A bill to change admission standards at Metropolitan State University of Denver is not backed by school officials, who say it would impact their ability to serve their population.
would change the school’s admissions from “modified open” — where students 20 years old and older only need a high school or GED diploma, and younger students need minimum scores and grades — to “moderately selective” where all students would .
“We are a school of opportunity,” said Cathy Lucas, a spokeswoman for the university. “We allow those who are less prepared and underserved to have a chance for success.”
According to a school analysis, the different standards would have changed the acceptance of about 1,200 students this year, resulting in an $8.7 million loss.
The Senate Education Committee is scheduled to discuss the bill at Thursday afternoon’s hearing.
Sen. Kent Lambert, R-Colorado Springs, who is sponsoring SB 72, said it should have entrance standards like one, especially because the school is not currently showing success.
“It’s not fair to the student to start them at the university, have them put in work and then fail,” Lambert said. “We ought to get them adequately prepared first, and community colleges are more set up to do that.”
Last school year, Metro to some of its students, instead of sending them to its neighbor, the Community College of Denver, as a way to help them catch up quicker. Not long after, in its remedial department citing large enrollment drops.
“We’re throwing them into a moat if we are expecting students to perform at a four-year university when they’re not ready,” Lambert said.
Metro’s four-year-graduation rates, 5.7 percent or 7.1 percent including transfers, have hovered in the single digits for years and are the lowest of all four-year public institutions in the state, according to data from the Colorado Department of Higher Education.
The six-year graduation rate has been increasing but is still the second lowest, better only than Adams State University.
Lucas said Metro students work, often have children and take longer to graduate.
“We have students who are not the typical students,” Lucas said. “They’re balancing a lot of different things.”
A memo addressed to Sen. Lambert explained that state graduation rates only calculate the graduation for new, full-time freshman students, who make up less than a third of Metro’s new students.
A Metro uses shows a higher graduation rate, still lower than any other Colorado school using that formula.
School officials also argue new supports to improve retention or graduation have not taken hold yet.
“We have some pretty specific goals,” Lucas said. “We are committed to improving in the next four years.”
Yesenia Robles: 303-954-1372, yrobles@denverpost.com or twitter.com/yeseniarobles
