The State Board of Regents today (Monday) approved a change in the standard used to automatically qualify students to attend one of the three state universities. Iowa students who currently rank in the top half of their class and take a required number of core courses qualify.
The new standard uses a ranking system that gives students points for class ranking, their A-C-T college entrance exam score, and the number of core courses they take. The Regents debated how high to set the minimum score and settled on 245 — a score they say would be close to the current standard. The Board of Regents also discussed letting each individual school set the ranking score.
University of Iowa Provost Michael Hogan said the 245 score would require his school to automatically take more students than it does now. Hogan says taking more students would put pressure on the classroom and the six-year graduation rates would get worse. Hogan says this past fall the Iowa City school saw record enrollment — including the largest freshman class ever.
The board voted to hold all three schools to the same minimum score, but will review how the new standard works after the first year and discuss possible changes. The new standard will not go into effect for two years.