LA admissions exceptions need monitoring

While recent publicity about Louisiana State University’s Baton Rouge campus lowering its admissions standards has caught people’s attention, state universities doing this neither is new nor may end with LSU.

LSU announced it would institute holistic admissions, or removing fixed standardized test score minimum requirements, in favor of adding in essays, recommendations, and potentially other inputs to make a decision on admission. Designated as a “flagship” university according to the Board of Regents, most students don’t receive consideration unless they score at least a 25 on the American College Test, although in some circumstances that score can be as low as 22.

The institution can do this because it set its own standards prior to the creation of the three-tiered categorization system first implemented in 1990. The Regents wanted to give each level its own distinct mission that would suit best the needs of students at varying levels of development.

Embarking on this change has caused some consternation that the move subverts the purpose of creating the flagship/statewide/regional model. In essence, it allows LSU to enroll students that previously would have had to attend a statewide or regional school, beggaring other public institutions of students and perhaps to enrollees' detriment.

Now another school has started musing about its own requirements. The University of New Orleans in the future also might head in this direction. Currently, as a “statewide” university UNO has a minimum of 23 on the ACT other than for exceptional circumstances.

However, its president John Nicklow didn’t see that happening in the immediate future. Already UNO has an entry means around the standards through a program with Delgado Community College, which as a community college requires only a high school diploma or equivalent in which to enroll. Students at Delgado completing any developmental coursework, required if a student scores below 17 in the English component of the ACT or 18 in the Mathematics component, plus 12 other hours of non-developmental credit with a GPA of at least 2.25 can then transfer to UNO.

Typically, a student requiring developmental coursework cannot attend a flagship or statewide university. Yet, down the road from UNO, Southern University New Orleans also has taken advantage of a loophole to go below the ACT minimum of 20 by letting students scoring as low as 16 on math and 15 on English – such a low score (which in both instances would put the scorer around the bottom 30 percent nationally) in either category almost certainly means the composite score wouldn’t reach 20.

SUNO, classified as a “regional” school, will allow such students in, but then require one to three extra hours a week of additional academic intervention, such as additional coursework or visits to faculty offices. The student also would have to meet other requirements to continue enrollment.

Critics of LSU’s alteration decry it as a way to suck in more tuition dollars. That charge resonates somewhat less for UNO, as the Delgado transfers will have demonstrated at least some ability to perform college-level work, and for SUNO, as it will commit extra resources to the laggard students.

Still, both New Orleans adjustments run the same risk as does LSU’s – putting students into a position where they have a greater chance of failing, thereby wasting their and taxpayer resources. A GPA of 2.25 at community college doesn’t bode well for success at a senior institution, and ACT scores of 16 or 15 may indicate a student simply doesn’t have the ability and/or preparation to obtain a baccalaureate degree, regardless of interventions.

Therefore, the Board of Regents need to monitor carefully these maneuvers. It should require collecting data concerning those admitted under the standards that deviate from its existing requirements (some already occurs, particularly in the case of student-athletes) that tracks outcomes. If these sub-groups turn in significantly worse performances, the Board must act to curtail the exceptional practices.

With state higher education spending declining about $250 million or 9 percent since its peak a decade ago – while health care spending has mushroomed over $6 billion or up 78 percent – institutions always look to pad their bottom line. Policy-makers must ensure those tactics pay off with better educational outcomes and don’t turn into mere transfers of wealth from taxpayers and students.