IU, continue improving competitiveness

WE SAY Toughening admissions standards is necessary.

IU and Purdue University recently raised their required admissions standards for fall 2011 incoming freshmen to include, among other requirements, two years of a foreign language, 3 1/2 years of math and 34 high school class credits.

Inevitably, this will ruin high schoolers’ dreams of doing nothing their senior year (or rather, making the most of senioritis). But it could also make it more difficult for some Hoosiers – especially those from underperforming school districts – to make the cut.
But making the state’s universities more competitive is necessary for Indiana and its residents.

The Indianapolis Star ran an interesting article coincidentally at about the same time the IDS announced the change in admissions standards. Its article showed a positive correlation between a school’s competitiveness and its students’ graduation rate. And sadly, only 53 percent of Indiana’s students college graduate within six years. (IU-Bloomington has a 72 percent graduation rate.)  

Though this might put some super-seniors at ease, it’s not comforting policymakers any. Indiana is 43rd in the nation in its percentage of adults holding a bachelor’s degree or higher, according to the Star.  

In a world where labor jobs can be more cheaply performed in places like China or Mexico, Hoosiers need and will continue to need higher education to secure jobs. But the data show that policy needs to change to give a helping hand to Hoosiers. This, along with need-based aid, will help do that.

Because all Indiana taxpayers will help pay for state universities regardless of whether they attend them, an effort should be made to help them get into a state college if they want to go to one. This requires schools of all different calibers to make adjustments for students of all different academic abilities.

The new requirements at IU and Purdue could help propel the two universities to become better-recognized nationally and internationally and create something the Indiana colleges haven’t had – a reputation for something other than partying and basketball.

As important as it is to get Hoosiers to attend college, it’s less important that they enroll and more important that they finish.

Increasing IU and Purdue admissions standards might temporarily decrease the pool of potential in-state students; however, retention will most likely go up.

The new requirements aren’t asking too much of students or high schools. Incoming students are given plenty of time to fulfill any missing and necessary classes, and schools should already have curricula in place that can accommodate schedule changes.