A
Academic Pathway
Group of related academic programs, as established by the Virginia Community College System (VCCS).
Academic Program (Major)
Combination of courses and related activities organized for attainment of broad educational objectives as described by the institution.
Academic Year
12-month period including the Summer semester, Fall semester, and following Spring semester.
Administrative Faculty
Includes positions such as Vice Presidents, Provosts, Deans, and specific Directors. Administrative Faculty have faculty rank.
American Indian/Alaska Native
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.
Asian
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.
Award Type
Degree, certificate, or career studies certificate; NOVA offers the following award types:
- Associate of Arts Degree (A.A.) – Awarded for the completion of two-year curricula in liberal arts and music.
- Associate of Science Degree (A.S.) – Awarded for the completion of two-year curricula in a variety of pre-professional programs.
- Associate of Fine Arts Degree (A.F.A.) – Awarded for the completion of two-year curricula in the fine and performing arts.
- Associate of Applied Arts Degree (A.A.A.) – Awarded for the completion of two-year curricula primarily designed to prepare students for employment in jobs in music.
- Associate of Applied Science Degree (A.A.S.) – Awarded for the completion of two-year curricula designed to prepare students for employment in a technical field immediately following graduation.
- Certificate (CERT.) – Awarded for the completion of various curricula of study less than two years in length, totaling between 30 and 59 credits; at least 15 percent of the credits must be in general education.
- Career Studies Certificate (C.S.C.) – A type of certificate awarded for a specific group of career-related courses totaling between 9 and 29 credits.
B
Black/African American
A person who has origins in any of the Black racial groups of Africa.
C
Campus
NOVA has six physical campuses, including the following:
- Alexandria Campus (AL)
- Annandale Campus (AN)
- Loudoun Campus (LO)
- Manassas Campus (MA)
- Medical Education Campus (ME)
- Woodbridge Campus (WO)
Certificate Program
A broadly structured curriculum leads to the award of a certificate or career studies certificate.
Classified Staff
Support positions for College operations; classified staff includes most Directors and do not hold faculty rank.
Cohort
As defined by the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS), a specific group of students established for tracking purposes. At NOVA, it means a group of students who entered the College for the first time in the same semester.
Contract Dual Enrollment
Classes designated as contract dual enrollment are offered at various high schools within the NOVA service region, are available during the regular school day for students attending that specific high school/academy, are zero tuition, and the course offerings vary by district. Contract classes are taught by high school teachers who meet NOVA’s credentialing requirements to serve as NOVA adjunct instructors.
Conversion Rate
The conversion rate is calculated as the percentage of students who enrolled in a contract dual enrollment course while in high school and subsequently enrolled at NOVA under a non-dual enrollment plan within two years.
Course Campus
Campus with which a course is associated.
Credit
Recognition of attendance or performance in an instructional activity (i.e., a course or program) that can be applied by a recipient toward the requirements for a postsecondary degree or certificate.
Credit Hour
Unit of measure equivalent to one collegiate semester hour.
Curriculum Code
A numeric code assigned to an academic program (major) at NOVA.
D
Day/Night Status
In accordance with the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV), day classes start after 6:00 a.m., and night classes start at 6:00 p.m. or later.
Degree Program
A broadly structured program leading to the award of an associate degree.
Degree- or Certificate-Seeking Student
A student who enrolled in an academic program that offers a corresponding degree or certificate. See Program Placed Student.
Domicile
The state that a person treats as their permanent home, or lives in and has a substantial connection with.
E
Employment
A graduate is counted as employed in the year following completion of a credential if they were paid wages by an employer in one (or more) of the four quarters immediately following the term/quarter in which they graduated. A graduate is counted as employed five years following completion of a credential if they were paid wages by an employer in one (or more) of the four quarters of the calendar year five years following the year in which they graduated.
Employment Rate
The percentage of total graduates employed in Virginia one year or five years following the completion of a credential, with some exceptions, out of the total number of students who graduated that academic year.
F
Faculty
Persons whose specific assignments are to conduct instruction, research, or public service as a principal activity (or activities).
- Administrative Faculty includes positions such as Vice Presidents, Provosts, Deans, Directors, and some other program coordinators that hold faculty rank.
- Professional Faculty includes such positions as counselors, librarians, and instructional technologists.
- Teaching Faculty includes all teaching faculty on both 9- and 12-month contracts.
- Temporary Faculty positions include adjunct, semesterly, and those paid with outside funding such as grant or restricted faculty.
First-Time Dual Student
A first-time dual student is a student who enrolled at NOVA for the first time as a contract dual enrollment student without a prior high school dual enrollment.
First-Time in College (FTIC) Student
Student from one of the following three groups:
- Students attending college for the first time in the Fall semester.
- Students enrolled in the Fall semester who attended college for the first time in the Summer term preceding the Fall semester.
- Students with prior dual enrollment at a Virginia Community College System (VCCS) institution who attended college as non-dual enrollment students for the first time in the Fall semester.
Full-Time Employment
An individual is counted as employed full-time one year following the completion of a credential if they earned at least the equivalent of a full-time federal minimum wage – $7.25 per hour for forty hours per week, or $15,080 per year – during the calendar year after the year in which they graduated. An individual is counted as employed full-time five years following the completion of a credential if they earned at least the equivalent of a full-time federal minimum wage during the calendar year five years after the year in which they graduated. There is no way to determine from the available data whether someone was working full-time hours. For example, a student who graduated in May of 2017 would be considered full-time one year after graduation if they made at least $15,080 in 2018 and would be considered employed full-time five years after graduation if they made at least $15,080 in 2022, regardless of how many hours they worked.
Full-Time Equivalent Faculty (FTEF)
Calculated by dividing the total credits taught by 15 for a semester or by 30 for an academic year; can be computed for the College and by campus, discipline, or instructional faculty type.
Full-Time Equivalent Student (FTES)
Measure of enrollment intensity calculated in any of the following three ways:
- Semester FTES – Computed by dividing the total number of semester credits by 15.
- Regular-Session FTES – Calculated by adding Fall and Spring semester credits and dividing by 30.
- Annual FTES – Calculated by adding Summer, Fall, and Spring semester credits and dividing by 30.
Note: When FTES are calculated for distance learning students, credits are assigned to the course campus.
Full-Time Student
A student enrolled in 12 or more credits in a semester.
G
Graduate
An individual who completed a course of study at NOVA and attained a degree or certificate from the College.
Graduation Rate
Percentage of first-time in college, program placed students who complete their course of study within three years, or 150 percent of normal time to program completion.
H
Headcount Enrollment
Number of students enrolled in credit courses in a semester or academic year. Headcount is unduplicated; a student is counted once during the period. NOVA uses the following two headcount enrollment measures:
- Fall – Includes students enrolled in the Fall semester.
- Annual – Includes students enrolled at any time during an academic year.
Hispanic/Latino
A person of Cuban, Mexican, Puerto Rican, South or Central American, or other Spanish or Portuguese culture or origin, regardless of race.
Home Campus
Campus of record or program campus as selected by a student.
I
Independent Dual Enrollment
Dual Enrollment is an enrichment opportunity that allows high school and home-schooled students to earn college credits for courses taken through NOVA while still being enrolled in high school. A dual-enrolled student is enrolled in both high school, or home school, and NOVA, and pays tuition and fees.
Industry Sector
A broad group of establishments involved in related activities, as classified by the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS). There are 20 NAICS sectors; however, for the purposes of this publication, certain similar sectors have been combined based on the groupings used by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Instructional Faculty
Includes full-time (i.e., teaching) and part-time (i.e., temporary or adjunct) faculty.
International Student
An individual who holds a visa issued specifically for the purpose of studying in the United States.
IRIS Files
Institutional Research Information System. At NOVA, IRIS files are OSI’s official census files, which facilitate research analysis; these files are the source of official data for OSI projects.
M
Major
See Academic Program.
Median Wage
The median wage of all graduates employed full-time. The median is calculated by arranging the values from smallest to largest and finding the middle value. When there are an even number of observations, the median is the midpoint between the two middle values.
N
Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander
A person having origins in any of the original peoples of Hawaii, Guam, Samoa, or other Pacific Islands.
New Transfer Student
A student who previously attended and earned credit at a postsecondary degree program and subsequently enrolled at NOVA.
Nonresident Alien
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.
Note: Nonresident aliens are to be reported separately from any of the racial/ethnic categories.
Not Specified Race/Ethnicity
Reflects cases in which students did not indicate a race/ethnicity upon application to the College.
NOVA Online
NOVA’s distance learning program. Before 2018, NOVA Online was called the Extended Learning Institute (ELI).
O
Office of Strategic Insights (OSI)
OSI personnel conduct studies, publish research reports, administer programs, and provide consultancy services to help faculty and staff implement the College’s mission and vision in accordance with its strategic plan. OSI was formerly known as the Office of Institutional Research (OIR).
P
Part-Time Student
A student who enrolled in fewer than 12 credits of coursework in a semester.
Professional Faculty
Includes positions such as counselors, librarians, and instructional technologists.
Program of Study
See Academic Program.
Program Placed Student
Student who enrolled in a degree or certificate program. See Degree- or Certificate-Seeking Student.
R
Race/Ethnicity
Categories used to describe groups to which individuals belong or with which they identify; the categories do not denote scientific definitions of anthropological origins. OSI tallies race/ethnicity as follows, as indicated by students upon application to the College:
- American Indian/Alaska Native
- Asian
- Black/African American
- Hispanic/Latino
- Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander
- Nonresident Alien
- Two or More Races
- Not Specified
- Unknown
- White
Retention Rate
Percentage of students enrolled in a Fall semester who either re-enroll or complete a program by a subsequent semester.
- Fall-to-Fall Retention Rate – The percentage of students enrolled at NOVA in a Fall semester who either re-enroll or complete a program by the following Fall semester.
Returning Dual Student
A returning dual student is a previous contract dual enrollment student who returned to NOVA and is enrolled as a contract dual enrollment student.
Returning Student
A student who re-enrolled at NOVA without reapplying; also called a continuing student.
S
Student Type
Student classifications used for institutional research purposes, including first-time in college, first-time transfer, or returning student.
T
Teaching Faculty
Includes all teaching faculty on 9-month, 10-month, or 12-month contracts.
Temporary Faculty
Includes adjunct, semester, and grant or restricted faculty.
Two or More Races
Reflects students’ selection of multiple racial/ethnic identifications.
U
Unemployment Insurance (UI) Records
Statewide employment data provided by the Virginia Employment Commission (VEC). These records contain employer information and wages for each quarter for all employees covered by the state UI system. Excluded from these records are individuals employed outside of Virginia; those employed by the federal government; and those employed in jobs not covered by the state UI system, including student employees, elected state and local officials, most farm workers, active duty military, the incarcerated, and the self-employed.
Unknown Race/Ethnicity
Reflects students’ selection of “Prefer not to answer” upon application to the College.
W
White
A person having origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, the Middle East, or North Africa.