A person having origins in any of the original peoples of North and South America (including Central America) who maintains cultural identification through tribal affiliation or community attachment.

A person having origins in any of the original peoples of the Far East, Southeast Asia, or the Indian Subcontinent, including, for example, Cambodia, China, India, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Pakistan, the Philippine Islands, Thailand, and Vietnam.

An award that normally requires at least 2 but less than 4 years of full-time equivalent college work.

An award (baccalaureate or equivalent degree, as determined by the Secretary, U.S. Department of Education) that normally requires at least 4 but not more than 5 years of full-time equivalent college-level work. This includes all bachelor's degrees conferred in a 5-year cooperative (work-study) 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 includes bachelor's degrees in which the normal 4 years of work are completed in 3 years.

A person having origins in any of the black racial groups of Africa.

A recognized postsecondary credential that is conferred upon the satisfactory completion of a postsecondary education program.

A six-digit code in the form xx.xxxx that identifies instructional program specialties within educational institutions.

A taxonomic coding scheme for secondary and postsecondary instructional programs. It is intended to facilitate the organization, collection, and reporting of program data using classifications that capture the majority of reportable data. The CIP is the accepted federal government statistical standard on instructional program classifications and is used in a variety of education information surveys and databases.

A period of time consisting of (1) A 50- to 60-minute class, lecture, or recitation in a 60-minute period; (2) A 50- to 60-minute faculty-supervised laboratory, shop training, or internship in a 60-minute period; or (3) Sixty minutes of preparation in a correspondence course.

A unit of measure that represents an hour of scheduled instruction given to students. Also referred to as clock hour.

A unit of measure representing the equivalent of an hour (50 minutes) of instruction per week over the entire term. It is applied toward the total number of credit hours needed for completing the requirements of a degree, diploma, certificate, or other recognized postsecondary credential.

A official document certifying the successful completion of a prescribed program of studies.

Education that uses one or more technologies to deliver instruction to students who are separated from the instructor and to support regular and substantive interaction between the students and the instructor synchronously or asynchronously.

Technologies used for instruction may include the following: Internet; one-way and two-way transmissions through open broadcasts, closed circuit, cable, microwave, broadband lines, fiber optics, satellite or wireless communication devices; audio conferencing; and video cassette, DVDs, and CD-ROMs, if the cassette, DVDs, and CD-ROMs are used in a course in conjunction with the technologies listed above.

A course in which the instructional content is delivered exclusively via distance education.  Requirements for coming to campus for orientation, testing, or academic support services do not exclude a course from being classified as distance education.

A program for which all the required coursework for program completion is able to be completed via distance education courses.

A doctor's degree that does not meet the definition of a doctor's degree - research/scholarship or a doctor's degree - professional practice.

A doctor's degree that is conferred upon completion of a program providing the knowledge and skills for the recognition, credential, or license required for professional practice. The degree is awarded after a period of study such that the total time to the degree, including both pre-professional and professional preparation, equals at least six full-time equivalent academic years. Some of these degrees were formerly classified as first-professional and may include: Chiropractic (D.C. or D.C.M.); Dentistry (D.D.S. or D.M.D.); Law (J.D.); Medicine (M.D.); Optometry (O.D.); Osteopathic Medicine (D.O); Pharmacy (Pharm.D.); Podiatry (D.P.M., Pod.D., D.P.); or, Veterinary Medicine (D.V.M.), and others, as designated by the awarding institution.

A Ph.D. or other doctor's degree that requires advanced work beyond the master's level, including the preparation and defense of a dissertation based on original research, or the planning and execution of an original project demonstrating substantial artistic or scholarly achievement. Some examples of this type of degree may include Ed.D., D.M.A., D.B.A., D.Sc., D.A., or D.M, and others, as designated by the awarding institution.

A person of Cuban, Mexican, Puerto Rican, South or Central American, or other Spanish culture or origin, regardless of race.

The Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS), conducted by the NCES, began in 1986 and involves annual institution-level data collections. All postsecondary institutions that have a Program Participation Agreement with the Office of Postsecondary Education (OPE), U.S. Department of Education (throughout IPEDS referred to as "Title IV") are required to report data using a web-based data collection system. IPEDS currently consists of the following components: Institutional Characteristics (IC); 12-month Enrollment (E12);Completions (C); Admissions (ADM); Student Financial Aid (SFA); Human Resources (HR) composed of Employees by Assigned Position, Fall Staff, and Salaries; Fall Enrollment (EF); Graduation Rates (GR); Outcome Measures (OM); Finance (F); and Academic Libraries (AL).

An award that requires the successful completion of a program of study of at least the full-time equivalent of 1 but not more than 2 academic years of work beyond the bachelor's degree.
Some of these degrees, such as those in Theology (M.Div., M.H.L./Rav) that were formerly classified as "first-professional", may require more than two full-time equivalent academic years of work.

A person having origins in any of the original peoples of Hawaii, Guam, Samoa, or other Pacific Islands.

A person who is not a citizen or national of the United States and who is in this country on a visa or temporary basis and does not have the right to remain indefinitely.

An award that requires completion of an organized program beyond the master's degree, but does not meet the requirements of academic degrees at the doctor's level.

An award that requires completion of an organized program of study beyond the bachelor's.  It is designed for persons who have completed a baccalaureate degree, but does not meet the requirements of a master's degree. 

 

NOTE: Even though Teacher Preparation certificate programs may require a bachelor's degree for admission, they are considered subbacalaureate undergraduate programs, and students in these programs are undergraduate students.

An award that requires completion of an organized program of study at the postsecondary level (below the baccalaureate degree) designed for completion in 1,800 or more clock hours, or 60 or more semester or trimester credit hours, or 90 or more quarter credit hours. Beginning in 2020-21, references to academic year equivalencies were removed from all levels of subbaccalaureate certificates.

An award that requires completion of an organized program of study at the postsecondary level (below the baccalaureate degree) designed for completion in at least 300 but less than 900 clock hours, or in at least 9 but less 30 semester or trimester credit hours, or in at least 13 but less than 45 quarter credit hours. Beginning in 2020-21, this award level category was one of two added options for reporting certificates of less than one academic year in length.

An award that requires completion of an organized program of study at the postsecondary level (below the baccalaureate degree) designed for completion in at least 900 but less than 1,800 clock hours, or in at least 30 but less than 60 semester or trimester credit hours, or in at least 45 but less than 90 quarter credit hours. Beginning in 2020-21, references to academic year equivalencies were removed from all levels of subbaccalaureate certificates.

An award that requires completion of an organized program of study at the postsecondary level (below the baccalaureate degree) designed for completion in less than 300 clock hours, or in less than 9 semester or trimester credit hours, or less than 13 quarter credit hours. Beginning in 2020-21, this award level category was one of two added options for reporting certificates of less than one academic year in length.

The category used to report students or employees whose race and ethnicity are not known.

Categories developed in 1997 by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) that are 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. The designations are used to categorize U.S. citizens, resident aliens, and other eligible non-citizens.

Individuals are asked to first designate ethnicity as:
   - Hispanic or Latino or
   - Not Hispanic or Latino

Second, individuals are asked to indicate all races that apply among the following:
   - American Indian or Alaska Native
   - Asian
   - Black or African American
   - Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander
   - White

A recognized postsecondary credential includes any credential that is received after completion of a program that is eligible for Title IV federal student aid or that is awarded in recognition of an individual's attainment of measurable technical or industry/occupational skills necessary to obtain employment or advance within an industry/occupation. These technical or industry/occupational skills generally are based on standards developed or endorsed by employers or industry associations.

An institution that has a written agreement with the Secretary of Education that allows the institution to participate in any of the Title IV federal student financial assistance programs (other than the State Student Incentive Grant (SSIG) and the National Early Intervention Scholarship and Partnership (NEISP) programs).

A person having origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, the Middle East, or North Africa.