A bill is being considered by the Iowa Senate that would require the Iowa Board of Regents to examine if state universities’ admission standards should be changed.

According to bill LSB 1315XS, the study shall, at a minimum, identify and review accurate predictors of student success in college, which may be used in addition to, or in place of, current admission criteria.

ISU President Gregory Geoffroy said the university’s current admission requirements are adequate.

“The admission requirements absolutely fine the way they are. I don’t see the need to raise them any higher. We are a land grant university and we have a mission to provide broad access to education,” he said.

The bill would require the Board of Regents, in cooperation with the Iowa Department of Education, to study the potential effects of raising the standards for admission to the state universities.

Phillip Caffrey, senior associate director of admissions, said fewer students would enroll at Iowa State if admission standards increase.

“If the admission standards for an entering freshman at Iowa State were raised, we’d offer admissions to fewer students, which would mean the new student enrollment would decline,” he said

According to the ISU Admissions Web site, freshman students enrolling at Iowa State directly from high school must take four years of English course work, three years of mathematics, three years of science and two years of social studies.

Iowa State admits new students who may not rank in the top half of their graduating class, either because of high standardized test scores or extenuating circumstances, Caffrey said.

“You could have a student who ranks eighth in a class of 12, but that student might have a 3.3 grade point average, a grade point average that would normally rank you in the top half of your class,” he said. “There are instances where we will estimate class rank if there is an indicator that class rank isn’t connected to a student’s ability.”

Nick Gardiner, a high school senior from Johnston, said he would attend Iowa State in the fall.

Although he ranks barely below the 50th percentile in his high school class and scored a 20 on the ACT exam, Gardiner said he believes he was accepted because of his academic improvement during high school and active participation in leadership activities.

“[The admissions standards] really affected me, because I did bad my first few years and I started working my way up,” he said.

Iowa City Regent Robert Downer said he would like to see incentives given to state high schools to boost college preparatory courses.

“I would like to see some incentives given to K-12 districts to strengthen their curricula in the college prep area,” he said. “There are some districts that do not [have strong preparatory courses] and as a result, I think all of the institutions are required to spend too much money on remedial courses to get students up to speed for being a student at one of the state universities, when they should have come out of high school with that.”

High school course work – not location – is the dominant predictor of students’ success at Iowa State, Caffrey said.

“I don’t think the evidence would show that students who come from small rural schools do worse than those from cities,” he said. “It’s not the size of the high school that is critical to student success here – it’s the courses they are taking.”

Since 1958, the top half of Iowa high school graduates have been admitted to Iowa State, Caffrey said.

“My own opinion is, I think the standards are appropriate where they are right now,” he said. “I think it is time the Regents take a long hard look at the requirement. The research might show us that there is some other requirement that might be appropriate.”

The 50-percent rule does not equally consider the variance in high school academic strength, Downer said.

“With the top-50 percent level, we are comparing students from truly outstanding high schools to those that are not as good, and I think we need to be looking how prepared high school graduates are for education at [state] institutions,” he said.

Downer said potential students should be considered on multiple factors, including high school course work, grade point average and standardized tests.

“I don’t want to go strictly with test scores,” he said. “I don’t think high school grade point average is the answer, either. We need to look at a variety of indicators as to how successful they will be when they get into college.”

Angela Groh, Government of the Student Body president, said raising Iowa State’s admission standards could compromise its land-grant mission.

“The mission of a land-grant institution is to educate the population of the state,” she said. “At this time, I think it’s important we stay with our current standards, because it gives us the greatest ability and greatest access for the students of the state of Iowa.”