By a unanimous decision, the Idaho State Board of Education voted last week in favor of a proposal expected to increase enrollment and streamline the admission process for Idaho colleges.
The direct admissions policy will allow Idaho schools to notify students when they qualify for admission at colleges and universities in Idaho.
“The idea is to bring college to kids,” said SBOE Spokesman Blake Youde, who presented the proposal to the board.
Under the policy, a number of factors would be used to determine whether or not a student would qualify for college admission, including their college entrance exams, SAT or ACT scores and grade point average.
Youde said the policy can be implemented soon and may be ready in fall 2015 for students entering college in fall 2016.
The direct admissions policy does not, however, eliminate the application process. Whether they have received a qualifying letter or not, all students who want to attend an Idaho university must still fill out an application.
While implementation of the direct admissions plan might create some redundancy, Youde said it might be possible for universities to credit application fees back to students.
Different colleges and universities in Idaho have different standards, and different students can receive different notifications. Students could be notified they qualify for all colleges and universities in Idaho, or maybe only one or two depending on their academics.
A shift to direct or pre-admission is a major step toward the SBOE”s goal to increase Idaho”s population of 25 to 34 year olds with a postsecondary degree to 60 percent by the year 2020.
Youde said the goal is based on a University of Georgetown study that predicted the large majority of jobs would require a college degree by 2018.
At the time of setting the goal, however, the board did not have a metric to measure the current status of their goal – currently around 35 percent – nor a method to track progress.
“Would we increase admittance standards?” said Youde, “No, we would not.”
Although no opposition to the proposal was voiced, concerns were expressed regarding the admissions letters students would receive under the proposal. Some were concerned that students may mistake a letter saying they qualify for a letter saying that they have been admitted and potentially miss the application deadline.
This process began in January, when the proposal was introduced as an idea only in the context of the University of Idaho.
“(UI President Chuck Staben) discussed this with the board to admit students more proactively,” Youde said. By June, the proposal had become a board initiative intended to affect all Idaho colleges.
On the first day of the two-day SBOE meeting in Meridian, Idaho, North Idaho College President Joe Dunlap updated the board that their task force was working on direct admissions mechanisms and that they would be presenting their proposal to the board.
Nishant Mohan can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @NishantRMohan