ISU admissions criteria are changing to reward high school students who take more core courses – courses in English, math, natural science, social studies and foreign language. The Iowa Board of Regents created the new rules after the legislature requestaed a study of regent universities’ admissions criteria, which hadn’t changed in 50 years.

The Daily spoke to Marc Harding, director of admissions, about the changes, and about a surprising trend in admissions figures – even though Iowa’s college-aged population is declining, Iowa State’s enrollment is remaining steady.

Under the new system, every Iowa high school will display a poster containing the entry criteria for Iowa’s three regent universities – Iowa State, University of Iowa and University of Northern Iowa – to help high school students lay out a four-year plan for high school classes.

The poster shows students how to calculate their “Regents Administration Index Score” (RAI) based on their ACT composite score, high school rank, grade point average and number of core courses taken. Students whose RAI is over 245 will automatically be accepted into the Iowa regent university of their choice.

The changes won’t affect the incoming freshman class this fall, but will go into effect in the fall of 2009.

Although the ISU admissions criteria has always been transparent and available to students online, Harding said the new formula lets high school students know immediately whether they will be admitted, and they can start visiting campuses to find the “perfect fit.”

“Campus visits allow you to cut away from all the stuff – the marketing material, the brochures – and take a heart-filled look to see if it’s a right fit,” he said.

“You have to try it on to see if it fits. Universities are an important thing people wear for the rest of their lives.”

Harding said the legislature asked the Board of Regents to study the entry criteria since they haven’t been changed since 1958.

One of the biggest discussions held in the yearlong reform process, Harding said, was the quality of the experience at the universities.

Discussions with high school counselors, the department of education, the three universities and the Iowa Board of Regents continued until they came up with a system that rewarded students for taking more core courses.

“The more preparation in those courses that students have coming into the university, the more successful they will be,” he said.

For the fall 2007-2008 academic year, Iowa State enrolled 26,160 students, which Harding said was the first increase in five years. This past year’s incoming freshman class was the third-largest class on record with 4,347 students, according to the 2007-2008 Fact Book.

Even though the high school graduates are decreasing all over the Midwest, Harding said Iowa State is maintaining its enrollment numbers and attracting its fair share of students.

Harding said Iowa high school graduates are decreasing, not because of dropouts but because of the population decline in the Midwest. He pointed to a decline in the family farmer, the fact that people coming into the state are older, and that a lot of 22- to 28-year-olds leave the state.

According to census data, Iowa is one of the slowest-growing states in the past 50 years.

The Generation Iowa Commission, which researches how to attract and retain young Iowans, released a report on the subject. Data that was shown on the Iowa Net Migration by Age from 1995 to 2000 graph displayed an increase in ages younger than 20 before college, but a steady decrease in the college-aged population.

Harding said Iowa State is keeping a steady enrollment despite the decline in high school graduates.

“In the face of declining high school graduates in Iowa and in the Midwest, Iowa State is doing a very good job of making sure it gets its fair share of Iowans and also attracting students from around the country and around the world,” he said.

According to the Generation Iowa Commissions analysis report from January 2008, one of the greatest challenges the state faces is having fewer ways to keep youth entertained. The lack of entertainment and diversity leads people to leave Iowa in search of more opportunities. The commission is trying to lead the way in retaining Iowans and attracting non-residents by emphasizing Iowa’s strengths, which are listed in the report as having a high quality of life, healthier and safer places to live, a proven leader in education and one of the highest-ranked states in the nation for home ownership.

Harding said enrollment for the fall of 2008 included a comparable enrollment number but the exact number of students for the next academic year won’t be released until the tenth day of fall classes.

“As of May 1, we believe we are going to have a good-sized freshman class again,” he said.