UI faculty votes to change first-year admission requirements 

A total of 128 University of Idaho faculty voted in favor of changing admission requirements for first-year students to be more flexible for those with a high school GPA below 3.0. The vote was held on Sept. 17 during the first of three university faculty meetings for the 2025-26 academic year. 

The changes to first-year admissions will begin in Summer 2026 and be in effect for the 2026-27 academic year. Students who earned a cumulative unweighted high school GPA between 2.60 to 2.99 were previously required to submit SAT or ACT scores but can now alternatively apply though the Vandal Gateway Program. Students with an unweighted GPA below 2.3 will also be able to appeal to the admissions committee to be admitted to VGP. 

Previously, VGP was only for students with a GPA of 2.30-2.59. According to the VGP website, it was designed to help UI students who fall just below the university’s admission requirements. The program gives students personalized academic support and uses cohort-based small class sizes to help students transition from high school to college. VGP students begin as general studies majors but are able to declare a major after the first semester if they remain in good academic standing.  

New admission requirements will allow students admitted to the VGP to appeal to the admissions committee for direct admission. This primarily applies to students with a GPA between 2.30 and 2.59 who previously had no alternative to VGP. 

Students with a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or higher or Idaho residents who achieved a score of three or higher on both ISAT math and literacy tests are still eligible for admission.  

Eight faculty members voted against all mentioned changes to admission requirements. 

A second vote was held to update the faculty and staff handbook to use the new four-digit course number system. Of the participants, 141 voted yes, two voted no. 

President Scott Green restated key points from the State of the University Address for faculty who had not attended. Fall 2025 marks the ninth straight semester of enrollment growth at UI. According to Green, this is a “counter trend” to what most universities across the nation are experiencing. 

International student enrollment is down 50% due to a 46-week visa interview halt, which Green said has made the freshman class unlikely to set an enrollment record. 

Green also addressed issues that faculty and students have been experiencing with the redesigned school website. The search feature and other problems, such as the graduate student portal, have been significantly improved and continue to be refined. 

The redesign has allowed the UI website to get over one million hits a month according to Green and now ranks higher in search engine optimization, a critical metric for attracting potential students. 

Faculty who received promotions or tenure and new hires were acknowledged and congratulated by the dean of their department. 

Two more university faculty meetings will be held in the 2025-26 academic year on Dec. 3 and May 5. Meetings are held via Zoom, and the agenda and connection information will be posted one week prior to the meeting. 

The agenda for the Sept. 17 meeting is available here. 

Joshua Reisenfeld can be reached at [email protected].