Iowa City Press Citizen, IA
11-08-06
Regents likely to change admission standards
By Brian Morelli
Iowa City Press-Citizen
A proposed plan to shake up admission standards at Iowa’s regent universities,
received praise from Iowa state Board of Regents members this morning.
The plan would abandon the policy of admitting the top 50 percent of Iowa
graduating high school seniors. Instead, graduating high school students and
transfer students would be admitted according to an admission index. This is a
weighted combination of high school students’ grade point average, class rank,
ACT composite and number of core subjects.
“It is going to solve a huge problem that the universities have right now,” Regent
President Michael Gartner said, “and increase the quality of the students that go
to regent institutions.”
Gartner noted the inability of many incoming students to hit the ground running.
The proposal speaks to a lack of preparedness for Iowa regent schools’
academic rigor, and would help with retention of students. It is not expected to
affect enrollment figures.
The proposal was drawn up by administrators from University of Iowa, Iowa
State University, University of Northern Iowa and Regents staff. They hope to
have it in place by fall 2009.
Regents will vote on the proposal at its December board meeting. It would likely
be ready to go before Legislative Rules Review committee when the Iowa
General Assembly convenes early in 2007.