Regents Boost Minimum GPA for UC Eligibility

SAN FRANCISCO-The UC Board of Regents tightened the GPA requirement for UC admissions at their meeting yesterday in front of tears and shouts from students in the audience who decried the decision they said would curb minority enrollment.

UC's governing board raised the minimum GPA for UC admission from 2.8 to 3.0 for fall 2007 by a 14-6 vote after three hours of heated arguments over limiting access to UC.

"It's extremely important that the university set clear (eligibility) standards that are easily understood," said UC President Robert Dynes.

The decision comes after a May study reported more high school graduates were UC-qualified than prescribed by the California Master Plan for Education-a 40-year-old document that guides higher education standards for the state. UC has consistently given eligibility to the top 12.5 percent of the state's high school graduates targeted in the document.

The new requirements will close the door for between 700 and 750 students looking to enroll in a UC.

Students from around the state flocked to the meeting and blasted the vote as a "punishment" to hard-working high school students. They closed the meeting by chanting, "Education is a right, not just for the rich and white."

Some regents echoed students' sentiments that reducing access to UC is unfair to students who come from low-funded high schools.

"A student that is coming from an underserved community that doesn't have the privilege of the AP classes that inflate their grade are not going to have the privilege of coming into this community," said Eligio Martinez, a UCLA student and member of the UC Student Association.

Six dissenting votes came with passionate speeches touting the need to expand UC access beyond the goals targeted in the 1960 Master Plan.

"You cannot deliver a skilled work force by simply looking at a 1960 well-intentioned approach and expect that the same conditions that existed in 1960 will exist in 2007," said Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez, D-Los Angeles, who is also a regent.

Nunez's concerns over limiting access were echoed by other regents.

"Personally I believe that if the organization is not growing, it's dying. It's all about access and eligibility," said newly appointed Regent Frederick Ruiz. "It's a real-life issue and we need more time and more data to really validate this decision."

Nunez proposed stalling the decision but was met with fierce opposition from other regents who said delaying notice of more stringent eligibility standards would leave high school students scrambling to meet the new requirements.

The new requirements were largely justified as a precautionary move in the face of unsteady state support to UC that would not allow funding to accommodate more than the top 12.5 percent of high school graduates at a UC campus, some regents said.

Accepting too many students to UC would cause overcrowding in classrooms and limit instructional support, said Regent Sherry Lansing.

"We are in this position because we don't have the money," Lansing said. "If we start to accept a higher level of students that are coming to this university, they will find that the quality of their education will slip greatly."

Chairman of the Board of Regents Gerald Parsky stressed that the new eligibility requirements were subject to changes and readjustments over the next two years.

Dynes has recommended the regents reconvene to discuss adjusting eligibility after an analysis of the high school graduating class of 2005 is conducted.

Dynes suggested an additional tweak to the minimum SAT score requirement if the new GPA standard lands UC eligibility less than the prescribed 12.5 percent.

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