The following is a list of commonly used terms and acronyms that often appear in Institutional Effectiveness data, along with Academic Affairs-related publications. Please contact our office if there are any additional terms that should be included on this list.
Updated July 2021.
Refers to students who had enrolled previously, left for more than one term, and were then readmitted.
FTES is credited to the college/department which offers the courses. A student’s FTE is credited to the English Department if that student took English 101 in a semester (regardless of the student’s major).
Identifies the total number of earned course credit units for all students enrolled in a given section.
Student-Faculty Ratio is FTES divided by Instructional FTEF.
Refers to the courses taught by more than one faculty. The FTES of the courses is divided among the instructors.
Faculty who are not on tenure track or in FERP program even if their total contract time or instructional WTU may be equal to 1.0 FTEF.
Refers to the GPA a student has earned at the conclusion of a semester.
The total length of time it takes a student, from his/her first day of class, to receive a degree. For CSU analysis purposes, total time to degree (TTD) is a measure of the time lapse between matriculations to degree completion.
A student entering Sonoma State for the first time but known to have previously attended a postsecondary institution at the same level (e.g., undergraduate, graduate).
Students primarily enrolled at another educational institution (often a high school) but have permission to take courses for credit at Sonoma State.