How is FTE enrollment calculated?

Headcount enrollment is the number of individuals who have paid fees and enrolled in classes. FTE enrollment is a measure of instructional workload used for state budgeting, facilities planning, and local resource allocation decisions.

FTE enrollment is a statement about how many students taking full study loads would generate a given number of measured or anticipated student credit hours. FTE enrollment can be either an estimate of instructional workload, which is the version used for state budgeting, or an exact equivalent of measured student credit hours in a previous term or academic year, which is the version used locally for resource allocation. For a description of how FTE enrollment is estimated in the state budget context, see the Enrollment Issues Handbook published by the UC Office of the President

To convert a measured amount of instructional workload to FTE enrollment, divide student credit hours by a full time study load to determine how many full time students would generate the same instructional workload. Student credit hours (SCH) are the sum of the units earned by all students enrolled in a class. For this purpose, a full study load is defined as:

45 SCH per year (15 units per quarter for three quarters) for undergraduates

36 (SCH) per year (12 units per quarter for three quarters) for a graduate student on the General Campus

For example, 450 undergraduate SCH are equivalent to 10 full time equivalent (FTE) student enrollment (calculated as 450 SCH divided by 45 SCH/FTE). For students on the health sciences campus, FTE workload is considered equal to headcount enrollment.