12-month Enrollment captures a cumulative unduplicated headcount of enrollment over the full 12-month period beginning July 1 and ending June 30. In contrast, Fall Enrollment captures number of students enrolled on a particular date in the fall. Fall enrollment is often referred to as a "snapshot" of an institution's enrollment at a specific time.

The full-time equivalent (FTE) enrollment used in this report is the sum of the institution's FTE undergraduate enrollment and FTE graduate enrollment (as calculated from or reported on the 12-month Enrollment component). Undergraduate and graduate FTE are estimated using 12-month instructional activity (credit and/or contact hours). See "Calculation of FTE Students (using instructional activity)" in the IPEDS Glossary at https://surveys.nces.ed.gov/ipeds/VisGlossaryAll.aspx.

Completions collects data on undergraduate and graduate completions and completers in a 12-month period. Completions are the counts of postsecondary awards granted where each award reported once but multiple awards may be reported for one recipient. Completers are the counts of students granted postsecondary awards. The count of completers is collected in two ways. The first way counts all completers, while the second way counts completers by award level (e.g., number of associate's completers, number of bachelor's completers).

Student Financial Aid collects the counts of undergraduate students awarded different types of financial aid and the total amounts of aid awarded. The average dollar amount of aid awarded is then calculated. In addition, Student Financial Aid collects counts of full-time, first-time undergraduate student awarded aid and amounts of aid, and counts and disbursed amounts for undergraduate and graduate students receiving military education benefits.

IPEDS collects data to calculate average net price at each institution for two groups of undergraduate students: those awarded grant and scholarship aid and those awarded Title IV federal aid.

Average net price is calculated for full-time, first-time degree/certificate-seeking undergraduates who were awarded grant or scholarship aid from the federal government, state/local government, or the institution anytime during the academic year. For public institutions, this includes only students who paid the in-state or in-district tuition rate. Other sources of grant aid are excluded. Average net price is generated by subtracting the average amount of federal, state/local government, and institutional grant and scholarship aid from the total cost of attendance. Total cost of attendance is the sum of published tuition and required fees (lower of in-district or in-state for public institutions), books and supplies, and the weighted average of room and board, and other expenses.

For the purpose of the IPEDS reporting, aid awarded refers to financial aid that was awarded to, and accepted by, a student. This amount may differ from the aid amount that is disbursed to a student.

Retention rates are measures of the rate at which students persist in their educational program at an institution, expressed as a percentage. For four-year institutions, this is the percentage of first-time bachelors (or equivalent) degree-seeking undergraduates from the previous fall who are again enrolled in the current fall. For all other institutions this is the percentage of first-time degree/certificate-seeking students from the previous fall who either re-enrolled or successfully completed their program by the current fall. The full-time retention rate is calculated using the percentage of full-time, first-time degree/certificate-seeking undergraduates, while the part-time rate is calculated using the percentage of part-time, first-time degree/certificate-seeking undergraduates.