FTE stands for Full-Time Equivalent, which in academia represents an imaginary student enrolled in 15 credits. The problem with claiming that funding should be distributed according to FTE and not based on what students actually pay in tuition and fees is that not all FTEs are created equal. Imagine a situation where a community college has both a main campus and a branch campus. For the sake of this exercise, assume that both campuses have 4 FTEs, meaning that students are enrolled in a total of 60 credits at each institution.
According the funding equation set forth by CCS Administrative Procedure 5.05.01-H and the Student Services and Activities Committee, students pay $11.28 per credit for the first 10 credits they enroll in, then $6.56 per credit for the next 8 credits, and pay nothing for any credits taken beyond that. The breakdown for our imaginary 4 FTEs is below: