DARTS : First-Time and First-Year Students

Additional updated content for expanded first-time and first-year definitions, including query language, may help improve the content of the page.

UMS Office of Internal Reporting Definitions for First-Time and First-Year Students
by Bill Gilfillan, 2014

Internal Reporting at the system office is frequently asked to produce numbers for first-time students and transfer students. The numbers are currently generated using the following categories:

First-Time First-Year Student
Other First-Time Undergraduate Student
Assoc to Bachelor Student
Post-Baccalaureate Student
Graduate Student
Law Student
Transfer Student
Readmit Student

It is incorrect to label all of these students as first-time students. However, the historical practice has been to include these various groups in a first-time student report. The following is a discussion of how the reporting group places students in the above groups. The relevant definitions from the Common Data Set and IPEDS are as follows.

COMMON DATA SET DEFINITIONS

First-time student: A student attending any institution for the first time at the level enrolled. Includes students enrolled in the fall term who attended a postsecondary institution for the first time at the same level in the prior summer term. Also includes students who entered with advanced standing (college credit earned before graduation from high school).

First-time, first-year (freshman) student: A student attending any institution for the first time at the undergraduate level. Includes students enrolled in the fall term who attended college for the first time in the prior summer term. Also includes students who entered with advanced standing (college credits earned before graduation from high school).

First-year student: A student who has completed less than the equivalent of 1 full year of undergraduate work; that is, less than 30 semester hours (in a 120-hour degree program) or less than 900 contact hours.

Transfer student: A student entering the institution for the first time but known to have previously attended a postsecondary institution at the same level (e.g., undergraduate). The student may transfer with or without credit.

IPEDS DEFINITIONS

First-time student (undergraduate): A student who has no prior postsecondary experience (except as noted below) attending any institution for the first time at the undergraduate level. This includes students enrolled in academic or occupational programs. It also includes students enrolled in the fall term who attended college for the first time in the prior summer term, and students who entered with advanced standing (college credits earned before graduation from high school).

First-year student: A student who has completed less than the equivalent of 1 full year of undergraduate work; that is, less than 30 semester hours (in a 120-hour degree program) or less than 900 contact hours .

Transfer-in student: A student entering the reporting institution for the first time but known to have previously attended a postsecondary institution at the same level (e.g., undergraduate, graduate). The student may transfer with or without credit.

Fall cohort: The group of students entering in the fall term established for tracking purposes. For the Graduation Rates component, this includes all students who enter an institution as full-time, first-time degree or certificate-seeking undergraduate students during the fall term of a given year.

Retention rate: A measure of the rate at which students persist in their educational program at an institution, expressed as a percentage. For four-year institutions , this is the percentage of first-time bachelors (or equivalent) degree-seeking undergraduates from the previous fall who are again enrolled in the current fall. For all other institutions this is the percentage of first-time degree/certificate-seeking students from the previous fall who either re-enrolled or successfully completed their program by the current fall.

UMS DEFINITIONS

The following are the definitions used for assigning students to first-time or transfer categories.

ADMIT_TERM_YEAR

CASE

WHEN SUBSTR(Admit Term,3,1) = '1'

THEN 20|| SUBSTR(Admit Term,1,2) - 1

ELSE 20 || SUBSTR(Admit Term,1,2)

END

This indicates the calendar year of the student’s admit term.

STRM_YEAR

CASE

WHEN SUBSTR(Strm,3,1) = '1'

THEN 20|| SUBSTR(Strm,1,2) - 1

ELSE 20|| SUBSTR(Strm,1,2)

END

This indicates the calendar year of the student’s current enrollment term.

FIRST_TERM

CASE

WHEN Admit Term = Strm THEN 'Y'

WHEN SUBSTR(Strm,3,1) = '1' AND SUBSTR(Admit Term,3,1) = '3' AND

STRM_YEAR - ADMIT_TERM_YEAR = 0 THEN 'Y'

ELSE 'N'

END

When the Admit Term is the same as the Strm then this indicates that this is the first term the student has attended an institution. This also applies to students who are enrolled in the fall term who attended the institution for the first time in the prior summer term.

DEGREE_NONDEG

8/3/20 NOTE: The code below is out of date and has been replaced with this Degree/Non-Degree Coding - Current.

CASE

WHEN Acad Prog Primary LIKE '%UN' THEN 'Non-Degree'

WHEN Acad Prog Primary LIKE '%GN' THEN 'Non-Degree'

WHEN Acad Prog Primary LIKE '%PN' THEN 'Non-Degree'

WHEN Acad Prog Primary LIKE '%EU' THEN 'Non-Degree'

WHEN Acad Prog Primary = 'NDUG' THEN 'Non-Degree'

WHEN Acad Prog Primary = 'NDGR' THEN 'Non-Degree'

WHEN Acad Prog Primary = 'NDPR' THEN 'Non-Degree'

WHEN Acad Prog Primary = 'DIST' THEN 'Non-Degree'

WHEN Acad Prog Primary = 'P-NON' THEN 'Non-Degree'

WHEN Acad Prog Primary = 'NONCR' THEN 'Non-Degree'

WHEN Acad Prog Primary = 'GRNON' THEN 'Non-Degree'

ELSE 'Degree'

END

FIRST_TIME

CASE

WHEN FIRST_TERM = 'Y' AND Institution = 'UMS05'

AND Acad Plan = 'ONW' THEN 'Y'

WHEN FIRST_TERM = 'Y' AND Institution = 'UMS05'

AND Prog Reason = 'RADM'

AND DEGREE_NONDEG = 'Degree' THEN 'Y'

WHEN FIRST_TERM = 'Y' AND Admit Type IN ('FYR','EFY')

AND (Acad Level Bot = '01' OR Acad Level Bot = '10')