1. FTES, LHE, WSCH, Efficiency
January 29, 2016
K. Tyner M.S., VPAA
Southwestern College

2. Adapted from
“Enrollment Management Definitions” by Trish Axsom, M.S.

3. Terms Student-Related Faculty-Related Efficiency FTES WSCH LHE FTEF
% of Seats filled
WSCH/FTEF
FTES/FTEF

4. Student-Related Terms
FTES
WSCH

5. FTES Full Time Equivalent Student
The unit of measurement used to determine the amount of apportionment paid to the district by the state.
1 FTES = 525 hours of instruction

6. Where does 525 come from? One full time student
Receives 15 hours of instruction per week for 17.5 weeks for 2 semesters
15 hrs/week x 17.5 weeks/semester x 2 semesters
= 525 hrs

7. To Compute FTES
We can piece together the hours of students who attend less than 525 hours.
Each block of 525 hours equals 1 FTES
For example:
Student 1
5 hrs/wk x 17.5 wks/sem x 2 sem = 175 hours
Student 2
10 hrs/wk x 17.5 wks/sem x 2 sem= 350 hours
175 hrs hrs = 525 hrs = 1 FTES

8. Another Example: Fall - Student A Fall - Student B Fall – Student C
16 hrs/wk x 17.5 wks = 280 hours
Fall - Student B
10 hrs/wk x 17.5 wks = 175 hours
Fall – Student C
4 hrs/wk x 17.5 wks = = 70 hours
525 hrs = 1 FTES

9. Standard Method
Generally FTES is computed for a given class rather than for each individual student.
Each block of 525 hours equals 1 FTES
(# students enrolled x # class hrs/wk x 17.5 wks)/525
The # of students enrolled is determined on the Monday closest to 20% of the way through the semester (~4th week).
This is called Census or First Census.

10. Examples
A lecture class has 30 students enrolled at Census. It meets 3 hours per week. Compute FTES.
(30 x 3 hrs/wk x 17.5 wks) / 525 hrs = 3 FTES
A lab class has 30 students enrolled at Census. It meets 3 hours per week. Compute FTES.

11. Bottom line
FTES (and therefore apportionment) is the same for a lecture hour or lab hour (as long as the enrollment is the same).
Since apportionment for SWC is ~$4700 per FTES, a class with 3 FTES provides $14,100 in revenue.

12. Special Cases FTES is computed differently for special cases
Classes that do not meet on a regular basis
Classes that do not meet for the full term
Independent study
Apportionment is computed differently for non-credit classes
We’ll discuss these another time

13. WSCH Weekly Student Contact Hours
WSCH = # students enrolled x # class hrs/wk
We’ll come back to this later.

14. Faculty-Related Terms
LHE
FTEF

15. LHE Lecture Hour Equivalent A first step in computing faculty load
Standardizes the number of lecture and lab hours taught by a faculty
1 hour of lecture per week* = 1 LHE
1 hour of lab per week* = 0.8 LHE
*Not fast track or summer school

16. Examples
Example 1: A faculty is teaching 5 psychology lecture courses. Each course meets 3 hours per week. What is the LHE?
3 lecture hrs/wk x 5 = 15 LHE
Example 2: An adjunct faculty is teaching a chemistry course. The course has 3 hours lecture and 6 hours of lab per week. What is the LHE?
3 lecture hours/week = 3 LHE 6 lab hours/week x 0.8 = 4.8 LHE
3 LHE LHE = 7.8 LHE

17. FTEF Full time equivalent faculty
A standardized method for computing faculty load(s)
Used to compute the hypothetical number of full-time faculty needed to teach (the section, the course, the discipline, etc.)
A full-time faculty contract is 15 LHE per semester. Therefore a full-time equivalent faculty (FTEF) is computed by dividing the number of LHE by 15.

18. Examples
Example 1: A psychology faculty is teaching 5 psychology classes. Each class meets 3 hours per week. How many FTEF is this?
3 hrs/wk x 5 = 15 LHE
15 LHE/15 = 1 FTEF
Example 2: Adjuncts may not teach more than 67% of a full-time faculty equivalent. How many LHE is this? 1 FTEF x 0.67 = 0.67 FTEF
0.67 FTEF x 15 = 10 LHE

19. Efficiency - % of Seats Filled
% of seats filled is computed by dividing the number of students enrolled by the maximum number of seats (class max)
% of seats filled is not the whole story…..

20. Efficiency – WSCH/FTEF
WSCHeff (aka productivity)
A measure of how many WSCH are generated per full time equivalent faculty
WSCHeff = WSCH / FTEF
A WSCHeff of 525 is considered the break-even point, providing enough apportionment to pay for instructional costs and college overhead

21. Example
A lecture class has 30 students enrolled at Census. It meets 3 hours per week. Compute WSCHeff.
30 x 3 hrs/wk = 90 WSCH
3 LHE = 0.2 FTEF
WSCHeff = 90 WSCH / 0.2 FTEF = 450
A lab class has 30 students enrolled at Census. It meets 3 hours per week. Compute WSCHeff.
3 lab hours x 0.8 = 2.4 LHE = 0.16 FTEF
WSCHeff = 90 WSCH / 0.16 FTEF = 562.5
What is the break-even point for a lecture? (n x 3 hrs/wk) / 0.2 = 525
n = (525 x 0.2)/3 = 35

22. Efficiency - FTES/FTEF
A measure of how many FTES are generated per full time equivalent faculty
A WSCH/FTEF of 525 is equal to
17.5 FTES/FTEF (525*17.5)/525)
17.5 FTES/FTEF is considered the break-even point, providing enough apportionment to pay for instructional costs and college overhead

23. Questions?