Kansas governor supports tighter college admission policy

WICHITA | Kansas Gov. Mark Parkinson wants state universities to toughen admissions standards to improve their national rankings.

Parkinson is urging the Kansas Board of Regents, which oversees higher-education institutions, to develop a 10-year plan to improve the state’s higher-education programs and national profiles.

The University of Kansas should place in the top 50, he said. KU is No. 96 in U.S. News and World Report’s annual rankings of 260 universities.

He said the plan should include a controversial tightening of admissions policies to ensure that students accepted are prepared for study at a four-year university.

“We need to think about students, not just parents,” Parkinson told the regents this week, mentioning the devastation and uncertainty that a friend’s son experienced after failing out of a large state university.

“What parents say is, ‘We pay our taxes and want our kid to be able to go to every school in the state.’ I don’t think that’s good for the state.”

Higher-quality university programs will attract the “best and brightest” in Kansas and keep them here to work, Parkinson said.

Parkinson also suggested heavy promotion of technical schools or community colleges for students not prepared for a four-year university, and beefing up specialty programs.

Raising admissions standards is one of the few changes that can be made without requesting more money during a dismal state budget year, Parkinson said.

But he said a specific plan for improving universities by the Regents could help the higher-education institutions receive more money from the state.

Regents said they agreed with the governor’s suggestions and are enthusiastic about his pledge to support higher-education improvement plans in the Legislature.

“In some way, the lack of money diverts your attention to other things,” said the board chairwoman, Jill Docking.

Raising admissions standards would help improve retention and graduation rates, she said, by making sure more of the students entering universities are prepared.

Regents said they plan to consider changing admissions standards in the next few months, but new requirements would not take effect for four years after they’re approved.

Each university would revamp its standards individually, but regents said they would look at how the changes affect the entire system.

Parkinson gave an example of raising standards at the larger University of Kansas and Kansas State University to improve their quality and rankings. But he said admissions requirements might remain lower at Wichita State, allowing more students in but perhaps preventing it from rising in national rankings.

For the first time, the nine-member Board of Regents has the power to set admissions standards. The state Legislature set the requirements until this year, when it passed legislation to hand those decisions over to the regents.

Admissions standards have been contentious in Kansas, which only about a decade ago had “open admissions,” requiring no more than a high school diploma for a resident to attend a state university, said Gary Sherrer, board vice chairman.

Now, state residents are qualified to enter any state college if they graduate from high school with certain credits and a 2.0 GPA, score 21 or higher on the ACT, or rank in the top third of their high school class.

Since those qualifications have been in place, K-12 educators have seen their students strive for and achieve the higher standards, Sherrer said.

“It’s improved students’ preparation,” he said.