Quick Facts | Institutional Advancement
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The National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) assesses key aspects of first year and senior students’ undergraduate experience, including students’ engagement in educational practices that have been shown to be linked with learning and student success. The NSSEE is an industry leader in assessing university student engagement in academics and co-curricular activities. The NSSE was developed and is administered by the Indiana University Center for Postsecondary Research .
For the 2025 NSSE , 16% of first-year and 15% of senior TSU campus students responded to the survey from February through May 2025.
One aspect of the survey asks students about High Impact Practices (HIPs) that are undergraduate opportunities known for positive associations with student learning and retention. TSU values these practices that can be considered life-changing:
- Facilitate learning outside the classroom
- Require meaningful interaction with faculty and peers
- Provide frequent and substantive feedback
- Demand considerable time and effort of the practice
- Encourage collaboration with diverse others
The following depicts the percentage of TSU students who responded as either already participated or plan to participate in the following HIPs:
To receive full data report, please Submit Data Request .
About the FSSE
The Faculty Survey of Student Engagement (FSSE) (“fessie”) was designed as a complement to the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE), which is completed by undergraduate students. FSSE seeks to determine faculty perceptions of student engagement: “FSSE is designed to measure instructional staff expectations for student engagement in educational practices that are empirically linked with high levels of learning and development.”
After FSSE closes, the survey results are compared to NSSE results to offer insights about how closely aligned faculty and students are in terms of their impressions of student engagement and experience.
FSSE is facilitated by the University of Indiana. It is run every three years at Tennessee State University.
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IR Lexicon
Terms in OIER
Printable Version
| TERM | DESCRIPTION |
| Applicant | An individual who has submitted an application for admission to the university. |
| 14th Day Enrollment | The deadline for ‘official enrollment’, includes all students who have officially registered for class and has satisfied all school encumbrances. |
| Academic Period | Represents a portion of the academic year. The university recognizes three (3) terms: fall semester, spring semester, and summer term. |
| Academic Year | The academic year is broken into fall, spring, and summer semesters and runs August to July. |
| Add/Drop | A part of the registration process that allows students to change their course schedules by adding or dropping courses. |
| Admitted | Applicants that have been granted an official offer to enroll in the university. |
| Advisor | A member of the faculty who provides advice and guidance on academic matters such as course selection. |
| Audit | Term used when a student elects to take a course, but does not wish to receive credit. |
| CIP code | A six-digit code in the form xx.xxxx that identifies instructional program specialties within educational institutions. |
| Cohort | A specific group of students established for tracking purposes.. |
| Commuter Student | A student who lives ‘off campus’ and commutes to campus to attend classes. |
| Course | Regularly scheduled class on a particular subject. |
| Course Load | The number of courses/credit hours a student takes during a specific semester |
| Credits/Credit Hours | Units used by institutions to record the completion of courses (with a passing grade) in a degree program. |
| Dual Degree | Program of study that allows a student to receive two degrees from the same college or university. |
| End of Term | Reporting period consisting of students who completed the semester. This list excludes students who withdrew, dropped, or stopped attending during the regular semester period. |
| Enroll | To register for at least one course at the university. |
| First-Time Freshman (FTF) | A student who has no prior postsecondary experience (except as noted below) attending any institution for the first time at the undergraduate level. It also includes students enrolled in the fall term who attended college for the first time in the prior summer term, and students who entered with advanced standing (college credits or postsecondary formal award earned before graduation from high school). |
| Freshman (or First Year student) | A degree seeking student who has earned fewer than 30 credit hours. |
| FTE (Full-Time Equivalency) | The full-time equivalent (FTE) of students is a single value providing a meaningful combination of full-time and part-time students. IPEDS data products currently have two calculations of FTE students, one using fall student headcounts and the other using 12-month instructional activity. |
| Full-time Student | Undergraduate: A student enrolled in 12 or more credits. Graduate: A student enrolled in 9 or more credits. |
| In State student | A student that meets the university’s requirements for Tennessee residency. |
| International Student | A student who received high school equivalent credentials in a county outside of the United States. |
| Grade Point Average (GPA) | A numerical representation of a student’s overall academic performance, based on a 4.0 scale. The GPA is determined after each term, for each term and cumulatively. |
| Junior | A degree seeking student who has earned more than 60 credit hours but fewer than 90 credit hours. |
| Non-Degree seeking | A student who is taking at least one class without the intention of working toward or receiving a degree. |
| Out of state Student | A student that does not meet the university’s requirements for Tennessee residency. |
| Part-time Student | A student that is enrolled in fewer than 12 credit hours in a semester. |
| Prior Learning Assessment (PLA) | Any knowledge-building or skills attainment that occurs prior to enrollment or outside of enrollment at a post-secondary institution, assessed for the purpose of awarding college credit |
| Probation | A status given to students with a low GPA and unsatisfactory academic work as defined by their college or university. |
| Readmit | A student who leaves the university voluntarily does not enroll for courses during one or more regular semesters. Summer is not considered a regular semester in determining absence from the University. |
| Registration | The process in which students choose and enroll in courses for an academic term. |
| Senior | A degree seeking student who has earned at least than 90 credit hours. |
| Sophomore | A degree seeking student who has earned more than 30 credit hours but fewer than 60 credit hours. |
| STEM | The collective subjects of science, technology, engineering and math. (Specify majors and programs?) |
| Term | Periods of study associated with the time of year in attendance. (example) Fall Term, Spring Term and/or Summer Term. |
| Transfer Credit | Credit awarded toward a degree on the basis of studies completed at another institution or through PLA. |
| Transfer Student | A student entering the university for the first time but known to have previously attended a postsecondary institution at the same level (e.g., undergraduate, graduate). This includes new students enrolled in the fall term who transferred into the institution the prior summer term. |
| Tuition | The amount of money charged to students for instructional services. Tuition may be charged per term, per course, or per credit. |
| Undecided/Undeclared Student | A student that has not formally chosen or declared a major. |
| Lower Division/Lower Level | Students taking courses at the 1000 and 2000 level. |
| Upper Division/Upper Level | Students taking courses at the 3000 and 4000 level. |
| Withdraw | To formally stop participating in a course or attending the university. |