SBOE will vote on proposal for direct admissions plan to public colleges
The Idaho State Board of Education (SBOE) will vote Aug. 12 on a proposal for a direct admissions plan for public colleges and universities.
The proposal is meant to change the way students are admitted into higher education.
The proposal, which originated at the University of Idaho, is meant to notify high school seniors sometime at the beginning of their senior year, whether their GPA and SAT scores are high enough to admit them into higher education.
A benchmark, which has yet to be set, will establish whether or not a student can be admitted to all eight public universities and colleges — or six out of the eight, excluding UI and Boise State University. Youde said the benchmark for UI and BSU is at a different standard than the other Idaho institutions.
SBOE Chief Communications and Legislative Affairs Officer Blake Youde said those below the benchmark should still apply to the institution of their choice.
“We are very optimistic about bringing college to students,” Youde said “Hopefully they will see more opportunities as they go on.”
UI President Chuck Staben said he is very enthusiastic about the proposal.
He said he wants to see more of Idaho’s qualified high school students attending UI, or attending any other higher education institution.
Staben said approximately 7,000 qualified students, or 25 percent of high school seniors, did not go on to higher education last year. He charged personnel at UI to conduct a self-funded study to discover why students don’t go on.
He said he thinks the “go on” rate is low partially because students view college as unnecessary or not an option for them.
“That is a problem,” Staben said. “There are fewer well-paying, blue-collar jobs that require only a high school education. I don’t think those in Idaho have made that psychological shift.”
He said financial issues could be a cause of the low-attendance numbers.
Staben said financing college can be difficult, but said potential students should keep in mind that UI offered about $25 million in financial aid to students this academic year, about $12 million of which is for Idaho residents.
And even if students need to take out loans, Staben said the investment is worth it.
“Taking out a student loan is one of the best investments a person can make in himself or herself,” Staben said.
Youde said currently the rate of students going on to higher education is only 50/50. He said the hope of the direct admissions proposal is to bring higher education to students, showing them what colleges they can attend and are, essentially, already admitted to.
Staben said he doesn’t know of any other state that has something like this or has done anything like direct admissions. He believes that Idaho’s board of education structure is a “unique advantage” to the direct admissions proposal.
Idaho, unlike most states, has only one board that oversees K-20, or kindergarten through higher education.
The SBOE set a goal for 60 percent of the 25 to 34-year-old population to have some sort of higher education by 2020. Youde said he hopes a minimum of 60 percent of next year’s seniors decide to go on to college, but ideally he would like to see 100 percent attend a higher level of education.
Staben said he thinks this proposal will cause an enrollment increase across the state, including at UI.
More of the qualified high school seniors will be attending colleges and universities, Staben said. All the institutions have to do is recruit from that admitted pool.
“We want to admit students who can succeed,” Staben said.
Youde said he hopes that high school freshmen who see seniors getting the admittance letters from the SBOE will be even more motivated to go on to higher education. Staben said the direct admissions proposal, if approved, will be evaluated and expanded upon as it moves forward.
While this proposal does not impact incoming students, Staben said he still wants to welcome the new students for the upcoming school year.
“You’re here because you can do this,” Staben said. “You need to show up, to try and to take advantage of the help that we offer. If you do all of that, you will succeed.”
Claire Whitley can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @Cewhitley24