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FTE Explanation
A New Breed of Student FTE:
A new funding formula was adopted by the Nevada State Legislature for the University and Community College System of Nevada, effective Fall 2001. With this new formula comes a new way of defining Student "Full-Time Equivalent," more commonly known as Student FTE. Student FTE numbers become the basis for building budget requests and for accountability reporting.
Student FTE (SFTE) are derived by formulae from Student Credit Hours (SCH).
Student Credit Hours are derived by multiplying the course credit value of a given class by the enrollment in that class. Example: a 3 credit class with 10 students enrolled generates 30 SCH. According to the new formula, SCH are generated at four instructional levels: Lower Divison, Upper Division, Master's, and Doctoral.
Defining Student Credit Hours (SCH) by Level
- Classes below the 300 level generate Lower Division (LD) SCH.
- Classes at the 300 and 400 levels generate Upper Division (UD) SCH.
- Classes at the graduate level generate Master's (MA) SCH and Doctoral (DR) SCH - Graduate course credits taken by Doctoral level Students generate DR SCH, and all remaining graduate course credits generate MA SCH.
Calculating Student FTE from SCH
| For a semester: | For a year (Fall + Spring): |
|---|---|
| 15 Lower Division SCH = 1 Student FTE | 30 LD SCH = 1 SFTE |
| 15 Upper Division SCH = 1 Student FTE | 30 UD SCH = 1 SFTE |
| 12 Masters SCH = 1 Student FTE | 24 MA SCH = 1 SFTE |
| 9 Doctoral SCH = 1 Student FTE | 18 DR SCH = 1 SFTE |
Example
Dept WXYZ generates the following in one semester:
| LD | UD | MA | DR | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SCH: | 3,000 | 1,500 | 600 | 90 | |
| divisor: | /15 | /15 | /12 | /9 | |
| FTE: | 200 + | 100 + | 50 + | 10 = | 360 total SFTE |
Student FTE calculated under the new formula are not comparable, at the graduate and overall levels, to Student FTE calculated under the old formula.
