July 2004

News

Prompted by a report that found 14.4% of California high school students were meeting University of California system (UC) admission standards, the UC system is now actively examining recommendations to raise its standards to decrease the percent of qualifying students to the target 12.5%. Several faculty members have gone on record as favoring a boost of the minimum GPA to 3.1 from the current 2.8.

Views

California is holding the percent constant so at least the argument that the overall nation's population is growing and the Ivy League enrollments are not keeping pace is not applicable to this situation. (We applaud California's efforts given its grave budget crisis.)

Nonetheless, we can still empathize with the California parents who have been paying high taxes in hopes that their children will be able to gain admission to the prestigious UC system at in-state rates.

However, more bad news looms as projections show only about 5% of African Americans and Hispanics will qualify for admission to the UC schools under the proposed requirements. This includes the guaranteed admission to the top 4% of each California high school class.