Student Term Headcount Indicators

Purpose of HeadCount Indicators

In the Student Term tables/views (SR_STU_TERM_GT) and the IR Census Snapshot (IR_CEN_TRM_SNPSHT_GT), the headcount indicator columns identify a single record (row) for each combination of student, term, and campus when the student has rows for two or more academic careers in the same term/session and for the same campus (or report campus). This is typically needed in these scenarios:

1. We need to provide unduplicated headcounts of students by term and campus (or report campus) in reports.
2. When providing individual or aggregated data about students in reports, we need to select unique academic program data for each student, term, and campus (or report campus).
3. We need to summarize student attributes of all students with activity on their Student Financials account, including students who are no longer enrolled but still have financial charges or financial aid.

However, each headcount indicator column has a different purpose:

• Some indicator columns are set to Y on one row exclusively for enrolled students, excluding non-IU contract students.¹
• Other indicator columns are set to Y on one row for all students, including non-IU contract students and nonenrolled students. These indicator columns have the term “global” in the column name.
• In addition, some indicator columns allow the user to select one row across the report campus of IUPUI, which includes Indianapolis (IUINA), Columbus (IUCOA), and IU Fort Wayne (IUFTW). These have the term “unduplicated” in the column name. University Institutional Research and Reporting (UIRR) must report unduplicated student counts across these three campuses to external entities such as NCES and ICHE.²
• Furthermore, some columns can be used to select one row only for students in the historical summer sessions I or II.
• Finally, the “report” headcount indicators for winter, spring, and summer terms in the IR Census Snapshot (IR_CEN_TRM_SNPSHT_GT) are updated at the end of the spring and summer based on the report term code (ACAD_TERM_RPT_CD) (long after the snapshots are taken). This affects students who were enrolled in the academic career GRD1, since winter term codes (e.g. 4179) have a report term of spring (4179 is reported as 4182). Similarly, the term code ending in 2 (e.g. 4182) for GRD1 students has a report term of summer (4182 is reported as 4185). Note that the “report” headcount indicators for fall are identical to ROW_USE_FOR_HEADCOUNT_IND or ROW_USE_HDCT_UNDUPL_IND (see the grid below), since the term and report term are the same for fall. These “report” indicators do not exist in the Student Term tables/views (SR_STU_TERM_GT).

¹Non-IU contract students are those whose primary academic program begins with SWT or CLN. This also includes students who had a primary program beginning with INEX in an academic term prior to fall 2010 (4108). Historically, IU only reported these students’ enrollment to the Indiana Commission for Higher Education (ICHE) as Educational (Contract) Services Rendered. Contract enrollment is flagged in the derived enrollment status indicators with values ending in Z (e.g. EZ), as described on the UIRR website.
²The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) includes the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS). The IPEDS reports for IU are published on the UIRR website. UIRR also submits an annual student-level data set to the Indiana Commission for Higher Education (ICHE), as published in the IUIE.

• To select a single student row by term (or report term) and campus (or report campus) using one of these headcount indicators, select only rows with values of Y. All other rows will have values of N.
• Here is a chart that summarizes the different headcount indicator columns and their uses:

Headcount Indicator Logic

1. For the two “global” indicators (see the chart above), a row with a derived enrollment status of E is selected first, a derived enrollment status of EZ (non-IU contract students) is selected second, and all other rows are considered third. The non-“global” indicators are only set to Y for rows with a derived enrollment status of E.
2. For all headcount indicators, a degree-seeking row is selected over non-degree rows for the same student, term and campus.
3. For all indicators, degree-seeking rows with a student records program reason of “intercampus temporary” are ranked below (selected after) other degree-seeking rows.
4. After the derived enrollment status, degree-seeking status, and intercampus temporary status are evaluated, the highest career-primacy row is selected for each combination of student, term and campus, in this order (highest to lowest priority):
   1. MED
   2. DENT
   3. OPT
   4. LAW
   5. GRD1
   6. GRAD
   7. UGRD
5. The “unduplicated” headcount indicator columns (e.g. ROW_USE_HDCT_UNDUPL_RPT_IND) have additional logic for students at the IUINA, IUCOA, and IUFTW campuses. For students whose records at two or more of these three campuses meet the same prioritization listed in the previous four steps above, the unduplicated indicator is set to Y for the alpha-first campus: i.e. IUCOA first, then IUFTW second, then IUINA last. For students at campuses other than these three campuses, the unduplicated headcount indicators have the same values (Y or N) as the non-unduplicated columns (e.g. ROW_USE_FOR_HDCT_RPT_IND).

History of Headcount Indicator Logic

1. Prior to 1/29/2016, both the “headcount by campus” and “headcount by report campus” indicators used a different logic:
   1. Prior to 1/29/2016, the “headcount by campus” selected the highest career-primacy row among non-contract enrolled rows for a student, term and campus. So, if a student was enrolled as a degree-seeking undergraduate and a non-degree graduate student for the same campus and term, the older logic would flag the non-degree graduate row. In contrast, the post-1/29/2016 logic first looks at degree-seeking rows, in this example selecting the degree-seeking undergraduate row. This change was to support a new emphasis for UIRR in fall 2015 on reporting primarily degree-seeking enrollments.
   2. Prior to 1/29/2016, the “headcount by report campus” would look at students enrolled at both IUINA and IUCOA and always flag the IUCOA row. In contrast, the post-1/29/2016 logic looks for the highest-career primacy row between the two campuses that is degree-seeking and non-intercampus temporary. This change was to support a new emphasis for UIRR starting in fall 2015 on reporting primarily degree-seeking enrollments.
2. Beginning on 6/12/2018, the two “global” indicator columns were published in the IUIE and populated in the IR Census Term Snapshot: ROW_USE_FOR_HEADCOUNT_GLBL_IND and ROW_USE_HDCT_UNDUPL_GLBL_IND.