OER Guidance and FAQ
Understanding the Official Enrollment Report
Prior to the Spring 2021 semester, the Official Enrollment Report (OER) was based on the files created for HED census date reporting. OIA builds these files each semester based on frozen institutional data that reflect student enrollment and demographics as of the end of the day on the term census date. With this approach, some students were not included because of missing or erroneous data that did not conform to NMHED's reporting standards. Students were also duplicated if they were taking courses at multiple institutions.
The current approach draws directly from the frozen institutional data and includes all students and their respective enrolled credit hours. This provides a more realistic picture of enrollment activity at each campus, and allows for the OER to be published much sooner than was possible using the prior approach.
You may notice differences from what was reported in prior years' reports, and there are a few reasons for these differences.
- Headcounts are unduplicated, and students are only counted at their primary institution of enrollment.
- Some student credit hours (SCH) could not be reported in the prior versions because the course and/or student record contained errors that redacted them from the final file
- With the change in SCH, the Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) values will also necessarily change.
FAQ
Q: Why make these changes now?
A: After surveying a group of UNM faculty, staff, and administration, many respondents noted that there were very few sections that they used on a regular basis. Some further noted that there were sections that they never used. Others expressed a wish to view data through different filters or levels of aggregation than were in the report. Further, the continued use of PDFs when we have the capability to use more interactive and visually appealing tools seemed to be a disservice to the UNM community.
Q: I see terms that I'm not sure that I understand. How do I learn more?
A: Please consult our Data Dictionary for descriptions and definitions of the terms found on the OER.
Q: Does the data on majors include second majors?
A: Yes, for undergraduate students at the Albuquerque campus. Please see the tab titled "Albuquerque Campus Count of Undergraduate Second Majors."
Q: I see blocks with no numbers in them. How do I figure out what they are?
A: As the cool kids say, "Hover to discover!" Place your cursor over the area in question, and a tooltip box will pop up to give you more details.
Q: I'm afraid I'm going to break this. Can I break it?
A: No, but please try your hardest! Unlike in life, there are unlimited do-overs and resets, and nobody will ever know. Click with abandon and learn something new!
