Full-time student

Institutions count credit hours or clock hours attempted in the term. A student registered for 12 semester credits is full-time; a student registered for 11 is part-time. The classification is applied at the census date used for IPEDS reporting. Full-time and part-time retention and graduation rates are calculated and published separately.

Example: an undergraduate registers for four 3-credit courses in the fall term, totaling 12 credits. That student is full-time for IPEDS reporting. If the student later drops to 9 credits before the census date, the status changes to part-time for that term’s official count.

Part-time students fall below the credit thresholds and are tracked in separate cohorts. Full-time-equivalent (FTE) enrollment converts part-time headcounts into a single comparable number using standard factors; it is not the same as a count of full-time students. Enrollment intensity for financial-aid purposes can use slightly different rules.

Assuming every student taking “a full load” meets the 12-credit threshold without checking the census date. Comparing a full-time graduation rate to a part-time rate as if the cohorts were interchangeable. Using credit hours earned rather than attempted when determining status.