Historically black universities to admit students with lower SAT scores
Published October 27, 2014
by Laura Oleniacz, Durham Herald-Sun, October 24, 2014.
N.C. Central University and two other UNC system schools will be able to admit students with SAT scores below the minimum standard under a new pilot program approved Friday that places more emphasis on grade point average.
The Board of Governors for the University of North Carolina system voted to approve the launch of a three-year pilot Friday.
It will allow NCCU, Elizabeth City State University and Fayetteville State University to admit students with SAT scores below the system’s minimum requirement if the students’ grade-point averages exceed the minimum standard.
Each campus will be limited to admitting no more than 100 students each fall through the program, said Karrie Dixon, vice president for academic and student success for the UNC system office, in an email.
“The literature … states that those students are indeed prepared to successfully matriculate to our institutions,” said NCCU Chancellor Debra Saunders-White, who said she brought the proposal to system officials last year. When she first arrived at the school, she said she found several hundred applicants who met that profile.
“I’ve worked with the Board of Governors to try to have them understand what we were really trying to do – that it was about opportunity,” she said. “This is very consistent with North Carolina Central in being the ‘gateway to opportunity’ to North Carolina students.”
Before voting, board members discussed Friday whether the move would lead to grade pressure and inflation in high schools or shift away from the community college-to-university pipeline.
Board member Marty Kotis said GPA is a good predictor of student success in “a perfect world.” But he said he’s “unfortunately heard about unfairness with GPA manipulation and subjective grades.
“(If) it can happen here in Chapel Hill, grade manipulations here, I believe it can happen at high school,” Kotis said, referencing the scandal in what was known as UNC-Chapel Hill’s Department of African and Afro-American studies.
Steve Long, a board member who voted against the measure in a committee meeting Thursday, said the SAT is a check on grade inflation in high schools.
He also said the SAT is an important part of the analysis and if it were removed, “it’s sort of like the Mona Lisa has been stolen from the Louvre.”
At the meeting, Saunders-White said study literature has shown that GPA is a “better predictor” of student success in higher education.
The students would not need remediation, she said, but already, NCCU provides “intrusive” advising services for students. The school will also be adding a degree audit program, she said.
“We think we’ve got a good track record on campus so that we can embrace these students,” she said.
Saunders-White also said she’s heard from area superintendents that students who do not meet the minimum admissions standards are “relegated to private institutions where, as you know, the cost of education is a little bit higher.”
Member Peter Hans said his reaction to the proposal was “initially guarded” because he’s a strong proponent of strong admissions standards and the community college pipeline.
“What pulled me over in support of this is the fact that by requiring a higher GPA that’s actually a higher admissions standard,” he said.
J. Craig Souza, a board member and the chair of the committee that initially debated the proposal, said “these kids deserve a chance.”
“It is our job to reach down and find students who can perform in college especially form our communities in our state that don’t have the resources that our more wealthy counties do,” Souza said.
Board member R. Doyle Parrish said he believes allowing a change is a “slippery slope.” He also said he didn’t get a clear answer as to whether the move was about trying to boost enrollment.
“If we’re trying to fill seats (through) this program, then let’s state that,” he said.
Saunders-White said that for NCCU, it’s about opportunity, and is not an enrollment issue. In response to a question about whether the pilot was directed toward historically black colleges and universities, she said system leaders selected the schools involved.
“This program is being piloted at institutions that have shown a strong interest in testing what national data and our UNC (General Administration) predictive analytics suggest about the positive correlation between HGPA and student success,” Dixon said in the email.
