the Arkansas Department of Higher Education. Only after the data is transmitted to and accepted by the regulatory agency is it official.

Days Before Classes Start: The count of the total business days before a given term’s start day. The first day of classes will be reported as day 1. All days before the first day of classes will be a negative number and all days after the first day of classes will be a positive number.

DFWI: Includes the following grades: D, F, W, WP, WF, X.

Student Characteristics

First-Generation: None of the student’s parents or legal guardians completed a bachelor’s degree.

Student Success Metrics

Traditional Metrics

Cohort: Full-time, first-time undergraduates degree-seeking students for a specific fall term. These students could of began the university the preceding summer term.

Retention Rate:

  • Fall to Spring: A student who was retained from their cohort fall term to the spring following the cohort term.
  • Fall to Fall (1 year): A student who was retained from their cohort fall term to the next fall term following the cohort term.
  • Fall to Fall (2 year): A student who was retained from their cohort fall term to the second fall term following the cohort term.

Graduation Rate:

  • Graduation (100%/4 year): A student who graduated with a degree within 100% completion time of the degree program.
  • Graduation (150%/6 year): A student who graduated with a degree within 150% completion time of the degree program.
  • Bachelors Graduation (100%/4 year): A student who graduated with a bachelor’s degree within 4 years of the cohort term. (e.g. Cohort term is fall 2018, a student has until August 2022 to be counted in this metric.)

Internal Metrics

Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP): An undergraduate student, who earns 67% of hours attempted with a minimum undergraduate cumulative GPA of a 2.0 or earns an undergraduate degree, is making satisfactory academic progress.