The online version of the IPEDS Glossary provides definitions for almost 500 postsecondary-related terms used in the collection and dissemination of IPEDS data.
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The use of this term was discontinued in IPEDS as of the 2010-11 data collection, when use of the new postbaccalaureate award categories became mandatory.
May refer to a degree, certificate, or level of student.
A first-professional degree was an award that required completion of a program that met all of the following criteria: (1) completion of the academic requirements to begin practice in the profession; (2) at least 2 years of college work prior to entering the program; and (3) a total of at least 6 academic years of college work to complete the degree program, including prior required college work plus the length of the professional program itself. First-professional degrees may be awarded in the following 10 fields:
A first-professional certificate was an award that required completion of an organized program of study designed for persons who had completed the first-professional degree. Examples could be refresher courses or additional units of study in a specialty or subspecialty.
A first-professional student was a student enrolled in one of these programs.
The 12-month FTE for first-professional students was calculated using the unduplicated headcounts reported on the 12-month enrollment component. Since the 12-month unduplicated headcounts do not differentiate between full-time and part-time students, an estimation was used. The ratio of full-time to part-time first-professional students from the previous collection year fall enrollment(which corresponds to the same academic year students) was calculated, and this ratio was applied to the 12-month unduplicated headcount. Adding the resulting full-time and one-third part-time student estimates results in the FTE for first-professional students.
