What is the difference between FTE, Headcount, and Enrollment?

Short story:

  • FTE is a measure of instructional activity. It utilizes the number of students in a course section and the clock hours for the course. The calculation is: (# of students x clock hours) / 510. 
  • Headcount is the unique count of students. Headcount is used when we want to know how many unique students are enrolled at the college and/or over a specific period of time. 
  • Enrollment is a count of the number of sections students have taken. Each student is counted for every class they are enrolled in. Enrollment is sometimes called "Duplicated Headcount". 

Long story:

IR developed a presentation with accompanying handout to explain the differences between FTE, Headcount, and Enrollment and how these metrics interact with one another. See attached!

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