FTES? FTEF? MARCH 1, 2016

FTES o FTES = Full-Time Equivalent Students o Funding formula to determine how much money VC receives from the state o Each year, the state tells us the maximum amount of funding they will pay us o This is called our FTES Target o 1 FTES = $4, from state o Example – FTES Target is 10,000 – State will pay us a max of $47,236,000 o Goal is to get as close to FTES target without going over

FTES o Why do we need a formula? Why can’t the state just pay us based on how many total students we have? o Short answer – students vary widely in how many classes they take each semester o FTES calculation weights funding by the number of hours that students are in class o Overarching assumption - one full-time student is enrolled in courses for 3 hours a day, 5 days a week, during an academic year of 35 weeks o One full-time student receives 525 hours of instruction in a year (3 x 5 x 35 = 525)

CALCULATING FTES o Oversimplified example that forms the basis of all FTES calculations: o A full-time student takes 15 hours/week in a semester o Mary is taking 7.5 hours - equivalent to half of a full-time student: 7.5/15 = 0.5 o Barry is taking 3 hours - equivalent to 20% of a full-time student: 3/15 = 0.2 o Added together, Mary and Barry are the equivalent of 0.7 full-time students o There are 4 different FTES calculations depending on the type of course

WEEKLY CENSUS COURSES o Typical semester-long courses that meet every week o Fall 2015 – about 84% of all VC sections o FTES = (weekly student hours X census enrollment X term length)/525 o Term length = 17.5 weeks

WEEKLY CENSUS EXAMPLE o Fall 2015 – Math V10, Section o Weekly student hours = 3, Census enrollment = 31, Term length = 17.5 weeks o What is the FTES for this section? How much state funding will we receive? o FTES = (weekly student hours X census enrollment X term length)/525 o 1 FTES = $4, from state o FTES = (3 x 31 x 17.5)/525 = 3.1 o State Funding = 3.1 x $4, = $14,643.16

INCREASING FTES AND FUNDING o Which factors in the formula can we impact in order to increase FTES, and thus funding? o FTES = (weekly student hours X census enrollment X term length)/525 o Weekly student hours and census enrollment o Weekly student hours is analogous to units: higher unit courses have higher weekly student hours o Census enrollment: higher enrollment = higher FTES

DAILY CENSUS o Meet for fewer weeks than a normal full semester o Short-term or late-start classes in Fall/Spring o Almost all Summer classes are Daily Census o FTES = (daily student hours X census enrollment X number of meeting days)/525

POSITIVE ATTENDANCE o Non-credit courses and credit open entry/open exit courses o Positive Attendance hours – the number of hours that a student was actually in the class o FTES = (Positive Attendance Hours)/525 o FTES is typically lower for PA classes because we only receive funding for the hours that a student actually attended the class o Weekly and Daily Courses – we receive same funding if a student misses 0 classes or 10 classes

FTEF o FTEF = Full-Time Equivalent Faculty o Determines how much VC pays in faculty salaries and benefits o FTEF is the same thing as instructor load o More FTEF = More money spent on salaries and benefits

WSCH/FTEF - PRODUCTIVITY o WSCH/FTEF = Productivity ratio o WSCH = Weekly Student Contact Hours = FTES x 30 o Higher WSCH = More FTES = More state funding o More FTEF = More spent on salaries and benefits o This ratio is a measure of economic efficiency

WSCH/FTEF - PRODUCTIVITY o High WSCH/FTEF Ratio: o Class typically has a lot of students in it o We are receiving a lot of state funding and/or paying less in salaries and benefits o Low WSCH/FTEF Ratio: o Class typically has few students in it o We are receiving less state funding and/or paying more in salaries and benefits

WSCH/FTEF - EXAMPLES o Fall 2015: Math V10, Section o FTES = 3.1, FTEF = 0.2 o What is the WSCH/FTEF? How much $ will we receive from state? Is it more or less than we will pay for the FTEF? o WSCH/FTEF = (FTES x 30)/FTEF o 1 FTES = $4, from state o Assume 0.2 FTEF costs $18,660 (This is a very rough estimate of actual cost) o WSCH/FTEF = 465, State Funding = $14,643, Less than FTEF

WSCH/FTEF - EXAMPLES o Fall 2015: Astronomy V01, Section o FTES = 4.3, FTEF = 0.2 o What is the WSCH/FTEF? How much $ will we receive from state? Is it more or less than we will pay for the FTEF? o WSCH/FTEF = (FTES x 30)/FTEF o 1 FTES = $4, from state o Assume 0.2 FTEF costs $18,660 (This is a very rough estimate of actual cost) o WSCH/FTEF = 645, State Funding = $20,311, More than FTEF

WSCH/FTEF - PRODUCTIVITY o What is the college’s break-even value? o WSCH/FTEF = 525 o If the college is below this value, we are spending more than we are making o If the college is above this value, we are making more than we are paying

BUILDING AN EFFICIENT COURSE SCHEDULE o Building an economically efficient schedule requires balancing FTES and WSCH/FTEF o Example: Our FTES target = 10,000 FTES o Which scenario is more efficient? o Scenario A: 10,000 FTES, 600 total sections o Scenario B: 10,000 FTES, 400 total sections o Scenario B is more efficient

BUILDING AN EFFICIENT COURSE SCHEDULE o Our FTES Target is a fixed number o An efficient schedule hits our FTES Target with fewer sections: o More FTES per section, higher WSCH/FTEF, less total FTEF o An inefficient schedule needs more sections to hit our FTES Target: o Less FTES per section, lower WSCH/FTEF, more total FTEF

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES o VC Data and Statistics VC Data and Statistics o VCCCD FTES Calculator VCCCD FTES Calculator o VCCCD Annual FTES Reports VCCCD Annual FTES Reports o California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office Budget and Accounting Manual California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office Budget and Accounting Manual