Earning a UAF degree could get tougher for freshmen with low high school grades.

The Faculty Senate on April 3 endorsed a recommendation to require higher grade point averages to enter a baccalaureate program. The senate will vote at its May meeting whether to require mandatory placement testing for reading, writing and math.

Together, the policy recommendations will help students with educational needs, said Paul Layer, president of the Faculty Senate.

"It might be getting harder to get into these degree programs, but that statistics suggest they're not ready," he said.

Thirty percent of students enter with a high school GPA below 3.0 and ACT scores below 18, a November study by the UAF Enrollment Management Task Force found. Half of those continue in degree programs for a second year, and only 6 percent graduate in six years.

"We felt that was a disservice to the students going to the school and those in the classes," said Tim Barnett, executive dean of student and enrollment services, who sat on the task force.

Layer said the vote on GPA standards was advisory and reflected an endorsement of a previous recommendation by the task force. The vote was only "to make sure faculty were onboard with it," he said.

Under the recommended enrollment policy, prospective UAF students would need either a 3.0 GPA or a 2.5 GPA and score at least 18 on the ACT to enter baccalaureate programs. An SAT score of at least 870 is also acceptable.

The goal, a Faculty Senate rationale note says, is to identify "at risk" students and help them.

Admitting students into a baccalaureate program essentially tells students they're ready to start earning the degree, the Faculty Senate says. But while a 2.0 GPA may have been sufficient in the past, high school students with that grade today are simply not ready.

Likewise, mandatory testing and advising are key to increasing student success in college, according to a written rationale attached to the senate's motion. The policy change will also make expectations for core 100-level courses more obvious, it says.

UAF has been inching toward mandatory placement testing since 2003, when the Faculty Senate approved a motion to phase-in placement requirements.

"What we're trying to do is make this more institutionalized so it's clear to students, it's clear to faculty, and it's clear to advisers," Cindy Hardy, co-chair of the Faculty Senate Developmental Studies Committee.

In September, Chancellor Steve Jones told students and faculty in his convocation speech that UAF "will become more selective" in its admissions, which Hardy attributes as a major push behind the enrollment changes.

UAF isn't alone with its remedial course troubles. A 2005 study by the ACT found that half of its test takers lacked college-level reading skills.

Under the proposed remedial education policy, up for a vote May 1, liberal arts and core science classes would be off-limits to students who do not meet the placement requirements for English 111. Science classes will also require placement in Developmental Math 105.

Any student who enrolls in a course without meeting those requirements would be kicked out of the class.

Students without standardized test scores, such as ACT or SAT, or Advanced Placement or transfer credits must take a UAF-approved placement test before registering for their first-semester courses.

The faculty adviser manual currently lists what test scores match what level of course. For example, students scoring 16 to 19 on the ACT should be placed in Developmental Math 060, the manual says.

But many students are placed in courses above their competence level due to either lax faculty or students skirting the system, Hardy said.

Hardy, an assistant professor in developmental education, said students who test into zero-level developmental classes want to skip those to avoid taking courses that will not count for degree electives.

"You know, sometimes you can give people advice and they don't take it," she said.

Making test placement mandatory will help students do better in school and eventually graduate, Hardy said.

"This is not in any way to punish students or to work to their detriment," she said.

Barnett said the recommendations still face some scrutiny before becoming university policy. A change like this has never been done before, he said, and it might require regent approval.

But the changes are needed, he said.

"Is it fair?" Barnett asked. "I guess the better question is whether it's fair to students who just aren't ready."