Chapter Five: Admissions and Retention
Admissions Policies, Practices and Outcomes
A. Undergraduate Students
One of the major objectives of the CUNY Master Plan for 2000–2004 was to increase academic
standards at all CUNY senior colleges. Starting in the 2000-2001 academic year, the senior
colleges were required to phase out remedial programs (which were to move to the community
colleges) and raise admissions standards. Lehman eliminated remediation and increased its
admissions criteria in Fall 2001. The potential negative impact of these increased standards on
the educationally disadvantaged students served by Lehman was of serious concern at the time of
the 1999 site visit. The data presented in this section, however, show that despite the increased
admission standards enrollments have increased from the 2000 academic year through 2003 and
the demographics of the student body is essentially unchanged.
Admission to Lehman, since Fall 2001, is based on a variety of factors, including college
academic average (CAA), combined SAT or ACT scores, number of college preparatory high
school academic courses (CPI) completed, and high school English average. It is suggested that
Lehman applicants complete a minimum of 4 years of English, 4 years of Social Studies, 3 years
of Mathematics, 2 years of Foreign Language, 2 years of Laboratory Science and 1 year of Fine
Arts. In 2001 a composite index of 272 (a formula derived value using college academic
average, SAT/ACT scores, English Average and CPI units) would have been sufficient for
admission prior to the elimination of remediation; however, in 2001 the College adopted an
index of 295 to enroll better prepared students. SEEK students are admitted with indices slightly
lower than their regularly admitted counterparts. Computation of these indices is done by the
University Admissions Processing Center (UAPC), which processes all applications to CUNY
undergraduate programs. Students indicate on their applications which of the senior colleges
they wish to attend and may be admitted to up to three of these colleges.
In addition, unless exempted on the basis of superior academic qualifications, which include
SAT or ACT scores and/or grades on New York State regents examinations, beginning with the
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Fall 2001 semester all Freshman and transfer applicants with fewer than 45 credits are required
to pass the CUNY Skills Assessment Tests in Reading, Writing and Mathematics, which were
developed for the University by ACT. SEEK students who satisfy other admissions criteria are
given up to the end of their freshman year to complete the ACT Skills Test requirement. Prior to
2001 these tests were used for placement but were not required for admission.
The increased admissions standards had no discernible negative impact on either first time
Freshmen admissions or transfer enrollments as shown below. Freshman enrollment increased
15% from Fall 2000 to Fall 2001 and in Fall 2003 was up by approximately 42% over Fall 2000.
Entering transfer enrollments increased approximately 4% from 2000 to 2001 and in 2003 were
up by 40% over Fall 2000.
Enrollment: First-Time Freshmen and Entering Transfer Students
FIRST-TIME FRESHMEN
ENTERING TRANSFER
F '99
644
788
F '00
575
753
F '01
664
781
F '02
754
942
F '03
819
1051
Immersion Program for Conditionally Admitted Students
Given the requirement that all entering students pass the CUNY ACT Skills Tests in Reading,
Writing and Math, and the fact that Lehman’s major applicant pool traditionally consisted of
students from academically disadvantaged backgrounds and with English as a Second Language,
the College developed an Immersion Program to assist students in passing these exams. Students
who meet the Admissions index but need to pass the ACT Skills Tests are considered
conditionally admitted. If these students fail to pass all three examinations at the time of initial
testing, they are required to enroll in the Summer Immersion Program (for students conditionally
admitted in the Fall semester) or intersession program (conditionally admitted in the Spring
semester). SEEK students who fail to satisfy testing requirements are mandated to attend,
though they are given fifteen months in which to pass all tests. The immersion program enrolls
students at different points during the summer, from early June to the close of August, offering
morning, afternoon, and evening classes. In summer 2003, 1,100 students (representing 1,450
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instructional seats) enrolled in one or more of six consecutive programs, varying in length from
one to four weeks. Pass rates for regularly admitted students have ranged over the past few
summers from 80%-90%. The academic design of the immersion program is predicated on
intensive workshops which utilize highly trained and experienced faculty, optimal facultystudent ratios, and peer tutoring both within and outside the classroom. As successful students
fulfill testing requirements and move from conditional to full admission to the College, they
begin classes with a far greater readiness to assume the academic challenges awaiting them.
For those students who are minimally below the Skills Test cutoff, a Program entitled, the
Prelude to Success (PTS), was implemented across CUNY in 1999. PTS students enroll in a
Community College while taking the remedial course(s) together with three freshman level
credit-bearing courses at a Senior College campus. For Lehman all PTS courses are taught by
the Bronx Community College faculty. At the end of the semester, students who have passed the
required CUNY Skills Tests and the three credit-bearing courses are eligible to transfer to
Lehman. Students still requiring remediation may continue their coursework at Bronx
Community College.
Prelude students are recruited mainly from students participating in the Summer Immersion
Program. Prior to the last major testing date in the FYI summer program, classroom visits take
place to inform students of the program. The PTS program is for students who have passed one
or more exams and are points away from passing the remaining exam(s). Students are also
informed about the PTS Program by advisors, admissions and testing staff.
Since the inception of the PTS Program, three Fall cohorts (fall 2001, 2002, 2003) have
completed the program. An average of 21 students have participated per cohort and 65% percent
of the students transferred to Lehman after the PTS semester. (See below)
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FALL 2001 PRELUDE TO
SUCCESS COHORTS
Prelude
Semester
SEMESTERS
# OF
STUDENTS
FALL '01
21
SP RETAIN FALL RETAIN SP
'02 SP '02
'02 FALL '02 '03
18
85.7%
10
47.6%
14
RETAIN
RETAIN FALL FALL
SP
SP '03
'03
'03
'04
66.7%
11
52.4%
8
RETAIN
SPRING
'04
38.1%
FALL 2002 PRELUDE TO
SUCCESS COHORTS
Prelude
Semester
SEMESTERS
# OF STUDENTS
FALL '02
27
SP RETAIN
'03 SP '03
15 55.5%
FALL
'03
16
RETAIN
FALL '03
59.3%
SP
'04
17
RETAIN
SP '04
63%
FALL 2003 PRELUDE TO
SUCCESS COHORTS
Prelude
Semester
SEMESTERS
# OF STUDENTS
FALL '03
15
SP
'04
11
RETAIN
SP '04
73.3%
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Transfer Students and Articulation Agreements With Feeder Schools
One of the effects of the shift of all remediation to the Community Colleges is that many of the
students who might once have started at Lehman now begin at one of the CUNY Community
Colleges. The data presented in the Table for Undergraduate, First Time Freshman and Transfer
Student admissions (See p.33) show that in recent years transfer students make up approximately
55% of the entering students in a given admission cycle. The large number of Lehman students
who enter as transfers was also reflected in the composition of the May graduating class which
was made up of 64% transfer students. At the present time the principal feeder schools for
Lehman, in rank order of numbers of transfer students, are: Bronx Community College,
Borough of Manhattan Community College, Hostos Community College and Westchester
Community College.
To improve the transfer process, in 1996 Lehman instituted a policy to accept the A.A., A.S., and
A.A.S. degrees from CUNY and SUNY Community Colleges as fulfilling by definition the
Lehman College General Education Requirements. The purpose of this policy was to allow
degree holders from our feeder schools to concentrate on meeting the requirements for their
majors and minors upon transfer and thus ease the process for graduation. By developing
articulation agreements in individual programs, the College also provides for a seamless
transition for the transfer student. Since the implementation of the new General Education
curriculum in 2002, transfer students must now take the two upper level (post 60 credits)
interdisciplinary LEH courses (The Humanities and Sciences and The American Experience) and
one Writing Intensive course, which may be one of the LEH courses, to complete the General
Education Requirement.
With the advent of NCATE accreditation for the College’s teacher certification programs, our
articulation programs in teacher education all needed updating and revision. This process is still
ongoing, but the College has made major strides in developing agreements with Westchester,
Rockland, Hostos, Borough of Manhattan Community Colleges and are currently in negotiations
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with Bronx Community College. This process helps the College address the dire regional need
for certified teachers.
To achieve long-term fiscal stability, the College also needs to stabilize and increase enrollment.
Articulation, particularly with Westchester and Rockland, enables the College to attract students
to specific programs who might otherwise not have considered attending Lehman. In the long
run, increased articulation means an increased pool of potential students for the College.
In October of 2002, the College began a five-year cooperative Title V grant with Bronx
Community College that includes the development of a process for improving articulation, the
development of a Transfer Center at BCC and the development of learning communities to help
BCC students plan for transfer. The project provides a model for the College in making the
process of articulation more than just the development of paper agreements. By providing
financial support for faculty to develop these agreements, the grant fosters greater
communication between the faculties. It also provides a framework for the implementation of
the agreements through student services at both Colleges. The five-year framework of the
project allows the two colleges to work closely reviewing all of their related programs. This
should result in higher BCC graduation rates and increased transfer to Lehman.
A list of the Articulation Agreements that have been established from 1999 to the present is
provided as Appendix 10.
Transfer Learning Communities (TLC) For Transfer Students
It is estimated that transfer students in the near future may well comprise 80% of our graduates.
Until now, there have been no special programs to guide these transfer students through the
general education program and into their majors when they arrive (except for the usual
advisement procedure). Transfer students deserve support and guidance during their initial
semester(s) at the College in order to help them understand requirements, become aware of
available facilities and assistance, and build a support community among themselves. The
grouping of incoming transfer students into learning communities should improve their success
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and increase retention rates. By identifying and actively supporting such Transfer Learning
Communities, the College can learn more about the needs of transfer students, plan more
effectively to meet their needs, and follow their success throughout their first semesters (and
even beyond).
The TLC Program will consist of two basic parts:
 Special, reserved sections of Distribution and LEH courses
 TLC Seminars
Reserved TLC Sections: As in the FYI program, the TLC program will reserve sections of
suitable Distribution and LEH sections exclusively for incoming transfer students. Incoming
transfers will take at least one such section their first semester at the College. These sections will
be part of the regular offerings of Distribution and LEH courses, and the instructors will be
specially prepared to deal with the needs and interests of these students. Enrollment in these TLC
sections will not be open to the general Lehman community, but rather the sections will be filled
exclusively by first year transfers, just as FYI sections are only for incoming and continuing
freshmen. Furthermore, the transfer students enrolling in the sections should be sorted into three
basic groups: those with fewer than 30 credits; those with 30-60 credits; those with over 60
credits. The last group will be those transfer students enrolled in LEH sections.
TLC Seminars: All incoming transfer students registered in a reserved TLC section would
automatically be enrolled in a TLC Seminar section. The seminars would be conducted online
through Blackboard by the faculty mentor/instructor. Although the work of the seminar would
be asynchronous and separate from class work, the community would exist both in a real, face to
face mode in class and in a virtual mode online for the first semester. Several Blackboard
elements would be utilized: Announcements, Information and Documents, Assignments,
Discussion Board, Personal Web pages, and email features. The seminar will provide the
following elements of a Learning Community:




Information on College requirements, College program counseling, peer counseling, student
activities
Mini-courses on Informational Literacy, Intellectual Property
CPE preparation exercises and management
Tracking of courses and interests, opinion surveys, focus groups
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

Chat, Threaded Discussion, general online intellectual exchanges and socializing
Early registration and some form of guaranteed course enrollment. This guidance and
guarantee of enrollment, in some form, would be one of the principal attractions of the TLC
Seminars
A pilot version of the TLC Program was started in the second semester of the 2003-2004
academic year. Preparation for this pilot consisted of planning, designing, and building the
necessary structures, and developing a support system and awareness among faculty,
departments, and administration. The pilot is expected to achieve the following:






Develop the structure and content of the TLC Seminars in cooperation with the concurrent
development of the FYI Seminars
Identify and work with 6 to 10 individual faculty members who will teach the TLC Reserved
Sections and also conduct TLC Seminars
Offer workshops for the faculty who will participate in the TLC Pilot: at least two
preparatory workshops, another during the semester, and a final workshop at the end to
assess the pilot. Workshops will cover the Gen Ed requirements, College programs and
majors, ideas about how to nurture Learning Communities in the classroom and beyond
In the Spring 2004 semester, identify and manage the enrollment for two TLC sections in
Distribution courses for transfers with fewer than 30 credits; two TLC sections in
Distribution courses for transfers with 30-60 credits; and two TLC sections in LEH courses
In the Spring 2004 semester, three instructors will manage/conduct six TLC seminars for
students enrolled in the six TLC sections
At the end of the Spring 2004 semester, manage the registration and course enrollment of
TLC seminar members for the Fall 2004 semester
B. Graduate Students.
Admission standards to Lehman’s Master’s programs were not changed when admissions
standards to the undergraduate programs were increased. Overall graduate student enrollments
increased close to 15% between 1999 and 2003 with most of this increase occurring in the part
time student population, almost all of whom are degree students and for the most part are New
York City Teaching Fellows in the Division of Education (See Below).
Graduate Enrollment 1999-2003
FULL-TIME STUDENTS
PART-TIME STUDENTS
F’99
111
1735
F’00
88
1758
F’01
114
1853
F’02
115
2073
F’03
110
2008
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