Important Terms
Glossary of Important Terms
If you are unfamiliar with a term used on our Web site, you can find a definition of it here. Note: several data items follow the standards and definitions of the Common Data Set (CDS) initiative.
Admitted student: Applicant who is offered admission to a degree-granting program.
Alumni: Graduates or former students of a school, college, or university.
American Indian or Alaska native: A person having origins in any of the original peoples of North America and who maintains cultural identification through tribal affiliation or community recognition.
Applicant (first-time, first year): An individual who has fulfilled the institution's requirements to be considered for admission (including payment or waiving of the application fee, if any) and who has been notified of one of the following actions: admission, nonadmission, placement on waiting list, or application withdrawn (by applicant or institution).
Asian or Pacific Islander: A person having origins in any of the original peoples of the Far East, Southeast Asia, the Indian Subcontinent, or Pacific Islands. This includes people from China, Japan, Korea, the Philippine Islands, American Samoa, India, and Vietnam.
Bachelor's degree: An award (baccalaureate or equivalent degree, as determined by the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Education) that normally requires at least four years but not more than five years of full-time equivalent college-level work. This includes ALL bachelor's degrees conferred in a five-year cooperative (work-study plan) program. (A cooperative plan provides for alternate class attendance and employment in business, industry, or government; thus, it allows students to combine actual work experience with their college studies.) Also, it includes bachelor's degrees in which the normal four years of work are completed in three years.
Black, non-Hispanic: A person having origins in any of the black racial groups of Africa (except those of Hispanic origin).
Cohort: A group of students who share a similar characteristic. For example, a freshmen cohort is a group of students who enter any institution for the first time at the undergraduate level.
Degree: An award conferred by a college, university, or other post-secondary education institution as official recognition for the successful completion of a program of studies.
Doctoral degree: The highest award a student can earn for graduate study. The doctoral degree classification includes such degrees as Doctor of Education, Doctor of Juridical Science, Doctor of Public Health, and the Doctor of Philosophy degree in any field such as agronomy, food technology, education, engineering, public administration, ophthalmology, or radiology. For the Doctor of Public Health degree, the prior degree is generally earned in the closely related field of medicine or in sanitary engineering.
Enrolled years: The number of academic years a student pays fees and registers for courses. An academic year includes the fall, winter, and spring terms.
Enrollees: Students who pay fees and register for courses in a given term.
Financial Aid: Includes need-based grants and need- and merit-based scholarships. Grants and scholarships are gift aid that does not have to be repaid. Aid also includes student and parent loans, which are repaid after the student completes their college education, and "work-study" awards that allow students to work part-time, often on-campus.
First-time, first-year (freshman) student: A student attending the 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).
Full-time student (undergraduate): A student enrolled for 12 or more semester credits, 12 or more quarter credits, or 24 or more contact hours a week each term.
Grade-point average (academic high school GPA): The sum of grade points a student has earned in secondary school divided by the number of courses taken. The most common system of assigning numbers to grades counts four points for an A, three points for a B, two points for a C, one point for a D, and no points for an E or F. Unweighted GPA's assign the same weight to each course. Weighting gives students additional points for their grades in advanced or honors courses.
Graduate student: A student who holds a bachelor's or first professional degree, or equivalent, and is taking courses at the post-baccalaureate level.
Hispanic: A person of Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, Central or South American, or other Spanish culture or origin, regardless of race.
Institutional (UCR) Grant/Scholarship: UCR offers a significant amount of gift aid from it's own sources. Most of this aid is given in the form of need-based grants. Merit scholarships are also available to the most academically talented incoming students, regardless of need.
Loans: Student and parent loans must be repaid after the student completes their college education. Generally, the student loans are interest free while the student is enrolled in college. Students have many choices of loan repayment plans upon graduation, making loan repayment very manageable for UCR students. Note that loan aid may be reduced by the amount of any scholarships a student receives.
Master's degree: An award that requires the successful completion of a program of study of at least the full-time equivalent of one but not more than two academic years of work beyond the bachelor's degree.
Minority: Persons of African American/Black, American Indian/Alaskan Native, Asian, or Hispanic descent.
Part-time student (undergraduate): A student enrolled for fewer than 12 credits per semester or quarter, or fewer than 24 contact hours a week each term.
Need-Based: Financial need is determined by a federal needs analysis formula. Students provide family income and asset information on a standard federal form, the Free Application for Student Aid, or FAFSA. From the FAFSA, the formula is applied, resulting in an "expected family contribution" (EFC). The difference between the Cost of Attendance and the EFC is "financial need". Most grants are awarded to meet financial need and are "need-based".
Professional student: A graduate student enrolled in the Health Sciences or the Anderson Graduate School of Management.
Quarter calendar system: A calendar system in which the academic year consists of three sessions called quarters of about 12 weeks each. The range may be from 10 to 15 weeks. There may be an additional quarter in the summer.
Race/ethnicity: Category used to describe groups to which individuals belong, identify with, or belong in the eyes of the community. The categories do not denote scientific definitions of anthropological origins. A person may be counted in only one group.
Race/ethnicity unknown: Category used to classify students or employees whose race/ethnicity is not known and whom institutions are unable to place in one of the specified racial/ethnic categories.
Retention rate: The percentage of students who attend an institution for the first time during the fall term and return the fall term of the following year.
Senior: An undergraduate student having earned 135.0 or more units.
Time-to-degree: The time required to complete a baccalaureate degree.
Transfer applicant: An individual who has fulfilled the institution's requirements to be considered for admission (including payment or waiving of the application fee, if any) and who has previously attended another college or university and earned college-level credit.
Transfer student: A student entering the institution for the first time but known to have previously attended a post-secondary institution at the same level (e.g., undergraduate). The student may transfer with or without credit.
Undergraduate student: A student taking courses at the baccalaureate level.
White: A person having origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, North Africa, or the Middle East (except those of Hispanic origin).