- AASCU
- American Association of State Colleges and Universities (www.aascu.org)
- AAU
- Association of American Universities (www.aau.edu)
- Admit
- Students who applied for admission and were found admissible to the institution.
- AIR
- Association of Institutional Research (www.airweb.org)
- A·P·L·U
- Association of Public & Land-grant Universities (www.aplu.org)
- Cohort
- A group of students, typically freshmen, who begin their education at a similar time (e.g., Fall 2001 Freshman Cohort).
- Concurrent Enrollment
- This event occurs when a student takes courses at two institutions at the same time.
- Enroll
- Students who were admitted to an institution and subsequently enrolled (note that some institutions have an open admission policy).
- First Generation Students
- Operational research definitions vary between students who are the first in a family to attend colleges to students whose parents did not graduate from college.
- Graduate
- A student who has completed a program at an institution.
- Graduation Rate
- The percentage of a cohort that successfully graduated within a specific time interval. Commonly, the graduation rate reported is 150% of degree time, or six years for a four-year degree and three years for a two-year degree.
- IPEDS (Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System)
- The core postsecondary education data collection program for the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). IPEDS is a system of data collected from all primary providers of postsecondary education, including enrollments, program completions, graduation rates, faculty, staff, finances, institutional prices, and student financial aid. (http://nces.ed.gov/ipeds/).
- Retention
- Often reported as the percentage of students enrolled at Time B from a population of students enrolled at Time A. For example, fall to spring retention refers to the percentage of students who were enrolled in the fall who did not graduate and returned in the spring.
- Time to Degree
- The time it takes for a student to graduate from an institution.
- Transfer
- A student who enrolls at one institution and subsequently enrolls at another.
- Transfer Track
- The former name of StudentTracker.
- VSA
- Voluntary System of Accountability. A program supported by AASCU and A·P·L·U whereby institutions agree to report identically formatted reports using the same measurements, which are published online for public use. (www.voluntarysystem.org)
- Withdrawn (W)
- A student once enrolled at an institution who is no longer enrolled. Students can withdraw from an institution mid-term or simply not enroll for the subsequent term.