State Schools Getting Harder to get Into

This article was in the Palm Beach Post yesterday.

Sunday, September 20, 2009

Florida's public universities may inch up their minimum admission standards, restricting high school graduates with C-averages who now make the cut if they earn top SAT scores.

The change, which will be voted on Sept. 24 by the Board of Governors, eliminates a sliding admissions scale for students who have below a 3.0 GPA, or B-average. Students with a 3.0 automatically meet admission standards.

A student earning a 2.0 GPA, must score a combined 1680 on the SAT to currently qualify.

Under the proposed plan, only students with a 2.5 GPA or above will be considered for admission.

Also, a student with between a 2.5 and 3.0 GPA will have to earn a specific number of points on each section of the SAT, not a composite score as is the case now.

If approved, the new standards would go into effect beginning with students applying for admission in summer 2011.

University officials said the change would have little impact on most schools' enrollments.

In fall 2007, just 490 students statewide who were entering college for the first time had below a 2.5 GPA. That's just 1.8 percent of the total 26,380 first-time-in-college students enrolled that year.

At Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton, 123 students were admitted in fall 2007 with below a 2.5 GPA.

But an increasing demand for university seats has allowed schools to be more selective, including FAU, which this year admitted just six students with below a 2.5 GPA.

"Admission is really determined by how competitive the applicant pool is and that's a moving measure that changes every year," said Michael Armstrong, FAU's associate provost for academic affairs. "That's important because some people think making the minimum requirement means you are automatically in."

The regulation change is aimed at ensuring students can complete college-level courses and won't need remediation.

While universities may see little effect because of the change, some students will find themselves locked out from a college education, said Christie Ragsdale, Palm Beach County School District's high school guidance specialist.

"Students with the minimum standards aren't applying to the University of Florida, The Florida State University, or the University of Central Florida," Ragsdale said. "But they could be applying to other schools and a change will affect those 200 or 400 students who got in before."

There are exceptions to the statewide admissions regulation which allow universities to admit students under alternative standards.

For example, a student who experienced hardship, has incredible musical talent, or served in the military, could still be considered for admission.

The proposed regulation actually gives individual universities more leeway in making those kinds of decisions, Armstrong said.

"If you get someone with a perfect math score and no verbal skills, the science college might say, 'Hey, we can work with that person,' " he said. "We just want to make sure we admit people who have the best chance of taking advantage of what really is a subsidized education."