Functions > Student Info > Demographics
All persons in SIS have a Demographics record, students and non-students alike. For non-students, much of the demographic data may be missing or may contain placeholder values, e.g., “WU” for birthplace and “01/01/1901” for birthdate.
Most demographic information is entered into SIS when the student is admitted to WU, and will in most cases remain static. All student records must contain the following data: gender, race/ethnicity (Not Reported being a valid race type), birth date, and birth place. A MINOR student, i.e., under the age of 18, is identified on the title bar.
New ethnicity data fields were added to SIS in 2010 to comply with new federal reporting requirements. Students can now report more than one race/ethnicity. The old Race Code field is still displayed, and will be consistent with the new ethnic data for a student. All international students, i.e., those without U.S. citizenship, Permanent Resident, or Resident Alien status, will continue to have an old Race Code of 5 indicating their Non-Resident Alien status; the Visa Type field should always indicate their visa status (F1, F2, J1, etc.), and the new Nonresident Alien box should be checked as well as any appropriate items for their ethnicity. US citizens and residents should not have a Race Code of 5.
The Semester of Entry and Entry Status fields reflect the entry cohort in which the student was admitted. For all undergraduate day division students, this information is established by Undergraduate Admissions and is used to track undergraduate retention. Changes should not be made to a student’s entry cohort without notifying the Office of the University Registrar. The Anticipated Degree Date field should reflect the graduating class with which the student is associated and should be updated as necessary by the student’s dean’s office. The Student Expected Graduation field is completed / updated by the student, using WebSTAC.
Frozen Cohort values are applied to the student’s demographic record in SIS on the first day of the Fall and Spring semesters for those undergraduate/day students who are new admits that semester. The students must also be enrolled in classes on the first day of the semester. If a student is not enrolled in classes on day one of their first semester then the frozen cohort semester will not be entered (this rule was established by the schools).
- Captured in the Frozen Cohort is the student’s entry status (freshman, transfer, or January Program), Anticipated Degree Year, and Prime Division in SIS as of that date.
- The Frozen Cohort value does not change if/when source values change per interruptions in the student’s academic career (LOA, etc.).
- Effective April 2014 (for FL2014 controlled registration) for undergraduate/day students, the registration priority date is set according to the student’s graduation class as recorded on their Frozen Cohort data in SIS (no longer based on earned units).
- The Frozen Cohort field can only be updated by Office of the University Registrar.
Date of Death information is entered on a student’s record by the Office of the University Registrar for current students and recent graduates who pass away. Additionally, all address information is removed from the student’s SIS record and an Information Hold and special Milestone notations are added. Inquiries should be referred to the Office of the University Registrar.
Data Fields
| field name | format | database name | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Birthdate | mm/dd/yyyy | dm_birthdate | nonstudents may have an artificial birthdate in SIS of 01/01/1901 |
| Birth Place | text (14) | dm_birthplace | nonstudents may have an artificial birthplace in SIS of ‘WU’ |
| Date of Death | mm/dd/yyyy | dm_date_of_death | Date of Death information is entered on a student’s record by the Office of the University Registrar for current students and recent graduates who pass away. Additionally, all address information is removed from the student’s SIS record and an Information Hold and special Milestone notations are added. |
| Gender | text | dm_sex | listbox values: Male, Female |
| Marital Status | text | dm_marital_status | listbox values: blank, Single, Married |
| Veteran Code | text (1) | dm_st_veteran | standard values: V=veteran eligible for VA benefit, D=dependent/TOE eligible for VA benefit, A=active duty TA (tuition assistance) benefit, B=active duty without TA, C=veteran never eligible for benefits, X=expired veteran benefit, Z=expired dependent/TOE benefit (see Milestone 8118 and Admin Codes for additional detail); V, A, B, C, and X students are eligible to use the Athletic Complex regardless of enrollment status or program of study. |
| Locale | text | dm_locale | listbox values: blank, Local, Non-Local; from UA merge |
| U.S. Citizen 1 | text | dm_citizenship | listbox values: Yes, No; see footnote. Additional Note: this citizenship field is not always reliable, i.e., may contain blank/NULL values on US citizens as well as non-citizens; for cleaner reporting use Visa Type where non-citizens will have values other than US/blank/NULL |
| Country 1 | text (2) | dm_cit_cntry_cd | listbox values per Code Table (ct_type=”cc”,ct_code1); see footnote. All US citizens, including those who are naturalized citizens or have dual citizenship, should have ‘US’ indicated here. |
| Visa Type 1 | text (2) | dm_visa_type | updated as needed by the Office of International Students and Scholars per INS and SEVIS; data merges nightly from OISS into SISAdmin. A Permanent Resident or Resident Alien is a person who is not a citizen or national of the United States but who has been admitted as a legal immigrant for the purpose of obtaining permanent resident alien status (and who holds either an alien registration card (Form I-551 or I-151), a Temporary Resident Card (Form I-688), or an Arrival-Departure Record (Form I-94) with a notation that conveys legal immigrant status such as Section 207 Refugee, Section 208 Asylee, Conditional Entrant Parolee or Cuban-Haitian). For the international students in our online programs that are studying from their home country, a Visa Type of ‘NA’ (not applicable) is appropriate. |
| Nonresident Alien 1,2 | text/checkbox | dm_nralien | a person who is not a citizen or national of the United States and who is in this country on a visa or temporary basis and does not have the right to remain indefinitely; see footnote |
| Race 2 | text (1) | dm_race_code | Used prior to FL2010. listbox values per Code Table (Race Type): 1=Black non-Hispanic, 2=American Indian or Native Alaskan, 3=Asian or Pacific Islander, 4=Hispanic, 5=Non-Resident Alien (International), 6=White (Non-Hispanic origin), 7=Multi-Racial Non-Minority, 8=Not Reported, 9=Multi-Racial Minority |
| Hispanic 2 | text/checkbox | dm_hispanic | Hispanic or Latino: a person of Cuban, Mexican, Puerto Rican, South or Central American, or other Spanish culture or origin, regardless of race |
| American Indian 2 | text/checkbox | dm_nativeam | American Indian or Alaska Native: a person having origins in any of the original peoples of North and South America (including Central America) who maintains cultural identification through tribal affiliation or community attachment |
| Asian 2 | text/checkbox | dm_asian | Asian: a person having origins in any of the original peoples of the Far East, Southeast Asia, or the Indian Subcontinent, including, for example, Cambodia, China, India, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Pakistan, the Philippine Islands, Thailand, and Vietnam |
| Black 2 | text/checkbox | dm_black | Black or African American: a person having origins in any of the black racial groups of Africa |
| Hawaiian Pacific 2 | text/checkbox | dm_nhpacific | Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander: a person having origins in any of the original peoples of Hawaii, Guam, Samoa, or other Pacific Islands |
| White 2 | text/checkbox | dm_white | White: a person having origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, the Middle East, or North Africa |
| Not Reported 2 | text/checkbox | dm_nr | race and ethnicity not reported |
| Semester of Entry | text | dm_semester_entry | listbox values per Semesters table. The Semester of Entry and Entry Status fields reflect the entry cohort in which the student was admitted. For all undergraduate day division students, this information is established by Undergraduate Admissions and is used to track undergraduate retention and graduation rates. Changes should not be made to a student’s entry cohort without notifying the Office of Student Records. |
| Entry Status | text | dm_enroll_status | listbox values: F=Fall Freshman, T=Fall Transfer, X=Spring Freshman, Y=Spring Transfer, blank |
| Anticipated Deg Dt | text (4) | dm_degr_anticip_dt | maintained by the school registrars, typically a semester value, e.g., SP2009; the Anticipated Degree Date field should reflect the graduating class with which the student is associated and should be updated as necessary by the student’s dean’s office |
| Std Expd Graduation | text | dm_expected_grad_sem | this field is entered and updated as needed by the student using WebSTAC; listbox values per Semesters table |
| Frozen Cohort | text | dm_Frozen_Coh | reflects undergraduate/day cohort status as of the first day of class for that cohort; inquiry-only on this screen, data loaded by OUR per IS Utility |
| Faculty/Staff Child | text | dm_fac_staff_child | listbox values: blank, Faculty, Staff; from UA merge |
| Alumni Code | text (1) | dm_alumni_code | from UA Merge |
| Prof School 1 | text (2) | dm_prof_sch_int1 | from UA merge |
| Prof School 2 | text (2) | dm_prof_sch_int2 | from UA merge |
| Area of Interest | text (18) | dm_area_interest | from UA merge |
| Area of Interest Code | text (7) | dm_area_interest_cd | from UA merge |
1 Notes about citizenship and international students:
- If the student not a US Citizen and not a Permanent Resident or Resident Alien:
- the U.S. Citizen field in SIS (demographics) should be No
- the correct Visa Type will be loaded by OISS
- the Nonresident Alien box should be checked (database value = Y/Yes)
- the Country field should indicate the student’s home country
- If the student is not a US Citizen but is a Permanent Resident or Resident Alien:
- the U.S. Citizen field in SIS (demographics) should be No
- the Visa Type should be PR or RA (changes loaded per OISS)
- the Nonresident Alien field should not be checked (database value = N/No)
- the Country field should indicate the student’s country of citizenship
- Commonly used Visa Type values in SIS:
- CF – Citizen for Federal Funds
- F1 – WashU sponsored F-1 Student Visa
- F0 – student sponsored by another university
- H1 – employment visa
- J1 – WashU sponsored J-1 Scholar Visa
- JO – scholar sponsored by another university
- NA – not applicable; may be used for online students in foreign countries
- TS – Temporary Status (includes DACA; should also be flagged as Nonresident Alien in SIS)
2 Notes about race and ethnicity:
- Prior to FL2010, the University was required to categorize students for IPEDS reporting (to the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Postsecondary Education, and to the Missouri Department of Higher Education) as belonging to one of six racial groups as identified in SIS by the old Race code:
- 1=Black non-Hispanic,
- 2=American Indian or Native Alaskan,
- 3=Asian or Pacific Islander,
- 4=Hispanic,
- 5=Non-Resident Alien (All international students, i.e., those without U.S. citizenship, Permanent Resident, or Resident Alien status, were assigned a Race Code of 5 indicating their Non-Resident Alien status; US citizens and residents should not have a Race Code of 5.)
- 6=White (Non-Hispanic origin).
- For institutional purposes, two additional Race Codes were developed to identify multi-racial students:
- 7=Multi-Racial Non-Minority,
- 9=Multi-Racial Minority.
- In FL2010, the U.S. Department of Education required a new method of classification which allowed individual students to have more than one ethnic affiliation, and allowed for the collection of data on race/ethnicity from international students. The new categories were developed by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and are used to describe groups to which individuals belong, identify with, or belong in the eyes of the community. The categories do not denote scientific definitions of anthropological origins. The designations are used to categorize U.S. citizens, resident aliens, and other non-citizens. SIS was modified to include separate data fields to record each of the racial and ethnic affiliations reported by an individual student.