Glossary

You may encounter unfamiliar industry- or data-specific terminology throughout our reports. The glossary terms and definitions below are provided to add clarity and context to your experience. Filter alphabetically below to find the term you are looking for.

Federal Pell

The U.S. Department of Education will uses a family's income and expenses to calculate their Expected Family Contribution (EFC). To be eligible for the Pell Grant for the 2021-2022 academic year, a student's EFC needs to be at or below $5,846. Because of this, there is no set income cutoff for Pell Grant eligibility.

First-Time-in-College

A FICE code in this field represents the higher education institution from which the student transferred. The CBM001 data summary category ‘First-Time Students’ is based on this field. The FICE code is entered only the first semester that the student is reported after the student transfers. A first-time-entering student is coded with ‘000001’.

Full-Time Student

In determining financial aid and graduation rates, an undergraduate student enrolled in 12 or more semester credit hours in a long semester is considered full time. An academic graduate student (master’s, doctoral, or first-professional) enrolled for 9 or more semester credit hours in a long term or students involved in thesis or dissertation preparation are considered full time by the institution. A first-professional medical or dental student's full-time status is based on institutional definition. A two-year college continuing education student enrolled for 24 or more contact hours a week during a quarter is considered full time.