Alignment of admissions standards praised by trustees

Kristi Garrett
State Hornet
Published Online September 17, 1999

First-time freshmen seeking admission to CSU will soon have to complete another year of both history and science, and transfer students will have to prove they are ready for higher-level college work.

The CSU Board of Trustees Wednesday approved the final step in an alignment of admission requirements that has been under development since the mid-1980s. The University of California Board of Regents in March approved the addition of a visual and performing arts component already required by CSU.

"This is a consistent message for the first time about what it takes to be adequately prepared in a public university in California," said CSU Sacramento President Donald R. Gerth, who chairs the Admission Advisory Council. "This will ensure that high school students who are interested in attending either a UC or CSU have completed the requirements to be successful in college."

The requirements affect first-time freshmen seeking admission in fall 2003. Aligning the standards now will allow time for high school freshmen to plan their course selections.

CSU began phasing in a 15-unit pattern of college preparatory courses for first-time freshmen in 1988.

The newly aligned CSU/UC admission requirements include four units of English, three units of math, two units of history or history and government, two units of laboratory science, two units of foreign language, one unit of visual and performing arts and one unit of elective, for a total of 15 units in the A-F general education areas.

Coordinating the admission requirements took over a decade because of problems some high schools had offering visual and performing arts courses.

"It’s not an exaggeration to say that in the post-Prop. 13 economy -- had CSU not hung in there with the requirement for a visual and performing arts, they would have disappeared considerably from the elementary and high school curriculum, no question about it," said Gerth.

The new admissions standards affect transfer students as well. Upper-division transfer students will no longer be admitted solely on completion of the 15-unit high school college preparatory courses.

Upper-division students with 56 transferrable units must now complete all three Area A requirements in written communication, oral communication and critical thinking, plus a course in mathematical concepts and quantitatitve reasoning, in addition to 30 units of general education, before transferring to CSU.

Most transfer students have completed those requirements, said David R. Spence, executive vice chancellor and chief academic officer. "This will remove the last loophole."

The new requirements affect transfer students seeking admission in fall 2000.

Some trustees were concerned about the effect tighter admission requirements might have on accessibility.

"However we tweak access, quality education cannot -- intentionally or unintentionally -- be damaged in any form," said Trustee Ralph R. Pesqueira.

Trustee William D. Campbell also expressed concern that higher standards could cause impacted campuses to begin raising GPA requirements.

"I can see where in two or three years those institutions start taking all 4.0s, and it would become a different type of institution not intended in the state master plan," said Campbell.