• A
• B
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• F
• G
• H
• I
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• R
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• T
• U

A

Academic Career
A term used in UH’s student information system, PeopleSoft/Campus Solutions. It is a way to identify either the level of the students (Undergraduate or Graduate) or if the student is in a professional program at the university.

Academic Year (AY)
Defined as the fall, spring, and summer sequence of semesters and identified by the second calendar year in the sequence. For example, the sequence fall 2021, and spring and summer 2022 is classified as AY 2022 or AY 22.

Note: An academic year is essentially aligned to a fiscal year in Texas.

ACT (American College Test)
National standardized test provided to 'college-bound' high school students by the American College Testing Program to provide a measure of the student's academic preparation. The current ACT addresses four areas with each scored separately: English, Mathematics, Reading, and Science Reasoning. An ACT composite score is derived from the separate scores. UH uses ACT composite score as an admissions criterion for First-Time-in-College students who do not submit SAT scores.

Applied (Completed), Admitted, and Enrolled
Headcount of the number people who have a completed application. Among the completed applications, how many were admitted into the UH, and among the number who were admitted, how many enrolled in classes. A completed application refers either the submission of all credentials to be considered for admissions or whether a decision was made to either accept or deny admission to the University. Applicants who did not submit all required information to be considered for admission and thus a decision could not be determined are not counted in the ‘Applied’/’Completed’ category.

B

Base Year (BY)
The summer, fall, and spring sequence of semesters beginning in the summer of an even numbered calendar year. For example, the sequence summer and fall 2022 and spring 2023 is classified as BY 2023or BY 23.

C

Census Date
Also referred to as the official reporting date, ORD or 12th class day. It is the 12th class day for the fall and spring semesters and the 4th class day for each of the summer sessions. The data collected as of this date is used to construct Coordinating Board files and produce all student, faculty, and course data. The 12th class day, or ORD, represents a snapshot at that point in time whereas the student data base reflects the data at the current point in time, including all changes, additions and deletions to the database.

CIP Code
CIP is short for ‘Classification of Instructional Program’, a series of numbers which supports the accurate tracking and reporting of academic programs and courses. At the federal level, it is a six-digit number. At the state level, digits extend to 10. The first two digits indicate the broad area, the next four digits are more specific topics under the broad area. At the state level the seventh and eight digits allow for even further specification while the last two digits identify the formula funding area of courses. For example, 26 is Biological and Biomedical Sciences; 26.0202 is Biochemistry; and 26.0202.00 02 means the last two digits (02) is for the Texas formula funding area in science.

Common Data Set (CDS)
A compilation of common data reported on several large data collections including U.S. News and World Report, Princeton Review, and the College Board. It collects a set of information that would be consistent across surveys. Definitions were standardized and are reported annually.

Continuing Students
Students who have previously attended the university. This includes students who continue from one semester to the next and students who have stopped attending for a period of time and are returning.

Coordinating Board Reports (CBM Reports)
All Texas public higher educational institutions must submit semester or annual reports to the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB) to fulfill provisions of the Higher Education Coordinating Act of 1965 as amended (codified as Subtitle B, Chapter 61, Texas Education Code, 1971). These reports are used to determine each institution's state reimbursement funding. These reports are submitted electronically from University of Houston to the THECB. There are several edits reports that are generated by the THECB that ensure that the numbers match from one report to another. When each report is without error and match with corresponding reports, the data is then certified by each institution. The process of certification occurs approximately three weeks after the twentieth-class day. Only upon certification is the data used by the THECB to generate funding and various state reports that are distributed among all state public higher education institutions. The Office of Institutional Research use data from the certified THECB reports to prepare data requests.

Below is a listing of the Coordinating Board Reports (CBM) with a brief description and semester due dates:

Report: CBM0C1 Student Report (formally CBM001)
Description: Collects headcount, student demographics, classification, residency, major, and undergraduate & doctoral cap information. It reflects all students enrolled as of the official census date, which is the 12th class day for the Fall and Spring semesters (16-week terms) and the 4th class day for each of the summer terms (six-week sessions).

Submitted By/Due Dates: IR: October 15, March 15, August 15

Report: CBM0CS Census Student Schedule Report (replaced CBM004 Class Report)
Description: Reflects individual courses by students as of the official census date. These courses also reflect those paid by students as of the 20th class day for fall and spring and the 15th class day during summer sessions.

Matches: All students should be in the CBM0C1 and courses should match those reported in the CBM008 faculty report.

Submitted By/Due Dates: IR: October 15, March 15, August 15

Report: CBM0C8 Census Faculty Report
Description: Collects faculty information associated with classes reported on the Census Student Schedule (CBM0CS) report. Reflects conditions as of the census date of the fall, spring, and summer semesters.

Matches: CBM0CS faculty must be reported on the CBM008.

Submitted By/Due Dates: IR: October 15, March 15, August 15

Report: CBM002 Student Texas Success Initiative Report (TSI)
Description: Includes TSI status for all undergraduate students (including transfers), who are registered for one or more CB approved courses during the reporting period.

Matches: Students must match those reported on the CBM00S.

Submitted By/Due Dates: IR: February 1, June 15, October 1.

Report: CBM003 Course Inventory
Description: Lists all the courses that are approved by the Coordinating Board for University of Houston to offer during each academic year.

Matches: CBM0CS courses are a subset of the course inventory.

Submitted By/Due Dates: IR: May 31

Report: CBM005 Building & Room Report
Description: Collects data reflecting the building and room assignments that are assigned as of the 12th class day reported on the CBM0CS of the fall semester.

Matches: CBM0CS classes reported with room assignments.

Submitted By/Due Dates: Facilities Planning & Construction: October 15

Report: CBM008 Faculty Report
Description: Collects data on the academic duties and services of each person who has a faculty appointment, regardless of their source of funds or their assignment. Reflects conditions as of the end of the semester of the fall, spring, and summer semesters.

Matches: CBM00S faculty must be reported on the CBM008.

Submitted By/Due Dates: IR: February 1, June 15, and October 1

Report: CBM009 Graduation Report
Description: Reflects degrees conferred during the academic year immediately preceding the fall semester in which the report is submitted. Only approved degree programs may be submitted.

Matches: CB approved Degree Program Inventory file.

Submitted By/Due Dates: IR: October 1

Report: CBM00B Admission Report
Description: Collects data to meet requirements of Sections 51.801-51.807 of the Texas Education Code mandated by HB 588 of the 75th Legislature. Reports completed application information for undergraduate, graduate and professional student applications for summer and fall terms. Data includes student demographics and admission actions.

Submitted By/Due Dates: IR: October 15

Report: CBM0E1 Student End of Semester Report
Description: Collects headcount, student demographics, classification, residency, major, and undergraduate & doctoral cap information. This report reflects students enrolled as of the final day of each semester

Submitted By/Due Dates: IR: February 1, June 15, and October 1

Report: CBM00S Student Schedule Report
Description: Reflects individual courses and grades, by student, as of the final day for each semester. Students should have been enrolled in the class on or after the census day. Courses reported are a subset of those on the CBM003.

Submitted By/Due Dates: IR: February 1, June 15, and October 1

Report: CBM00T Student Transfer Report
Description: Includes courses for which a student who transfers was not granted academic credit at the receiving institution or was not granted credit toward the student’s major at the receiving institution. Courses will be reported for transfer students enrolled on the official census date for the first time at the general academic institution to which they have transferred in the fall or spring.

Submitted By/Due Dates: IR: November 15

Course Enrollment (or Course-Section Enrollment)
A count of students enrolled in a course-section(s). A student enrolled in more than one course-section will generate more than one course enrollment. Therefore, course enrollment figures should not be confused with student headcounts because the course enrollment figures will be higher. Also referred to as course-section or class seat count.

D

Day/Evening Students
Day students represent the number of students taking only day-time course-sections. Evening students are only taking evening course-sections. Students may take any combination of day and evening course sections. Evening course-sections are defined as sections with a start time at or after 5:00 PM, except for course-sections in the Colleges of Education and Technology where evening sections start at or after 4:00 PM.

Degrees Reported or Degrees Awarded
A count of the number of degrees awarded to students during a specified period of time and reported as an official count for the period. For example, the number of degrees awarded during an academic year must be reported to the state by October 1 of the following year. Once reported and certified as correct, the reported figure does not change.

Doctoral Students
Students who have been accepted into a doctoral degree program and either have (1) earned a masters degree which the institution recognizes as the equivalent of one year's work toward the intended degree or (2) completed at least 30 credit hours of graduate level course work which the institution considers as work toward their intended degree. Also referred to in surveys as Doctoral-Research/Scholarship.

F

Faculty
Per the Coordinating Board, this includes all faculty (ranked, unranked, and student faculty) regardless of their source of funds or their assignment. This includes research faculty, librarians, administrators with faculty titles, and faculty who may be on leave. Faculty also includes adjunct, special, visiting, emeritus and lecturer. Student teaching assistants are included in some of the data but are not considered faculty when providing faculty data.

Faculty and Staff Full-Time Equivalency (FTE)
Total percent of appointment for all assignments of an employee. A 100% (full-time) appointment equals 1.00 FTE, a 49% (part-time) appointment equals .49 FTE, etc. The FTE is the sum of the percentages stemming from each assignment (e.g., faculty, administrative, research). The FTE should not exceed 1.00, except in the case of overload appointments.

Faculty Full-Time, Nine Month Salary
Faculty salaries paid with a nine-month contract.

Fiscal Year (FY)
In Texas, defined as the period starting September 1 and ending August 31, and identified by the last calendar year in the period. For example, September 1, 2021, to August 31, 2022, is FY 2022 or FY 22.

First Generation College Student
Students who are the first in their family to attend college. This is determined by using self-reported parent education level data where neither parent has earned a bachelor’s degree or higher. Students who have one or more parents with a bachelor’s degree or higher are not considered first generation students.

First-Time-In-College (FTIC) Student
Students who attend the university for the first time after (1) earning a high school degree, or (2) passing a high school equivalence examination. This includes students enrolled in the fall term who attended college for the first time in the prior summer and students who entered with advanced standing from their high school experience, e.g., AP or IB credits and dual enrollment college credits. FTIC students can be broken down into subgroups based on reporting needs:

Degree-Seeking FTIC:
FTIC students who are pursuing a degree.

Full-time, Degree-Seeking FTIC (FTIC Cohort):
FTIC students enrolled full-time their first fall semester and are pursuing a degree. This is the cohort that’s followed for the traditional retention and graduation rates used in survey reporting.

Freshman Students
Undergraduate students who have earned fewer than 30 credits.

Full-Time Faculty
Faculty are considered full-time with a total FTE (full-time equivalence) equal to 1.

Full-time Students (FT)
Students who are taking a full-load of courses based on their enrolled semester credit hours. There are two definitions for determining full-time, a federal and a Texas state definition. The federal definition is used in the Statistical Handbook.

Federal Definition:
Undergraduate, post-baccalaureate and special professional students are defined as full-time students if attempting twelve (12) or more credit hours during the semester. Full-time status for masters and doctoral students is defined as attempting nine (9) credit hours or more during the semester. This definition is consistent with the Common Data Set and IPEDS definitions.

Texas State Definition:
Undergraduate and post-baccalaureate students are defined as full-time if attempting 15 or more credit hours during the semester. Masters and doctoral professional-practice or special professional students are defined as full-time students if attempting twelve (12) or more credit hours during the semester. Full-time status for research doctoral students is defined as attempting nine (9) credit hours or more during the semester.

G

Gender
Female or male, self-reported by the student. Per the U.S. Department of Education and the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, gender will continue to be a dichotomous field.

Grade Point Average (GPA)
UH uses a standard four-point scale for GPA. The average GPA figures in this document are for a student’s grade performance in course work, not the average grades of courses taught by a college.

Cumulative GPA:
Represents all graded academic performance for a student or population of students at the university across all semesters.

Semester GPA:
Represents the graded academic performance of a student or population of students during a single semester.

Graduate Students
Includes students who are in masters and doctoral programs.

Graduate Courses
Courses taught at masters or doctoral level of instruction. This is not dependent on the student level, but instead on the level of instruction.

Graduation Rate
Graduation rates are based on a starting cohort and tracking their progress to graduation. That is taking a group of students who begin at the same time and tracking them to see how many of them graduate. In the Statistical Handbook, we track the cumulative graduation rate of the FTIC cohort and of Transfer Students who enroll with at least 60 transfer credit hours.

GRE (Graduate Record Exam)
Also known as the “Graduate Record Exam”, the GRE is a national standardized test provided to graduate school-bound students that measures academic readiness for graduate-level education. There is both a general test that assesses overall knowledge of subject matter and a GRE Subject Test that assesses comprehensive knowledge of a specialized field of study such as mathematics or psychology. Each department at UH has their own requirements regarding the requirements for GRE general and subject testing. Should a department require the general GRE test and/or one of the GRE subject tests, UH considers scores older than 5 years as expired and not reportable.

H

Headcount (HC) also called 'Enrollment'
A count of students, faculty, and/or staff where each individual is counted one time. This is in contrast to the full-time equivalent (FTE) count where an individual may be counted as less than or more than one.

High School Class Rank (Quartile)
Pulled from high school transcript information, identifies whether a student graduated in the top 10 percent, first quartile, 2nd quartile, 3rd quartile or 4th quartile of their high school graduating class. This is a measure considered in admissions to the University.

I

Instructional Faculty
Includes all instructional staff (ranked, unranked, and student faculty).

Instructional Full-Time Equivalency (FTE)
Total instructional staff percent of appointment from all faculty assignments directed to instructional activities.

Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS)
Federally required annual surveys from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) which is part of the U.S. Department of Education. IPEDS surveys all postsecondary institutions, including universities and colleges, as well as institutions offering technical and vocational education beyond high school who receive federal funding.

J

Junior Students
Undergraduate students who have earned at least 60 credits but fewer than 90 credits.

L

Law Students
Students who are enrolled in the Law Center in either the J.D. program or LLM (masters program).

Lower Division Courses
Courses taught at the freshman or sophomore levels.

Lower Division Undergraduate Students
Students who are classified as freshmen or sophomores.

M

Masters Students
Students who have earned an undergraduate degree and have been accepted into a masters degree program. For CB reports, a masters student is also one who has been accepted into a doctoral degree program but has not (1) earned a masters degree nor (2) completed at least 30 credit hours of graduate level course work which the institution considers as work toward their intended degree.

Minority
'Minority' represents the sum of four racial/ethnic heritage categories: African-American, Hispanic, Asian American, and Native American. However, in some documents, such as the Legislative Appropriations Request (LAR), Asian Americans are not included in minority figures. There are new terminologies that can be used to determine minority status:

Represented Minorities:
Includes Asian Americans.

Under-represented Minorities:
Includes African-American, Hispanic, Native American, and Hawaiian-Pacific Islander ethnic categories.

Mode of Admission
Categorizes the level of the new students. These include first-time-in-college; undergraduate transfer; new postbaccalaureate, graduate, and special professional students, and returning students who were required to reapply.

N

New Students
Students who attend the university for the first time at the level in which they are indicated, undergraduate, graduate or professional.

Non-Duplicated Headcount
When counting individuals, a person may be appropriately included in more than one category as in the case of multiple enrollments across classes. A non-duplicated headcount uses a rule by which the individual is counted only once. For example, a staff person may have more than one appointment with different titles. When producing a staff count by title, the individual could be counted once in each title category. When producing a non-duplicated headcount, the individual would be counted only once and associated with only one title, possibly based on the FTE per appointment.

Non-Tenure Track Faculty
Faculty who hold an appointment/position not eligible for tenure as defined in the UH Faculty Handbook.

O

Official Reporting Date (ORD) or Census Date
The 12th class day for the fall and spring semesters and the 4th class day for each of the summer terms. The data collected as of this date is used to construct Coordinating Board files and produce all student, faculty, and course data. The 12th class day, or ORD, represents a snapshot at that point in time whereas the student data base reflects the data at the current point in time, including all changes, additions and deletions to the database.

Online Course
An academic course that is delivered via the internet in either synchronous or asynchronous formats. With these classes, the student has minimal or no in-person meetings with the instructor or student peers.

Optometry Students
Students who have been accepted into the special professional optometry degree program.

P

Part-Time Faculty
Faculty are considered part-time with a total FTE less than 0.50.

Part-Time Students (PT)
Students who are taking less than a full-load of courses based on their enrolled semester credit hours. There are two definitions for determining full-time, a federal and a Texas state definition. The federal definition is used in the Statistical Handbook.

Federal Definition:
Undergraduate, postbaccalaureate and special professional students are defined as part-time students if attempting fewer than twelve (12) credit hours during the semester. Part-time status for masters and doctoral students is defined as attempting fewer than nine (9) credit hours during the semester. This definition is consistent with the Common Data Set and IPEDS definitions.

Texas State Definition
Undergraduate and postbaccalaureate students are defined as part time if attempting fewer than 15 credit hours during the semester. Masters and special professional students are defined as part-time students if attempting fewer than twelve (12) credit hours during the semester. Part-time status for doctoral students is defined as attempting fewer than nine (9) credit hours during the semester.

Postbaccalaureate (or Post-Baccalaureate) Students
Students who have earned an undergraduate degree or higher and (1) are seeking a second baccalaureate degree, (2) are seeking a certificate or certification, or (3) are taking occasional courses with a non-degree objective.

R

Race/Ethnicity
Ethnicity codes are based on federal and state standards. Categories are White, African-American/Black, Hispanic, Asian American, Native American (American Indian or Alaskan Native), Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander, Multiracial (Two or more races), International and Unknown. The information is self-reported by the student except for International students. Missing data is reported in the 'Unknown' category. International is defined as a non-resident alien, a person who is not a citizen of the U.S. and who is in this country on a temporary basis and does not have the right to remain indefinitely. A resident alien, a non-citizen who has been lawfully admitted for permanent residence, is reported in the appropriate racial/ethnic category along with U.S. citizens. These categories were effective starting in Fall 2010.

Ranked Faculty
Faculty with the titles of Professor, Associate Professor, or Assistant Professor. There are other faculty positions that, although are non-tenure track, also include a rank in their title: adjunct, visiting, research, clinical and part-time faculty.

Research Assistants (RA)
Graduate students with a research employment assignment.

Residency
Indicates whether the student is a Texas resident, out-of-state resident or international student as identified by his/her permanent address at the time of application to the institution.

Retention Rate
Retention rates are based on a starting cohort and tracking their progress. That is taking a group of students who begin at the same time and tracking them to see how many of them re-enroll a semester, year, two years, etc. later. In the Statistical Handbook, we track the fall to-fall retention rates of the FTIC cohort and of Transfer Students who enroll with at least 60 transfer credit hours.

S

SAT
National standardized test provided to 'college-bound' high school students by the College Board to provide a measure of students' academic preparation. There are multiple parts of the SAT but two scores are provided: the SAT Math Section and the SAT Evidence-Based Reading and Writing Section. The sum of the scores for each section is called the SAT Total score. UH uses the SAT scores as an admissions criterion for FTIC/freshmen.

Note: In March, 2016, SAT changed the structure of the test and introduced a new re-centered scale for its test scores.

Semester Credit Hour (SCH)
A semester credit hour is defined as the credit hours assigned to a course. This is generally based on the number of hours the course meets per week. There are two ways to count SCH. Course SCH is the SCH a course produces determined by multiplying the enrollment of the course by the credit hours of the course. Student SCH is the SCH for a student determined by adding the credit hours from all the students’ courses. There are a number of ways to organize and report SCH.

Semester Credit Hours by Student Level or Classification (SCH-SL)
Using this methodology, student SCH is aggregated by student level or classification. For example, the number of SCH generated by sophomore students (by classification) or by lower division students (by level). When SCH counts are shown for students majoring in a college or program, they are normally aggregated in this manner. Unless otherwise identified within a table or graph title or text, assume that SCH figures are aggregated by student level or classification.

Semester Credit Hours by Student/Course Level (SCH-SCL)
The state of Texas defines SCH production for reporting and formula funding purposes by the interplay between the academic level of a student (student level) and the instructional level of a course (course level). For the UH, the SCH-SCL relationship as defined by the THECB is shown in the table below.

LD - Lower Division Undergraduate
UD - Upper Division Undergraduate
MS – Masters
PB - Postbaccalaureate
DR- Doctoral
SP - Special Professional
N/A- Not Allowed; Indicates a loss of SCH and funding on CBM004 Class Enrollment Report

Notes:

1. CBM003 is the Course Inventory File
2. CBM004 is the Class Enrollment Report File
3. The SCH-SCL generation associated Pharmacy Doctoral students (the PharmD program) does not follow the above rules

Source:
Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board Reporting and Procedures Manual for Public Universities.

Senior Students
Undergraduate students who have earned 90 or more credits.

Sophomore Students
Undergraduate students who have earned at least 30 but fewer than 60 credits.

Special Professional Students (also Professional or SP)
Combined Law JD, Pharmacy PharmD, Optometry OD, and Medical MD students. Also referred to in surveys as Doctoral-Professional Practice

Special Professional (or Professional) Courses
Courses taught at the special professional level (law, pharmacy and optometry).

Student Classifications
The classifications are freshman, sophomore, junior, senior, postbaccalaureate, masters, doctoral, law, optometry, pharmacy, and medicine.

Student/Faculty Ratio (or Student-to-Faculty Ratio)
The UH definition is student FTE divided by instructional faculty. There are several definitions for this ratio. The CDS defines student faculty ratio without teaching assistants and excludes faculty and students in standalone graduate or professional programs such as medicine, law, dentistry, social work, business or public health and veterinary medicine.

Student Full-Time Equivalency (FTE)
There are multiple ways to calculate student FTE. The primary two FTE calculations used at UH are using the SCH a student is taking or the SCH generated by the courses. In both cases, SCH is divided by the equivalent hours for being a full-time student using either the federal or state definition.

THECB = Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board
IPEDS = Integrated Postsecondary Data System
CDS = Common Data Set

FTE using the student’s SCH is calculated by dividing the student’s enrolled SCH by the fulltime hours at the student’s classification level, e.g., 12 for a freshman, sophomore, junior or senior student, 9 for a masters student, etc. Student full-time equivalency using course SCH is calculated by dividing the student/course level SCH generated (SCH-SCL) by the appropriate divisor for the level:

Undergraduate FTE: Undergraduate student/course level determined SCH divided by 12

Masters FTE: Masters student/course level determined SCH divided by 12

Doctoral FTE: Doctoral student/course level determined SCH divided by 9

Special Professional FTE: Special professional student/course level determined SCH divided by 12.

Note: The Statistical Handbook uses the Federal SCH to determine FTE.

Student Level
Allows the aggregation of students’ data beyond just classification. Levels can include lower division (freshmen and sophomore) undergraduates, upper division (junior and senior) undergraduates, all undergraduates, postbaccalaureate, graduate (masters and doctoral), and special professional.

T

Teaching Assistants (TA)
Graduate students with a teaching assistant assignment.

Tenure
Tenure is an indefinite faculty appointment that can be terminated only for cause or under extraordinary circumstances.

Tenure Track Faculty
Faculty holding an appointment/position who are eligible for tenure, but do not yet have tenure as reported to the Coordinating Board.

Tenured Faculty
Faculty who have received tenure as reported to the Coordinating Board.

Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB or CB)
In 1965, the 59th Texas Legislature established the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board and charged it with the responsibility of coordinating and monitoring colleges and universities in the state of Texas. THECB has broad powers and is directly responsible for the formula funding process used to make appropriation recommendations to the legislature for higher education.

Transfer Students
Students who have completed high school and, prior to enrolling at the University for the first time, have previously enrolled in another higher education institution. College credits earned during high school are not counted for this determination.

Full-Time Degree Seeking Transfers with Over 60 Hours:
Transfer students enrolled full-time their first fall semester and who have earned 60 transfer hours of credit. This is the cohort that’s followed for the traditional retention and graduation rates for transfer students so that they all are starting at a similar credit hour point.

Transient Students
Students who are taking courses at the university for transfer to another university where they are earning their degree.

U

Undergraduate Students
Students who are classified as freshmen, sophomores, juniors, or seniors. Also, the sum of lower and upper division undergraduates.

Upper Division Courses
Courses taught at the junior and senior levels.

Upper Division Undergraduate Students
Students who are classified as juniors or seniors.