SEMO: ADMISSION STANDARDS ARE AT ISSUE

Rising admission standards at Southeast Missouri State University are drawing mixed reactions, with some educators saying it will benefit students and others that it will limit access.

Some high school guidance counselors worry that the tougher requirements will close the door to a college education, particularly for those in the Cape Girardeau region, where there is no community college within an easy driving distance.

Others say the requirements will force students to be better prepared academically for college.

Southeast President Kala Stroup said in a prepared statement Friday to the school's Board of Regents: "Permitting unprepared students to enroll at a public university when statistics show they have almost no expectation of success is a disservice to the student and to the taxpayers. Access without the possibility of success is a worthless and expensive prize."

The university is considering defining itself as a moderately selective institution in terms of its admissions.

The move is part of a statewide effort by the Missouri Coordinating Board for Higher Education to define public colleges and universities as highly selective, selective, moderately selective or open enrollment institutions. Each of those categories carries with it certain admission requirements.

Ed McGrew, a guidance counselor at Chaffee High School, said the higher admission standards particularly the addition of a third unit of high school math by 1995 will leave some area students out on the street when it comes to a college education.

"They are going to penalize the students in this immediate area who do not have access to a community college," said McGrew.

"Our kids in Chaffee, in Cape Girardeau and Scott City do not have access to a community college. A large number of SEMO students are drawn from this immediate area. In my opinion, they are penalizing those kids in their own backyard," he said.

McGrew said the higher admission standards are being driven by policies of the state coordinating board. But he said that the university has generally embraced the concept.

He maintained that both the university and the coordinating board "are being driven by statistics, and I think they are forgetting sometimes that people are involved."

McGrew, who holds two degrees from Southeast, attended the university when Mark Scully was its president.

"His (Scully's) philosophy was let's give kids an opportunity. If they fail, well, then they have had a chance," said McGrew.

"I'm not of the opinion that everybody should go to college, but at least give the kids a chance," he said.

University officials said there are alternatives for students who don't meet the school's admissions requirements. They can: attend the Bootheel Education Center at Malden, a community college, or the new, summer preparatory academy at Southeast, or be admitted as special students on a part-time basis until they demonstrate the ability to carry a full academic load.

The university also allows for some exemptions for students who may demonstrate academic promise, Southeast administrators pointed out. Also, applicants who are at least 21 years of age and have been graduated from high school for at least three years do not have to meet the admissions criteria.

In addition, there is the federally funded Upward Bound program offered by Southeast. The program is designed to aid and encourage disadvantaged high school students to pursue a post-secondary education.

But none of the university's programs eliminate the need for a community college in this area, McGrew said. "It is not a cure to the problem; it is just kind of putting a Band Aid on it," he said.

Jerry Witvoet, a guidance counselor at Cape Girardeau Central High School, is also concerned about the increasingly tougher admission requirements at Southeast.

Witvoet said he agrees with the idea of getting students better prepared to enter college and do college-level work.

But, he said, "I am not sure that this will automatically force a lot of students into the classes at the high school level that they would need."

The university's higher admissions standards are already prompting some students to look at attending junior colleges in St. Louis, he said.

"I think Southeast Missouri needs a community college system and I think it would benefit the entire area," said Witvoet.

The tougher admissions requirements may get students and parents to realize there are other options to a four-year, college education. He said there are some careers in technical fields that are being offered now by vocational schools in partnership with community colleges.

Southeast's higher admissions standards make it more imperative that the area have an easily accessible community college, said Judy Bane, Scott City High School guidance counselor.

"If you are going to be moderately selective, I think you really need an accessible community college," said Bane.

She said she knows of two Scott City area residents who are currently driving back and forth every day to Shawnee Community College in Ullin, Ill.

Bane and other guidance counselors say the community college is still a good distance from the Cape Girardeau area and not accessible from here by any direct route.

"I think that would be an ideal situation to have a community college here," said Bane, "because many of the good jobs out there can be handled by a student who has a two-year technical-type junior-college program."

Bane and other guidance counselors worry that the university's admission requirements will deny a college education to someone who did not do well in high school but could prove an excellent student in college.

"I have had students succeed in college that I wouldn't have bet on," she said.

"I don't want SEMO to become inaccessible to the top 50 percent of the students," said Bane. "Some of those students within the top half of the (high school) class are highly capable in college," she said.

But now, if a student decides in 11th or 12th grade that he or she wants to go to college, Bane said, it's going to be very difficult for he or she to meet entrance requirements.

She said she talked to one man whose daughter took the ACT five times, but could not obtain a sufficient score to gain entrance to Southeast. That woman is now enrolled in Metro Business College in Cape Girardeau, Bane said.

But Judi Meyr, a Jackson High School counselor, believes the higher admission standards at Southeast will prove beneficial.

"Overall, I feel like it will help both our high school students and our parents understand what is needed for college preparation," she said.

Area students who are close to meeting the admissions standards will be offered an opportunity to enroll by attending the university's new, summer preparatory academy. "I think the summer academy is really a good and fair thing. It would give students a chance," she said.

Several guidance counselors expressed concern that the tougher core curriculum requirements may prove a hardship for some small, rural schools that can't afford to offer the variety of courses available at larger high schools.

But Meyr said it might prompt rural schools to offer coursework that would better meet the needs of its students seeking to enroll in college.