The Office of Enrollment Management wants to raise requirements for admission.
UNM’s current entrance requirements for freshmen are a 2.25 GPA and completion of 13 college preparatory classes.
Terry Babbitt, associate director of the Office of Enrollment Management, presented a summary of proposed changes to the admissions standards at the Regents’ Academic, Student Affairs and Research Committee meeting yesterday.
If approved by the Regents, Babbitt said, a plan to increase the required GPA to 2.5 and the number of college preparatory units to 16 would be implemented over a three-year period.
Babbitt said data from the last three years indicate students who took more college preparatory courses were more likely to complete their degree plan.
In the first year of implementing the plan, students would need a 2.3 GPA with 14 college preparatory units to be admitted. The second year, students would need a 2.4 GPA with 15 college preparatory units, and the third year, students would need a 2.5 GPA with 16 college preparatory units.
If students don’t meet the new standards, they would be admitted to UNM branch campuses and other community colleges like CNM, Babbitt said.
Regent Carolyn Abeita said students can adapt to the higher standards.
“I think when you do set the bar a little higher, everybody learns that they have to jump that much higher,” she said.
Maria Probasco, Parent
Association president, said the plan could help parents know what classes their child should take to do well in higher education.
“I bet this will help parents understand what the requirements are and to tell parents — not during their junior or senior year of their child’s education, but early on — to put them in the right track,” she said. “That way they have taken all the necessary courses, so once they are here they have a better chance of succeeding.”
Babbitt said that if the standards aren’t raised, some students will be discouraged from applying to UNM.
“We don’t want to position ourselves out of the running for qualified students,” he said. “We don’t want to make ourselves where New Mexico State would be a better choice than us.”
UNM’s current admission requirements are below those of regional institutions (see box).
Get content from The Daily Lobo delivered to your inbox
Babbitt said that, according to data from the past three years, increasing the GPA requirement from 2.25 to 2.3 would have excluded about 31 students each year.
An increase from 2.25 to 2.5 would have excluded about 113 students each year.
Abeita said a draft of the proposed changes needs to be available to the public.
“I think this is a very important change and we do need to get as much input and comment as possible,” she said. “I think this affects not just our community, but the broader state community. We need to give parents the opportunity to comment on this.”
Babbitt said a draft of the document outlining the proposed changes should be posted on the UNM Web site by October.
*UNM
2.25 GPA
13 college preparatory classes
Arizona State University
3.0 GPA
16 college preparatory courses.
Colorado State University
3.25 GPA
18 college preparatory courses.
*
