UNM has been working with high schools and community colleges to offer students a seamless transition into the University, but there may be complications with the plan.
Applicants to the University who don't meet admission requirements will no longer be rejected, if the proposed requirements are put in place. These students will instead be redirected to community colleges or branch campuses to improve their GPAs and take preparatory courses.
The proposed changes include increasing the required grade point average from 2.25 to 2.5 and increasing the curriculum requirements from 13 college preparatory hours to 16.
Terry Babbitt, associate vice president for enrollment management, said the proposal is still being discussed and would not take effect until 2010 at the earliest.
Manzano High School counselor Ronald Smith said he has received mixed messages about the plan.
"I've got one set of regents at UNM telling me that we are sending them dumb students, because they are flunking right and left in their freshman year, and then I've got another agency within UNM
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admissions telling me that, 'Hey, we've got these other ways that we can sneak kids in under the wire,'" he said.
About 900 entering freshmen have a deficiency in math, reading or English, Babbitt said.
"This is very high," he said. "Graduation rates are extremely low for an institution like UNM. There are clearly other things besides high school preparation that come into play here, but we can influence this in a positive way."
However, UNM rejected fewer than 100 applicants last year.
Babbitt said the University is trying to support more students in their pursuit of higher education.
"Rejection letters are very discouraging and can substantially deter a student from pursuing higher education," he said. "We want to encourage them to begin their postsecondary work without hesitation at the place where they have the best chance for success."
Elaine Prentice, La Cueva High School head counselor, said she is in favor of the proposed requirements.
"I am very glad there is an alternative admission pathway through branch campuses and CNM for students who can't meet the mark for Main Campus," Prentice said. "I've always thought the GPA should be raised, and I'm glad they are going to weigh dual-credit AP honors classes, and I'm also glad they are going to align the credits more with what's required for state graduates, for instance 16 units instead of 13, and additional science classes. I would like to see them (require) additional math classes, too."
Attending a small college can give students the skills needed to succeed in upper-level courses, Babbitt said.
Smith said redirecting students to a community college wouldn't discourage them, because the public schools have a good relationship with UNM and CNM.
"Most of the kids I work with have no problem going to CNM and don't see that as a stigma, because they actually get to go to CNM where there are real professors teaching and they are in a classroom with 30 kids versus 150 kids," Smith said. "Instead of having a graduate student teaching the freshman class, you've got a real professor there, and that's the kind of help lower-GPA-type individuals need."
Babbitt said the proposed requirements are meant to help high school students progress in their academic careers.
"The bottom line is that these institutional partners of ours are well-equipped to help students who need a longer transition to the University academic environment," he said. "They have small classes, better mechanisms for addressing developmental skills and are much more affordable."
Concurrent enrollment, wherein high school students can get college credit, also makes community college more attractive, Smith said.
"With kids already having their foot in the door at CNM, they feel real comfortable continuing to go there and prefer that to a college," he said.
