COLLEGE RANKINGS EXAMINED; TAX FORCE LOOKS AT ADMISSION, RETENTION

A statewide task force is looking at ranking Missouri's public colleges and universities on the basis of admission standards and how well they retain and graduate students.

The Task Force on Critical Choices for Higher Education is considering recommending that institutions be defined as: highly selective, selective, moderately selective, or having open enrollment.

But the chairman of the task force, John Lichtenegger of Jackson, said Tuesday that the proposal has yet to be finalized. "Keep in mind nothing has been adopted," he said.

At this point, he said, "it's not a recommendation; those are just thoughts."

The 21-member task force was set up by the Missouri Coordinating Board for Higher Education (CBHE). It comprises representatives of the lay boards of the state's public colleges and universities as well as some private ones. The task force is scheduled to make a report to the coordinating board in June.

The task force has yet to decide on specific criteria for ranking the institutions, Lichtenegger said. The CBHE staff has presented a number of proposals.

It's been suggested that schools be defined as:

Highly selective if they admit freshmen from the top third of their high school classes, retain 90 percent of them as sophomores and graduate 75 percent of them within six years.

Selective if they admit freshmen from the top half of their high school classes, retain 85 percent of them as sophomores and graduate 65 percent within six years.

Moderately selective if they admit freshmen from the top two-thirds of their high school classes, retain 75 percent of them as sophomores and graduate 55 percent of them within six years.

Open enrollment if they admit freshmen with a high school diploma or GED, retain 70 percent of them as sophomores and graduate 45 percent of them within six years.

"Right now, I believe the University of Missouri-Rolla would probably be the only public university in the state that would meet the `highly selective' criteria," said Lichtenegger.

Art Wallhausen, assistant to the president at Southeast Missouri State University, said the university would apparently be considered a moderately selective institution under this ranking system.

Wallhausen estimated Southeast's retention rate is now about 70 to 75 percent.

According to the coordinating board, on average only 40 percent of freshmen at public, four-year institutions in Missouri graduate within six years.

Although he couldn't point to any specific figure, Wallhausen said Southeast would probably be in that range. "I would say we probably are at 40 percent or somewhat just below that."

But he said graduation rates can be difficult to determine. "How do you account for students knowing they will come here for two years and then transfer to an engineering school, for example?"

Eliminating duplication of programs at state schools will probably lead to more student transfers between institutions, he said.

Lichtenegger, who serves as president of the University of Missouri's Board of Curators, said the categories are far from finalized. "We only have tentatively approved these categories. Everything this task force does is subject to final review by its members," he pointed out.

He said the task force has yet to decide on specific graduation rates.

Task force member Ann Dombrowski of Cape Girardeau said Tuesday that the group has discussed linking admission standards and graduation rates in any ranking system.

"We have discussed that the two have to be linked," said Dombrowski, who serves on the Board of Regents at Southeast.

If an institution has higher admission standards, it should also have higher graduation rates, she said.

"There is a definite concern that we are tracking the universities," she said. "But we have to do something to see that we get the most for our money in education.

"What we are trying to do is set some standards to go by," she said.

Lichtenegger said the rankings would amount to "truth in advertising."

He said: "It's very important to know exactly what institutions are doing with regards to admission standards, and then tracking retention rates and graduation rates. But you have to start with a base."

"The important thing here is this is a system or a scheme whereby the coordinating board would not be setting admission requirements for the different institutions.

"This procedure allows the institutions to continue to decide what their admission requirements would be," he said.

Lichtenegger said the task force supports the coordinating board's action on a core high school curriculum and will likely recommend that such a curriculum be mandatory for admission to public colleges and universities in the state.

Dombrowski agreed. "Basic skills need to be known before you can be successful in college."

Lichtenegger said it's important for colleges and universities to enroll prepared students. "You can't go on forever in higher education with high attrition rates.

"You cannot be using the taxpayers' money and individuals' money, students' money to send everybody to a particular institution when their chance of success is very low," he said.

The University of Missouri, he said, is raising its admission standards. "We don't want them to come to the university for a year and flunk out," said Lichtenegger.

Wallhausen said, "I think what the task force is looking at is, does the state have enough resources to take that gamble on people who cannot demonstrate they are prepared to do college work?"

When it comes to four-year colleges, the answer appears to be no. Wallhausen said state education leaders are saying that "those students who cannot demonstrate they are prepared need to go to a community college."

It's envisioned that Missouri's colleges and universities would receive financial rewards for meeting certain goals, said Wallhausen.

All of these proposals deal with accountability in higher education. "This is the wave of the future," he said. "Missouri wants a more tightly run education system."