President's Load Study
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What does it mean?
How to make sense of it for planning and program review
Term
Fall 2013, Fall 2014 and Spring 2015
Compare the terms to see trends.
TOP Code
Taxonomy of Programs – used to classify programs
Review if TOP code is correct.
Curricular Area
Designates the type of program:
Liberal Arts
CTE
Basic Skills
The Curricular Area is used to calculate the Liberal Arts, Vocational
and Basic Skills Load – see explanations below.
School
Academic Org
aka Department
Discipline Title
aka Program Name; TOP Code title
Count of Classes
(Enrolled Only / Combinations
are Accounted for)
The number of sections that were offered and
“made” for each course listed.
Only the enrolled component of a class is counted in
this measure.
Look at trends over time. Are the number of sections increasing,
decreasing or staying steady? Are the offerings well matched to
student demand? Departments may want to analyze this measure in
conjunction with student wait list counts.
The number of sections that were offered and
“made” for each course listed.
Count of All Classes (Enrolled &
NonEnrolled - Combinations
are Accounted for)
Both the enrolled and non-enrolled components (i.e.,
lecture and lab) of a class are counted in this
measure.
Total Resident (Unduplicated
Student Head Count by Top
Code)
Only students classified as residents (i.e., California
residents) are included in this measure. This is an
unduplicated headcount.
Total NonResident
(Unduplicated Student Head
Count by Top Code)
Only students classified as non-residents (i.e., out-ofstate residents) are included in this measure. This is
an unduplicated headcount.
Total Unduplicated Headcount
(Resident & Non-Resident)
Total of Resident and Non-Resident students. This is
an unduplicated headcount.
President’s Load Study 2015 – Definitions
If there are classes that consistently exceed enrollment caps, then
additional class sections should be considered. If enrollments are
consistently lower than the course cap, then the department may
consider consolidating sections or scheduling sections in time slots or
locations that show higher student demand. The question to answer
is the degree to which there is an appropriate match between
student demand and section offerings.
p. 1
President's Load Study
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Class Size Average
(Total Unduplicated Headcount
/ Count of Classes - Enrolled
only)
Total Resident Enrollment
(Duplicated Headcount)
Total Non Resident Enrollment
(Duplicated Headcount)
What does it mean?
How to make sense of it for planning and program review
# of Enrollments divided by # of Classes
Only students classified as residents (i.e., California
residents) are included in this measure. This is a
duplicated count; a student is counted for each class
in which he/she is enrolled.
Only students classified as non-residents (i.e., out-ofstate residents) are included in this measure. This is a
duplicated headcount; , a student is counted for each
class in which he/she is enrolled.
Total Enrollment (Resident &
Non-Resident)
Full-time FTEF (Full-time
Equivalent Faculty)
# of Full-time Equivalent Faculty who are Full-time
Part-Time FTEF
# of Full-time Equivalent Faculty who are Part-time
Total FTEF
Full-time FTE + Part-Time FTE
WSCH (Weekly Student Contact
Hours)
The college’s apportionment funding from the State
is determined based on the number of WSCH that are
calculated from all courses taught. Based on the
attendance type of the course, student contact hours
are converted into FTES, or fulltime equivalent
students (see below).
President’s Load Study 2015 – Definitions
If there are classes that consistently exceed enrollment caps, then
additional class sections should be considered. If enrollments are
consistently lower than the course cap, then the department may
consider consolidating sections or scheduling sections in time slots or
locations that show higher student demand. The question to answer
is the degree to which there is an appropriate match between
student demand and section offerings.
Department faculty will want to monitor the number of FTEF
teaching in their department. If the FTEF declines, especially while
student enrollment increases, a case can be made to request to hire
additional faculty to meet that student demand.
Likewise, if FTEF is relatively high while student demand decreases,
the department and its faculty risk having instructors who may be
unable to meet their load requirements.
WSCH is used to calculate program load (see below).
p. 2
President's Load Study
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FTES (Full-time Equivalent
Student)
What does it mean?
An FTES was theoretically derived by considering that
one student could be enrolled in courses for 3 hours a
day, 5 days a week, for an academic year of 35 weeks.
So, a total of 525 hours is equated to one FTES (3 X 5
X 35 = 525).
FTES equals the WSCH (Weekly Student Contact
Hours) multiplied by 17.5 weeks per semester and
divided by 525. For short-term classes (less than 18
weeks) and positive attendance classes (where
students log hours for reporting), FTES is calculated
according to the Student Attendance Accounting
Manual. (Please contact the Office of Institutional
Effectiveness for details.)
Note: This FTES measure includes both the enrolled
and non-enrolled component of a class. This is
different from the measures of enrollment and
success rates which are based only on the enrolled
component of a class. Therefore, multiple modes of
instruction may appear for the FTES measure
whereas there may only be one mode of instruction
indicated for the enrollment and success rate
measures.
President’s Load Study 2015 – Definitions
How to make sense of it for planning and program review
An average 3-unit course generates roughly 3.5 FTES. Note that the
State imposes limits on the total FTES for which colleges actually
receive apportionment funding. Colleges are free to exceed these
caps, but they realize such FTES overages as “unfunded” FTES. Too
high a number of unfunded FTES, while pleasing students who need
classes, can lead to budgetary problems for a college where monies
generated exceed the cost for delivering classes.
Note on FTES and State funding:
California Community Colleges state apportionment is primarily
driven by the Full‐Time Equivalent Student (FTES) workload measure.
FTES is not "headcount enrollment," but is the equivalent of 525
hours of student instruction per each FTES. For the 2015‐16 Fiscal
Year, the funding rate for each CREDIT FTES is $4,893.44 (this is a
uniform CREDIT FTES rate for all community college districts and is
adjusted annually for COLA). The NONCREDIT FTES rate for the same
period is $2,942.56, while the rate for Career Development and
College Preparation (CDCP) NONCREDIT FTES is $4,893.44.
p. 3
President's Load Study
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What does it mean?
Program Load
(WSCH/ FTEF)
Total Weekly Student Contact Hour per Full‐Time
Equivalent Faculty. This is a measure of efficiency
sometimes referred to as faculty “load.” This value is
considered as part of the faculty hiring request
criteria. It is a more precise measure of “productivity”
than average class size because it takes into account
the number of units assigned to each class, and
therefore, the number of hours of instruction
provided.
FTES/FTEF
Collegewide Load
Collegewide Index
(Program Load / College Wide
Load)
Liberal Arts Load
CTE Load
Basic Skills Load
Full-Time Equivalent Student divided by Total FullTime Equivalent Faculty
Calculation is the same as Program Load above, but
includes all the programs across the college.
Program Load divided by Collegewide Load
Calculation is the same as Program Load above, but
only includes Liberal Arts.
Calculation is the same as Program Load above, but
only includes CTE
Calculation is the same as Program Load above, but
only includes Basic Skills.
President’s Load Study 2015 – Definitions
How to make sense of it for planning and program review
The higher the WSCH/FTEF the more “productive” is a course,
Academic Org, School and College at generating FTES given the
number of instructors paid to teach the relevant courses. The
optimal level that has been set by the state and that which colleges
strive is a Load or WSCH/FTEF of 525. This value reflects when, on
average, each full‐time faculty is teaching five 3‐unit classes with 35
students enrolled in each class. In this case, there is efficient use of
college resources (instructor and classroom space) in relation to the
WSCH (and, therefore, FTES that a college reports and gets funding
for). Although the more FTES, the more apportionment funding the
college receives, there is a balance between high Load and a
classroom with a number of students that an instructor can manage
to facilitate optimal learning. Also, some courses have a cap limit
placed on them due to a variety of factors (accreditation, classroom
size, curriculum limits based on academic discipline – writing, for
example, that would result in a WSCH/FTEF that is lower than 525.
The idea is that across the whole curriculum, courses with very high
load values will balance out those that legitimately have lower
values. An “efficient” class schedule across the college would have
an overall average WSCH/FTEF of about 525.
Provides student-faculty ratio for the program.
Compare your program load against the Collegewide Load to see
differences in productivity.
Compares specific program load to collegewide load; percent
indicates level of "efficiency" or "productivity" of a program as
compared to college; the higher the percentage, the more efficient
the program
If your program is Liberal Arts, it is useful to compare your program
load against this overall Liberal Arts Load.
If your program is Vocational, it is useful to compare your program
load against this overall Vocational Load.
If your program is Basic Skills, it is useful to compare your program
load against this overall Basic Skills Load.
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