It’s high time YSU toughens its standards for admission

It’s high time YSU toughens its standards for admission

Many people reference Youngstown State University as a school anyone can get accepted to. As long as a student is breathing, he or she is accepted. Although that is not true, YSU President Randy Dunn announced a change to the enrollment policy. YSU currently has nearly an 87 percent acceptance rate. The new criteria for acceptance will make stricter requirements for conditionally accepted students. The new policy proposed would be beneficial not only toward funding of the university, but also for current faculty members and students of the university.

The 2012 freshman class was made up of 1 percent of students who scored between a 6 and 12 on the ACT test. This is an unacceptably low score at many universities. Why is YSU accepting these students? The retention rate at YSU is currently 65 percent, and, unfortunately, the number of students from that admissions class will decrease each year after. This staggering statistic reinforces the need for higher admittance standards.

The state funding for a college is determined by the number of students that graduate from an institution and not the number of students attending. It is an ideal thought that every student who attends YSU will graduate with a degree in some field, yet this is very unrealistic. The need for a new enrollment policy is reflected in the poor graduation rate. After four years, only 10 percent of students graduate. Even after six years the graduation rate only increases to 35 percent.

Ideally, each student admitted into the university should have the ability to work at a college level pace. A student’s ACT score should be used as the base for admissions. The university should determine the minimum score it will deem as a college ready student. A student’s GPA also should be a deciding factor. At YSU a student with a GPA below 2.0 is considered to be not in good standings with the university. Why is it that the university accepts students that show previous failure?

The university is taking a step in the right direction to improve its funding and graduation rate, but ultimately if the school wants a dramatic increase, a higher standard for admissions will need to be strictly enforced.

Shelby Reigelman, Hubbard