SMALLER ELIGIBILITY POOL
Regents raise minimum GPA
by anne burke
ucla today staff
Faced with an overly large pool of eligible high school students,
the UC Board of Regents voted Sept. 23 to raise the minimum grade
point average for incoming freshmen from 2.8 to 3.0.
The higher GPA becomes effective with the fall 2007 entering freshman
class, giving ample notice to this year’s crop of high school
sophomores hoping to get into UC in three years. The hike will not
affect most high school applicants, about three quarters of whom
have GPAs of 3.5 or higher.
The 14-6 vote at the board’s meeting in San Francisco was
met with chants and angry jeers from opponents, who maintain that
the stiffer eligibility requirements will disproportionately affect
African-American and Chicano/Latino students.
The GPA hike is intended to help shrink the pool of UC-eligible
students to the top 12.8% of California public high school graduates,
in line with the 12.5% target set by the California Master Plan
for Higher Education.
“We have 50,000 additional students coming to the UC, and
that is no small challenge to deal with,” said Regent Judith
Hopkinson. “It’s a very dangerous place for us to be,
and to think that we are going to receive financial support for
anywhere above 12.5% is pretty unrealistic.”
Regents began looking at eligibility criteria after a report by
the California Postsecondary Education Commission found that the
percentage of eligibility had risen from 11.1 in 1996 to 14.4 in
2003.
The UC Academic Senate endorsed the GPA hike as the best way to
shrink the pool while having the least negative impact on any one
demographic group. GPA is the best predictor of success at UC, said
George Blumenthal, chair of the UC Academic Council, the administrative
arm of the Academic Senate.
The GPA hike alone is expected to reduce the eligibility pool
only a small amount. Most of the shrinkage will come from two procedural
changes, much less controversial than the GPA hike, that were adopted
at the board’s July meeting.
Nevertheless, opponents said the GPA hike will hurt African-American
and Chicano/Latino students, already struggling to meet eligibility
criteria. Combined with the procedural changes, the GPA hike is
expected to reduce the number of eligible African-American students
from 1,500 in 2003 to about 1,170-1,220 in 2007; the number of eligible
Chicano/Latino students would drop from 7,500 in 2003 to about 6,450-6,500
in 2007. In contrast, eligibility among whites would fall from 23,100
in 2003 to 20,500-20,700 in 2007. Asian-American eligibility would
drop from 15,200 in 2003 to 13,750-13,800 in 2007.
Opponents urged the board to delay the vote on the GPA until UC
can assess the full impact of the procedural changes. Opponents
said they feared the regents will overshoot the 12.5% target, denying
eligibility to qualified students.
“I wonder today, why the rush to judgment?” asked Regent
Odessa Johnson.
Supporters of the increase said that the higher GPA still means
students need to earn only a B average in UC-required “a-g”
courses taken in sophomore and junior years. “I’m a
little confused about less than a B average being a significant
issue,” Hopkinson said.
Supporters also pointed out that students have the option of attending
the California State University or the California Community Colleges.
“I’m a little offended. I’m a CSU graduate. (Students)
are not falling off a cliff,” said Regent George Marcus.
In addition to Johnson, regents voting against the measure were
Frederick Ruiz and ex-officio members Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante,
State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O’Connell,
Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez and Student Regent Jodi
Anderson, a UCLA doctoral student in education.
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